#katsuhiro maybe

[rockingthegraveyard]

Saw a panel from this the other day but couldn’t find the source so I thought it was a fan comic from somewhere. Pleasantly surprised it comes from an issue that came out yesterday. Batman: The Brave and the Bold #1 (apparently there is a new one now). And it’s giving me what I need.

TINY JASON AND DICK BEING BROTHERS. Look how Dick is bodily protecting Jason. Both Dick and Jason wanting to help despite being tiny! Even tinier Tim out there somewhere, also their brother.  

The bold emphasis on Brother when Dick introduces Jason really has me on the floor wailing. 

Also where are these kids living? Are they homeless? In a shelter, foster care, or boys home? I need all the answers on these boys that we probably won’t get about everything.

[solradguy]

I need to watch more anime because it's a fun/easy way to improve at Japanese, but like 75% of shounen/shoujo anime doesn't appeal to me and the weird stuff I do like is usually only like 4-12 episodes or a single 3 hour movie. Agony forever 1000 years torment

[jujutsutrash]

Never mind me this is just my self indulgent weird scenarios. no real content warnings. maybe some angst.

Thinking about Noritoshi Kamo x Reader where it doesn't work out. he is too caught up in his clan bullshit and you don't want to get trapped in that baggage. he needs to become head of the clan, he will need to have a proper spouse. and you don't wanna be judged constantly by his family. so you run, leave the country even, and he never hears from you. he only knows you are alive because every now and again someone from the Tokyo School travels to visit. he doesn't see you for years. until one day he does.

A heavy hearted Noritoshi Kamo who has to visit the Tokyo School one day and ends up seeing you. after four years that seemed like an eternity, he sees you. you. with Yuuta Okkotsu brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. a small boy in his arm.

A phased Noritoshi who has to keep himself from staring in disbelief. you and Yuuta haven't noticed him yet but the boy turns his face around and his eyes catch Noritoshi's. it's only a split second but it feels like infinity.

It has been fours years since you left. you had always been close with Yuuta – and the special grade was always free to travel. it has been four years. Noritoshi tries not to think about it. but that boy looks nowhere under three.

The next time Noritoshi sees you, you are alone. you both exchange greetings, it's polite but distant. his eyes linger on what changed and what remained the same. your eyes have the same shape he knows so well, but they look tired now. your lips follow the same curves, but your smile has changed.

He doesn't ask about the kid, you don't comment either. your greeting is like a business transaction, done and over with. a braver man would have asked, but he isn't quite so brave. so you part ways, he doesn't learn the name of the kid, or his age for that matter.

Noritoshi later catches a glimpse of the boy with Maki – she was one of the few people he knew visited you with regularity, so it made sense. then he sees the kid again with Yuuta. it's through a window, and once more the boy turns around when Yuuta isn't looking.

He doesn't want to stare, not really. but Noritoshi can't help but notice his traits. the little boy has your skin complexion and the shape of your eyes. his hair is raven black, falling straight to his chin. Noritoshi never saw pictures of you as a child – and now he is left wondering.

Noritoshi walks away before he can be noticed. but not before he hears the boy call for his father. when Yuuta's gentle tone responds, Noritoshi feels a sting. he leaves the Tokyo campus that day. he doesn't return for over a year.

In the meantime, Noritoshi learns that you returned to action as a sorcerer. he overhears about where you had lived abroad, and the name of the boy. your son. Katsuhiro. it's a beautiful name, he thinks.

The next time Noritoshi sees Katsuhiro is when he needs to visit the Tokyo campus again. he'd made sure to arrange his trip when you'd be on a mission, but fate didn't care. he spots the kid with Choso, the half cursed spirit taking the little boy somewhere inside the school.

The kid should be about five by now - or closer to six by different calculations. Noritoshi tries not to think too hard about it. about how he is at the age where cursed techniques manifest. about how he heard nothing of it. about how Choso would be a good choice if one needed to train a child with blood manipulation without reaching the Kamo clan.

A braver man would have asked you, but he isn't brave. and now he lingers in the hallway, staring at the place where they turned around – one foot stepping into the sunlight coming through the window, and he doesn't know if he wants to move forward.

