#harubirthdayweekend

[lemon-pear]

I finally started the inks for my daily planner project! Mondays belong to Haru. I might end up doing something else with this, hence there are two versions... and just in time for July 1!

Happy Birthday, Haru!!

[digitalgate02]

#新海ハル生誕祭2023 #新海ハル誕生祭2023

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARU!!

@harushinkai-daily

[citrus-cactus]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARU SHINKAI!!!!!!!

For #HaruBirthdayWeekend, I'm planning on answering my own prompts, but I also wanted to show off my Appmon merch collection, both official and fan-made!

First off, the official stuff! Appmon manga and soundtrack, plus a Gatchmon plush and Haru’s AppDrive (both were from when I did a Haru cosplay! I don't post pictures of myself online anymore, or I'd share that too ^^:). My most recent acquisitions are the keychain figures of the four main Buddies and Navimon. I kept seeing them at cons and it felt increasingly weird that I hadn’t bought them yet, so I finally did last year :D

Second, fan-made merch! I love it all SO MUCH. I am DETERMINED to put all the pins and charms in an itabag one of these days. Artist breakdown is as follows:

The Yuujin and Offmon doujinshi, pin, and matching Yuujin/Haru charms are by @well-mon [link to their commision page]

The Knight and Yuujin prints and Haru pin (and tiny Rei) are by @vidramon, and she also made me a pin with my own Knight art on it! T^T [link to her shop]

The Gatchmon face pin and the all-AppliDrivers pins were made by @nightglimmer [link to their shop]

The gogglehead standee (with Haru on the bottom!) is by @amaitapi [link to their shop].

The all-Appmon print is by @softkeychains, and was part of the Appmon Perfect World Zine, which was organized by @gatorgumz. The Minerva/Leviathan stickers were also part of that. The zine holds a REALLY special place in my heart, since it was the first zine I ever participated in <3

Thanks for looking!

[harushinkai-daily]

Hey there, Appmon fandom! I usually try to do a little something extra for this blog on Haru’s birthday, and with July 1 falling on a Saturday this year, it seemed like the perfect time to host a party! And so, I would like to propose HARU’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND, a fandom event spanning July 1 & July 2 that’s meant to be short, low-effort, and (most of all!) low-pressure. The only purpose of this event is to celebrate and connect as Appmon fans, and have fun! 

POSTING GUIDANCE

Any sort of Appmon-related posts are welcome: you can introduce yourself and why you enjoy Appmon, talk about your favorite character, show off your merch/plushie collection, plug your existing Appmon fanwork, create new Appmon fanwork, whatever! As long as you use the tag #HaruBirthdayWeekend (and the content is your own, is rated for general audiences, and is posted before July 3, 12 AM Eastern Time), I’ll reblog it here. Note that if your post includes links, you might want to mention @harushinkai-daily, just to make sure Tumblr doesn’t prevent me from seeing it!

Of course, I'll be reblogging fanwork related to Haru and his birthday as always, so if you were planning on creating something new along those lines anyway, no additional tagging is needed (meaning I’ll see it if it’s tagged as “appmon” or “haru shinkai”) :D

And if you want to participate but feel stuck for ideas on what to post about, here is a short list of prompts! You can do as many or as few as you want, in any order. 

🍅 What is your favorite Haru moment/episode? Alternately, what do you like about him as a character?

👾 What is your favorite episode of Appmon, and why?

💛 What are your favorite relationship(s) in the series? Can be Driver/Buddy partnership, family ties, platonic, romantic, or otherwise.

🎉 Any birthday headcanons for other Appmon characters? Dates, star signs, how they spend their day?

🎂 If you were designing a birthday cake for Haru (or another Appmon character), what would it look like?

✨ If you were going to assign crests to the AppDrivers, which ones would you pick?

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you at the party!

Your HaruShinkai-Daily mod,

@citrus-cactus

[nami-moittli]

!!!

Sorry if things look a little weird, I honestly kinda gave up on Gatchmon, and didn’t bother fixing Haru’s arm.

But happy birthday to our protagonist!

[citrus-cactus]

Haru's Birthday Weekend (Prompt: 👾)

What is your favorite episode of Appmon, and why?

OK, I wrote this prompt, so you'd THINK I'd have an easy answer to this, but I'm gonna break my own rules, because as it turns out I can't pick just one episode, lolol. And then I was going to do a Top 5, but I can't do that either! So here are my Top 7. I could probably have turned this into a Top 10, especially since all of the final episodes are SO strong, but I did try to limit myself to one episode per Appmon "arc" (which I'm not sure I could even delineate, but this sounds about right, so good enough!).

Also, periodic reminder to PLEASE WATCH APPMON. IT'S SO GOOD.

Under the cut because of end-of-series spoilers, and to spare your dash!

Also, excuse the bias to these screenshots. I run blogs dedicated to Haru and Knight, and I'm too lazy to take more right now kjdfahkfh

Episode 4 ("Take Your Dressing! Cameramon's Halloween Scandal!")