Noritoshi tries not to think about it. he really does. not to wonder about what lies behind the walls he cannot cross. not to muse on what ifs. he tries not to think about it. but now he can't even sleep – the thoughts won't silence for a second.

[omercifulheaves]

Akira Art by Katsuhiro Otomo Love how they made this look kinda like an album cover. Hell, maybe it is one.

[voids-voyager]

Luna say maybe - Official Music Video Gakuen IdolM@ster - Temari Tsukimura (VA. Nao Ojika) Lyrics and Composition by Minami, Arrangement by Minami, Katsuhiro Mafune

[imasallstars]

The cover arts for single albums for Saki Hanami, Temari Tsukimura, and Kotone Fujita has been released and their albums are set to be released on August 7th 2024. Each album will consist of a new solo song, solo versions of two group songs, and off vocals

花海咲季 1st Single "Fighting My Way"

Tr.01　Fighting My Way 　Lyrics: HIROMI　Music&Arrange: GIGA 　Singer(s): Saki Hanami Tr.02　Hajime (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.03　Campus mode!! (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.04　Fighting My Way (instrumental) Tr.05　Hajime (instrumental) Tr.06　Campus mode!! (instrumental)

月村手毬 1st Single "Luna say maybe"

Tr.01　Luna say maybe 　Lyrics&Music: Minami　Arrange: Minami, Katsuhiro Mafune 　Singer(s): Temari Tsukimura Tr.02　Hajime (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.03　Campus mode!! (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.04　Luna say maybe (instrumental) Tr.05　Hajime (instrumental) Tr.06　Campus mode!! (instrumental)

藤田ことね 1st Single "世界一可愛い私"

Tr.01　Sekaiichi Kawaii Watashi 　Lyrics: Honeyworks　Music&Arrange: Honeyworks 　Singer(s): Kotone Fujita Tr.02　Hajime (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.03　Campus mode!! (Saki Hanami Solo ver.) Tr.04　Sekaiichi Kawaii Watashi (instrumental) Tr.05　Hajime (instrumental) Tr.06　Campus mode!! (instrumental)

[twiststreet]

2023: for the "record", my favorite experiences with comics this year--

#5: Junji Ito's Dark Paradox. This was the year the Viz App became available, and that had a lot of great classic experiences over there-- switching between Ranma 1/2 and Cross Game has been ridiculous. Hall of fame, excellent material. Junji Ito's Dark Paradox was the first manga I checked out on there, and it's just ... it's just a fun "bad dream" of a comic, you know? I have a very particular range of horror that works for me, and this is in that range, something like Phantasm where there's a goofiness but the nightmare logic of it carries you through...? American comics are so bad at horror, though-- they're so bad at it that there are American comic creators who wrote entire essays about how "horror doesn't work in comics." And then you read these Japanese things and it's like... the entire continental United States, not even in the race! Not even in the race!

#4: Osamu Tezuka's Paper Fortress. It's not available legitimately as far as I know-- I think it's just too short and maybe too tough a read. It's his war memoir, and it's just... it's a rough little comic. There's an innocence to his style, that he knows how to use against a reader-- you can see that in a lot of his comics-- and I think it really becomes especially tough with Paper Fortress. If you saw Godzilla Minus One, and if you saw Boy and the Heron, I think you have to read Paper Fortress to really complete the trilogy. It's an essential third part of that trilogy. I'm not a Tezuka expert, like other people-- there are big ones I haven't read... but for me, I think it's Tezuka's best comic, or the best I've seen.

#3: Katsuhiro Otomo's Sayonara Nippon, which I wrote about at numbing length over here. It's the greatest action comics artist of all time, but doing a hang-out, edgelord comedy (with nods to R. Crumb!) set in Harlem that is probably unprintable now because of its, uh, "political incorrectness", let's go with that, let's use that phrase. It held my attention, haha. But despite the parts I have a discomfort with, it's Otomo-- he's one of the best to ever do it, for me-- and it's Otomo doing something I'd never seen him do. I had a good time. I don't necessarily recommend it.

#2: Fumi Saimion's Tokyo Love Story. Another scanlation-only deal-- I don't think it's available legitimately. I misidentified it as a josei comic, while it's technically seinen-- either way, it's just a comic about young adults trying to figure themselves out romantically. I think you'd call it a "manic pixie dreamgirl" story, but Saimon's a woman, so-- I think a manic pixie dreamgirl lands differently when it has a woman creator. Maybe that's a mistake on my part, but-- I see that more as a kind of wish fulfilment, and interesting as such, I guess?

But I don't know-- for me, it's just how Saimon draws... It's so loose, but it's just enough. It's not burdensome at all, when you look at it. So you just get to be with the characters-- the art's never trying to get in the way. It's the kind that makes you want to draw because it doesn't seem impossible to draw-- like, "oh drawing's fun." I see comics now, American comics, and none of them make drawing look fun-- they all make drawing seem like work. All the lighting effects, you know?? What kid is at home with a pen saying to themselves, "Oh I can do that" and copying a drawing with that much lighting going on, where you can't see the lines because they're all holding colors, etc. When I look at these comics... it's certainly not "lazy art" or "bad art." It's just that you get to be with the characters.

And then easy #1, mentioned briefly here, is Kowloon Generic Romance, particularly the first volume, which is available legitimately (rare for this list haha!), and is just... It fucking knocked me out, man. It's hard to articulate the why of it, but it's like... if I made comics more often, it's something I wish I could make. It's off the charts horny, which I don't think I could do in a comic, not as unashamedly as that. But it's just got this-- it's just the vibes are immaculate, man.

Like, I think the thing that unites all the comics I've mentioned... comics having a breath of life to them. Where ... you feel like you're watching people that exist. I think when you're a kid, you get that from comics, and a lot of the angry people you see online are people for whom "Spiderman is no longer alive" because they can't keep it up as they get older, and their imaginations wither, and they think the reason why is "politics" and not... you know, the sad clawing of mortality against their flesh.

But like-- Kowloon Genric Romance, it's not just that the characters are breathing but they're like... hanging out in apartments, smoking cigarettes, being hornballs, swooning, feeling nostalgiac. They're alive and they're in a Wong Kar Wai movie?? That is ... That's pretty gnarly, to me.

There's a science fiction element that was dragging it down in the last volume I read (I think a couple came out since then, I'm behind, but). But it's just-- it's very much a manga set to Citypop-- you can hear the soundtrack in your head, and I bet if I compared notes to other people who read it, our soundtracks would overlap significantly. It demands it, you know? It's just... It's vibes. It's just so good at vibes...

Worst Comic: the Viz App has Hot Gimmick and Hot Gimmick is a mess. I had a fun time with it because the wrong choices have a sort of... they're almost funny because it's like "why the hell did they make this like this" quality to it. But that is trash. I can't defend it. It's kind of unacceptable. I read every page.

Honorary Mentions: like I said, Cross Game and Ranma 1/2. I thought Yasuda Kasumi's drawings on Fool Night were very very pretty. I thought Wild Strawberry started strong in that respect too, though it's lost my attention fast when it became more of a standard shonen. I'm very confused by One Piece lately but continue to enjoy that and Chainsaw Man (where I'm very behind as I figured out I enjoy it more binging it a little).

I decided to be a manga guy about 3 years ago, and get American comics out of my life, and stop writing about them, and blah blah blah, but that said, I continue to be very involved with the comics, in all kinds of weird ways, whether it's stuff I can't talk about, making notes for future projects, trying to get into "drawing shape" again (that is *not* going well), etc. I had a very, very good year as a reader this year, too-- that hasn't always been true, but ... I feel like as a reader, this was a year far above average for me, or what little I settled for as average prior to 2020. I hear things are rough out there but I hope that's true for other people, too. Anyways, that was my year.