This episode is a GREAT early episode for its focus on Haru and Gatchmon's characters and their Driver-Buddy relationship, particularly showcasing how Haru is able to think on his feet and use his wits to win the day. Plus it's Halloween-themed. And Haru USES HIS GOGGLES. Literally, what's not to love?? XD

Episode 18 ("Haru and Yujin's Bond - Stop! Rampaging Resshamon!")

I LOVE this episode for paying homage to the Pokemon Go craze. Amazing and incredibly relevant, considering the show originally aired in 2016, rotfl. A very fun premise that also places a lot of emphasis on Haru and Yuujin's relationship, including Haru's worries about revealing his secret life as an AppDriver to Yuujin and insight into Yuujin's character, all important groundwork before Yuujin becomes an AppDriver in his own right.

Episode 25 ("Infiltrating to the Deep Web at last! The Mysterious Cyber Kowloon!")

OK, THIS actually might be my favorite episode. It has it all: gorgeous animation, an AMAZING setting, surreal comedy, a lot of drama, and ultimately our main trio of heroes biting off more than they can chew, ending on a positive note nonetheless. It's SUCH a well-done episode, and is an exciting and satisfying way to wrap up the first half of the series.

Episode 31 ("The Traveling Companion!? Tripmon's Terrible Trip")

While you might THINK I put this episode on my list for the Haru/Yuujin moments, it really made it on here because of its focus on Offmon, his fears, and ultimately... his secret. I love that little guy and the themes of the episode, plus Tripmon has a GREAT design and is a fun Monster of the Day!

Episode 36 ("The Conclusion of General Election! The Hand of Devil Approaching to Eri!")

AKA The One on the Yacht. My favorite Knight episode, if only because the storyboarding/direction is ON POINT and Eri is such a badass. The whole episode is such a wonderful showcase of her character and her plot thread (plus, Knight reveals his true colors to our heroine, in a truly stunning scene) <3

Episode 42 ("Rei's Determination! The Great "Search for Hajime" Operation!")

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the first half of this episode are the best 15 minutes of filler in the entire series. And it's not even really filler, since it's all about Rei getting an AMAZING focus episode that's simultaneously hilarious, satisfying, and completely heart-wrenching in the end. Plus more of Elena and Alice! WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE???

Episode 49 ("The Miraculous Final Evolution! The God Appmon Advent!")

(I don't have a screenshot for this one yet, sorry!)

THE LAST FEW EPISODES ARE SO IMPORTANT, but I wanted to talk about this one specifically. Our heroes (minus Haru) rally and unlock their God Grade Appmon in truly touching and wonderful scenes with their Buddies, with Minerva's question coming into play one last time. And then the visuals of the fight to follow (where the kids hover on platforms at their Appmon's sides in a way that's incredibly evocative of how their Buddies float around around when they're Unrealized) are so epic, in a way that you KNOW this is what the whole series has been building toward. It’s about the SCALE. It’s about the PARALLELS. 👍👍👍 And then we have Haru: despondent, betrayed, bereaving, and being egged on by YJ-14, before... well. Some truly amazing scenes, I'll leave it at that. This episode has me screaming, crying, frothing at the mouth, etc, and that feeling doesn't stop until the series is over. It's SO GOOD.

Thanks for reading!

[citrus-cactus]

Haru's Birthday Weekend (Prompt: 🎂)

If you were designing a birthday cake for Haru (or another Appmon character), what would it look like?

(Pretending I have ANY cake-making or decorating skills, which I do NOT, rotfl)

For Haru, I would design a cake shaped like a book, or stack of books! You can do an image seach for "book cake" and see what I mean. I'll bet you could even decorate a Gatchmonaka so it looked like book as an extra treat for Gatchmon (though, on second thought... maybe he wouldn't appreciate anyone messing with perfection!) XD

For both Eri and Rei, I would keep their cakes small and simple, to be enjoyed in private with their families and Buddies. Maybe not even cakes shaped like anything, just round layer cakes decorated with simple embellishments or fruit or sweets they liked. Though I would be tempted to design/decorate Rei's to look like a tamagoyaki... I'm sure Hajime would appreciate that (and thus Rei would too)!

Astra seems like the bigger the cake, the better... that way he could create a video challenge around him eating it, or trying to light and blow out a hundred candles, or maybe he would host a huge birthday party for his friends, classmates and Hinarin :3 He'd probably be happy with a sheet cake with his face printed on it ("Eating my own face on a cake: Feeling it? Not feeling it? SUPER FEELING IT!!").

Yuujin is tough! I also think he would be happy with pretty much any sort of cake or decorations. What's his favorite flavor? Would he appreciate a cake shaped and decorated like a bowl of pasta? XD

[citrus-cactus]

Haru's Birthday Weekend (Prompt: 🎉)

Any birthday headcanons for other Appmon characters? Dates, star signs, how they spend their day?