[cacaitos]

2023 manga list:

most of the manga i read this year. more or less around 90, but that's also counting short stories, and things i omitted.

bottom text.

beastars/beast complex [3/5] beastars as an action shonen (or a story anyway) is all over the place so don't get your hopes up to much on that front. beastars' main consistent strong point is being Horny and Weird. i've said that sometimes it doesnt compromise with the logical terms of its premise but exploring a variety of odd relationships is imo the most interesting and engaging element of it anyway.

chainsaw man [4/5] overall is a mostly normal shonen if you were expecting for something more alternative. to be honest a lot how you would feel about Pt 1 will be told by how you feel about having very consecutive character deaths, it can feel a bit rushed. but it is indeed a bit distinctive abt how it tackles the topic of intimacy/relationships esp predatory ones in jump-type shonen. can't complain too much on that front. fire punch [3/5] once the berserk-type edgyness aside on the story is aptly entertaining, tho by some stretches it can be disorienting plotwise, in a negative way. it drops Lots of plot points or rushes them... you can really grow to like some characters but there will be a point -you will know- that it just kinda disengages w you. Curious existential ending. good if you're bored.

golden kamuy [3.5/5] also more typical shonen-esque than i expected. it never gets That Much Dark imo, as in total slow downers i mean. although obviously it is 'dark' more on the bizzare part. fun characters.

kaze to ki no uta [4/5] to be honest it does live up to the reputation of making you generally emotionally Unwell. but on my experience the development of gilbert and serge grew more engaging than I expected. tragic banger. terra e... [3/5] also was more than i expected since the one time i tried with the anime i got bored 1 ep in. but the story and tomy as the mc also gave me more heartfelt emotions than I expected. the pacing and amount info conveyed can get exhausting tho. didn't care much abt the ending. natsu e no tobira [2/5] the ova is gorgeous so it has those points on its favour. otherwise the ova and the manga are almost identical. youth and death themes and all i did Nawt care abt that pedo woman. weird story to develop that shoujo theme abt allowing ppl to see your vulnerability but eh i'll take it.

YAMAMOTO: ichi the killer [3.5/5] frenetic and entertaining enough if you're willing to go through knowing the tw's. suprisingly fast to read. if you're looking for the yamamoto Experience, it's a must after hommunculus. voyeur/voyeurs inc [2/5] got awfully disappointed w voyeurs-inc; i got hooked on voyeur (ie the prototype) but the change of cast on inc was a total letdown. don't think it's worth reading of you're a ymmt casual. maybe just the prototype. okama report [0/5] don't even fucking bother. barely passable even for anybody that's very into ymmt. adam & eve [2/5] shit story, curious fights/interactions.

KATSUHIRO OTOMO akira [3/5] a lot of the military and persecution sequences get so annoying and boring sometimes but if you forget abt the adaptations it's a decent enough scifi-action thing. the movie is better at that. the relationship between kaneda and tetsuo- dont like rn to pit which of the two did it better, but from the movie to the manga it's deff not a letdown, especially for tetsuo that has a lot more time. he's interesting. domu [2.5/5] interesting action wise, but as for story I wouldn't bother. kanojo no omoide (memories of her) [3/5] ootomo himself said some of the stories are quite meaningless and nonsensical lol but if you've seen the Magnetic Rose ova you will like some of them. world apartment horror [3/5] 1st didn't care about. liked 2nd. 3rd i didn't get shit. 4th it was cute. visitors [3/5] liked it. short piece/short peace [3/5] i liked it. highway star [3/5] feels like that suicide episode of paranoia agent, that kind of humor lol. boogie wogie waltz [1/5] uncomprehensible. good weather [1/5] eh.

houseki no kuni [4/5] it isn't getting better, the tragedy doesn't stop it's not an understatement. whoa.

dorohedoro [3/5] entertaining seinen, tho sometimes it gets kinda confusing and convoluted. love the characters theyre fun :)

ajin [4/5]

i was surprised that it was a closed off story from what i expected coming from the anime haha. neat action panelling and art. I get the feel that some characters had more to give and develop, but not disappointing.

OSHIMI SHUZO flowers of evil [3/5] the romantic triangle didnt bother me as much as i expected. it is a weird manga know that up front. i'm inside mari [4/5] i quite liked it and was quite surprised abt that fact lol. blood on the tracks [4/5] good family drama at leaston my year'sranking; shuzo's art style does wonders and is v immersive. some said that it felt repetitive and while i can say at some point the went a bit ehhhh, but reading it all back to back instead of weekly i don't feel it's that draggy. backwards i think it could've used more chapters, or content rather. happiness [2.5/5] tbh got disappointed, kinda disperse. like half 1 and 2 don't have much to do... okaeri alice [2.5/5] some individual characters really do make the manga endurable but some bits from the main characters are so...? unnecessary, or unnecessarily long at least. not really shuzo's best work. avant-garde yumeko [-/5] odd.

NAGABE totsukuni no shoujo [4.5/5] i mean, for most of it that i can describe it well with heartwarming but bittersweet, about parent-child relationships, love, loneliness, sacrifice, it's pretty good at that. then It Gets You. monotone blue [4/5] refreshing bl, sweet, the art delivers and the sensitivity. and i say refreshing bl bc it's not weird abt sa or adjacent harrassment.

i read most of his shoujo works, but they're too many to mention if you liked totsukuni you will like them, nothing to lose. some uh moral objections on some..EAT [-/5] it's okay. if you don't mind horny furries. SMELL [-/5] errr..... ok.

RYO SUMIYOSHI/SUZURI MADK [2.5/5] good art as always. more fucked up background things as it goes on but the mako-J thing is kinda crayzay. it has some hasty character developments at important times... torso no bokura [2/5] also good art, nothing too upsetting if at least relative to MADK. kinda enjoyable and entertaining anthology.

NEMUI ASADA sleeping dead [3/5] imo asada's overall best work, or at least to beginners or if you plan to read just one of hers. since the translation of the work is not finished i don't wanna assume the ending, but the starting premise is interesting enough, although we're currently on a less eventful note plotwise which can feel a bit disappointing for the moment. my little inferno [1.5/5] not particularly interesting conceptually, or writing. madara moyou no yoi [1.5/5] noticeable premise for an asada work, it being more action oriented i mean, but it's still to early to say in execution. SKIN [1/5] what the hell. that's asada for everybody/ dear, my god [1/5] odd ending. didn't coincide with how the story was handling at least the preist, imo. i literally don't care about the cactus story. CALL [2/5] surprisingly not so harsh of an asada story. more of a normal kind of depressing bl. ai, sei [1/5] don't mind in any particular direction. loved circle [1/5] did not care for the setting. not as dark as you would expect but not particularly interesting either. whatever ending. to the sea [1/5] ...? that happened i guess.

hikaru ga shinda natsu [3.5/5] it's a manga that has earned a reputation and a set of expectations that (i haven't caught up w latest ch) that delivers on the visual and effective ambientation, but we're to see on the story but good so far.

double (noda ayako) [4/5] veeery expressive art from noda. if you let it be as a normal acting manga it can get you by surprise on some emotional beats. better go in with low expectations, different tastes and all.

my broken mariko [3.5/5] it's a short story, solid. gorg art that adds to the sorrow and bittersweetness.

gunjou [3.5/5] hmmm it can feel a bit repetitive the back and forth at several points of the story, depends of how you read that related to unstable relationships. i don't necessarily want to brand it mainly as a GL but all in all its still one of the most interesting entries on it, with a toxic relationship that commits to the complexity of the situation.

gunjou gakusho [2.5/5] a melancholic anthology with beautiful art. i got to like a pair of the stories.

omoide emanon/sasurai emanon [3/5] personally i preferred omoide emanon (the one the mangaka said was Twitter for people unfamiliar w emanon) and i prefer the lineal story tbh. sasurai ones can be hit or miss, some feel incomplete? or unconcluded. i mean sasurai was cancelled midway so.

bibliomania [2/5] cool art, intriguing initial premise and execution, but i didn't find it particularly interesting by the end part, like thematically.

banana bread no pudding [2/5] didn't care for the main relationship itself, but the protagonist ended up being more engaging than i expected. a mostly soft and bittersweet read, but i would wait ot read more of the author's works to say how recommendable i would rank it as.

petshop of horrors [2.5/5] the individual stories can be hit ot miss from one person to another but imo D is very consistently entertaining and likeable lol.

higashi nishida [2.5/5] not much consistency but they have a nice undertsated feeling personally :). some of its introspection catches you off guard. no high expectations though.

kodomo wa wakette agenai [3/5] it's a nice short story, it's funny if you don't come in expecting loud knee-slappers types of jokes. it's good if you're looking for something light to read.

she loves to cook, she loves to eat [3/5] also good if you're looking for something light to read.

tamen de gushi [3/5] wholesome as you would expect. nice art on later years. depends on your taste.