I was really excited to think about this prompt, but yesterday was pretty distracting, so none of that thinking happened until I was in the shower, ahaha.

I kind of ended up answering some of the "how they would spend their day" in the cake one, so I'll leave it at that. I don't have specific dates for the other Appdriver's birthdays (in keeping with normal Digimon traditions), but I did want to think about star signs (I don't believe in astrology IRL, but I DO enjoy thinking about it for fictional characters!)

There do be MAJOR Appmon spoilers under this cut!

Because I value variety and symmetry (apparently), I ended up giving the first four Appdrivers zodiac signs with different seasons/ruling elements. This means they're pretty evenly spaced evenly throughout the year, and coincidentally they're all cardinal signs (and and AND! each of them having a different elemental affinity would make an interesting Avatar: The Last Airbender AU, perhaps??).

Haru: Cancer (Summer/Water, July 1) [this is canon]

Astra: Libra (Autumn/Air, 23 September – 23 October) [I like this mostly because scales LITERALLY appear in one of his focus episodes as a metaphor for balancing the two sides of his life. Plus Air sign -> Heavens -> Ouranosmon... IDK, it all works really well for me symbolically]

Rei: Capricorn (Winter/Earth, 22 December – 20 January) [something something pragmatic and business-like, something something driven and focused, winter in the northern hemisphere is associated with cold, death, solitude, and rest in nature, etc.]

Eri: Aries (Spring/Fire, 21 March–20 April) [something something passionate, determined, and competitive, something something spring and growth, and fire for explosive punches, DUH!]

Yuujin: Ok, here's where it gets complicated. Because Yuujin's birthday... is probably a bit nebulous and arbitrary, isn't it?

His true birthday could be considered the date he formally went online for the YJ project. However, I think that date is completely inconsequential. His mom is probably the only one who knows it, and it's doubtful she really acknowledges it. At best, she may use it as a day to perform maintenance and major upgrades (at least, when it's convenient for Yuujin to disappear for a time and not be noticed).

The birthday he and his friends know is the date his mother assigned to him for like... school-and-society purposes, to keep up appearances that he's a normal kid. Love the idea of Gemini (Spring/Air, 21 May – 21 June) for this: the dual nature, the insubstantiality (Air sign), and the fact that Gemini "typical characteristics" don't actually match his personality all that well?

Finally, I can see him having a post-canon, new-beginning birthday. I think everyone would encourage him to choose this date for himself, and I imagine he would choose the day he first met Haru. That's probably near the beginning of the school year, and I really like Taurus (Spring/Earth, 20 April – 21 May) for this (sidenote, but in an ATLA AU, I imagine Yuujin's a non-bender).

So there you go, that's what I got! Thanks for reading!

[citrus-cactus]

Haru's Birthday Weekend (Prompt: 💛)

What are your favorite relationship(s) in the series? Can be Driver/Buddy partnership, family ties, platonic, romantic, or otherwise.

ALL OF THE ABOVE (just kidding). But I treasure all the relationships in this series and would love to see some of them expanded upon in fanwork.

Favorites though, let's see...

(No spoilers, this time! Just rambling)

Haru/Yuujin, perhaps obviously? This is a god-tier, OTP-status ship for me, ehehe ^^; Eri and Astra's relationship (and relationship evolution) is also really great. I can see them as either platonic or romantic for sure. Eri/Ai is also something that I hopped on the bandwagon for a long time ago, and it's a ship I still really like/want to see more of. Rei and Yuujin NEED to have more interactions in a post-canon world and I don't even care what that looks like, they just need closure, rotfl. There is also like... one fanart out there showing Astra and Hajime hanging out and y'know, I'm here for that too, in some post-canon timeframe. My favorite Driver-Buddy dynamic in the series is Yuujin and Offmon T^T

Believe it or not, I'm kinda... a Rei/Ai shipper. This is Tumblr user @raynef-art's fault, from a long long time ago. It's about the CONTRAST. I still have snippets of a hurt/comfort/getting-to-know-you fic about them in my drafts taking place after Episode 25 that would end with Ai giving Rei a pink ribbon. There's fanart.

And based on all the dialogue between Elena and Rei in Episode 42, I kinda... ship them too. That one would be WAY more antagonistic and probably not realistic at all, but shhhh......... I like thinking about it.................

And idc what anyone says, I think Ryuutaro and Jenny's (Astra's parents) meet-cute and Jenny still gushing over her husband 11+ years later is adorable. They didn't need to show us that, but they did. I have headcanons that Haru's dad is alive and well but working abroad, and that man also loves his wife and kid SO!!!!! much. I'm also kind of fascinated that Ai's grandfather and Denemon knew each other.......... lol.

Thanks for reading!

[harushinkai-daily]

Thank you for a wonderful birthday weekend, everyone! I really enjoyed seeing so much new art of our good, good protagonist.

Regular daily posts resume tomorrow, same Haru time, same Haru channel!