my solo exchange diary [4/5] actually liked and grew to appreciate the author's organized narration style. it avoids a lot of confusion and she verbalizes her feelings in a relatable way for somethings sometimes so awkward to say out loud.

seibetsu x [2.5/5] this one is much less organized temporally and thematically so it can get a bit confusing, but it's funny on it's own, since the author is very blunt on their feelings lol.

killing stalking [3/5] less Evil than i remembered, just as disturbing, just as mid ending as i remembered. maybe it's bc of being a reread -that helps pick some things better- but reading it out of the heat of the moment in its era it's not as ill intended or deliberately romanticizing as one might have led to believe; it understands that much at least. visually however, still often leans into more eroticism i call inappropiate and unncessary.

boy's abyss [2.5/5] it's a manga that drags and wanders aimlessly too much, it gets repetitive. there are some plots and elements i consider more consistent and interesting, like the family, predatory relationships and the town's seeming unescapability themes, but the suicidal thing gets a bit exasperating when it just goes nowhere. dont expect tooo much. kinda good to binge tho.

himegoto, juukyuusai no seifuku [2.5/5] if you see the premise i know it sounds kinda weird but as i said when i read it my only comment abt is that it's suprisingly more compelling than one would expect, if you dont question much the individual prompts. gets kinda heavy by the end w on character tho.

yuureitou [2.5/5] sometimes entertaining on an adventure mystery type thing. theme and writing quality varying for the first 2/3s, off it's shits by the third that's kinda ehh conceptually. read it for some crazy shit ending. trans-wise, on the mc side, well they're some consistently annoying things all throughout but technically good intentioned but the ending 1/3 is v transmisogynistic, heads up.

uzumaki [2/5] ito's art is good. didnt really get me going much but not hated reading it. didnt get the ending, or didnt like it a lot at least.

fetish, kaoru fujiwara [2.5/5] takes a turn in seriousness by the 2nd story. 3rd story is so 😖 err, and then the rest go down in tone again.

the view beyond, kaoru fujiwara [2.5/5] one of those wouldn't that be fucked up stories. like that sure happened. not precisecly im even a fan of the message of the premise, even if it's technically showing it's horrible results.

raise wa tanin ga ii [3.5/5] t'was funny. all in all, esp towards the last chapters their interactions turn more earnest, personally, than i expected.

crying freeman [2/5] major saving grace is the art, it's pretty good. dunno, it feels however you feel about edgy 007-type 80s stories. personally didnt care abt mafia-clan thing substainance plots.

devilman lady [2/3] lot's of SA till it gets a bit unbearable and boring, heads up. did not care about most of the plot itself but if you liked the og devilman characters, the mains of Lady have the same likeability. save from The Horrors of the end. -shin devilman [1/5] boring. don't lose nothing over not reading it. uh. that first chaper uh.... -amon - devilman mokushiroku [1.5/5] edgy in the usual way dvm is edgy in that usual measure,s o the story is nothing to die for lol. good art (save for Things) and cool visuals, body horror, etc more than anything. the silene storyline is the more interesting part, the other idgaf about. -neo devilman [2/5] it's an anthology. seeing different artist's takes is entertaining enough. usual dvm edgyness. -devilman saga [0/5] boring dear god. not one saving grace of entertainment even for a nagai dvm work.

tetsuo the bullet man [1.5/5] shot for shot as the third tetsuo movie. i liked the manga and its ending more than the movie's tho. not like the movie is good anyway.

dog ningen [1/5] don't let the premise scare you, it's pretty mild. and amateur. and boring.

[optimistpax]

For comic recs:

Pharma (IDW1)

For Pharma

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

He’s Going Thru it. Everyone on Delphi needs therapy lol

For You

Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo

If you like Pharma then I think you might like this book. The drama and mystery has similar vibes To Me

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 10/11/22

in which i read a book but completely fail to discuss it

listening Bloody! Bloody! by Junie & TheHutfriends. self-described indie pop, incredibly fun chorus! the same sort of frantic plinky..banjo? undertones that i liked so much in my absolute favorite song of hers, The Consequence of Imagination Is Fear.

very good spooky halloween song. i truly do love this band so much for how fucking Weird it is.

And you’re driving with your hands, not believing all the bleeding, and they’re calling you- Bloody! And the knife sits gleaming in the red back seating, and they’re calling you- Bloody! And they’re all still screaming in your head, and their lips dead, calling you- Bloody!

there are a couple creatives where i'm like "yes i WOULD like a new Frog Detective/twine novel/something every year, where i have a marvelous time for forty minutes and it's a little self-contained experience". this band goes in the same brain bucket, bc it feels like it is as much an excuse to collage and make felt puppets as it is to release a new single once every few months. now i am projecting bc i do not know this lady or her process, but i would like more people to be able to make art where i the art enjoyer get a little thing every once in a while, without the artist feeling the crushing need to be a professional artist hitting it big in order to make the art and any sort of living also.

-

reading The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

i had to think really fucking hard about if i wanted to talk about this book, bc like a lot of older scifi it critiques the problems of its time but is also very much a product of its time. and i then i remembered that i'm going to do what i want forever until i die :) and then i didn't really have time to even discuss this book much at all :)

let's yoink the description straight off wiki

The Man in the High Castle (1962), by Philip K. Dick, is an alternative history novel wherein the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1947, and depicts the political intrigues between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany as they rule the partitioned United States. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a novel-within-the-novel which is an alternative history of the war in which the Allies defeat the Axis.

i do enjoy how scifi, especially older scifi, often refuses to resolve neatly or at all. this one left me unsettled. this is not a bad thing! it is unsettled in a way that is un-fan-ficcable. it is unsettled in a way that even though Philip K. Dick planned a sequel, he couldn't bring himself to write one bc the research for this book was so depressing. i do think i gotta let this one percolate in the back of my brain a bit, bc i don't have any useful thoughts aside from "wow yeah this series of events is totally plausible and plays out in a very 'yup i can see that happening' way". this entry is more setting down a marker to myself that i can in fact read full length books. maybe even do it again

how did i find it: this entry came about through a perfect confluence of events: i read this all in one sitting (rare) after seeing it in a thrift store earlier that day (also rare) and thinking "this probably isn't a book i'll reread, does my library have it" (near-miraculous).

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watching Ōtomo Katsuhiro, director of Akira, has done three...whatever the animated version of a book of short stories is. is it just an anthology also??? anyway i watched Memories (1995) back in july, adored it, half the soundtrack is on my regular roulette wheel of data entry music, and i finally looped back around and watched the other three anthologies he was part of this week.

didn't like them as much! it is eleven forty three pm as i write this so i will not be going into great detail. overall impressions only.

robot carnival (1987) i did not care for very much at all. i think it is the weakest overall of the four both in animation and in story. it did give me this baller screenshot.

neo tokyo (1987) absolutely off the fucking chain with animation flexes. stories overall were not as strong as memories (i am going to be thinking about the first short in memories until i die probably). i have never seen such a perfectly animated cat that nobody seems to have really giffed? unrelated in a different short, i have never seen fire animated like that and now all other animated fire looks wrong.

short peace (2013) i liked much more both on strength of animation and strength of storytelling. "possessions", wherein a wandering samurai takes shelter from a storm in a shrine to...discarded objects? charmed me the most.

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playing Card Cowboy by a large assortment of people and published by Luckshot. available PWYW on itch and it's like three american bucks on steam. you're out seeking "Revenge against the Gunman who killed your dad, wooed your mom, and kicked your dog" in a procgen fashion gathering cards board-game-style to progress along a web of little location options. and the little opening animatic has the best royalty-free morricone i've ever heard

this is a very polished game with all the quality of life features and smooth art one expects from a card game. it wants to be a phone game really badly.

this is not a moral judgement or a dig at how fun it is, bc it's very fun, but the whole time i played it i thought about how much fun it would be to play on my phone.

at one point i had three bandits, a wife, a baby, a baby horse (the game did not call it a foal don't @ me), and a gold lasso. the next turn i got Blood Money from sending the foal off to compete in the rodeo.

the below is how i got a baby

the below is how i lost the baby

this game is very easy to tell stories about like "oh yeah did you get the blood money from sending the foal off to the rodeo???" which is always super fucking helpful in both game discovery and selling the damn thing. extremely streamable bc it is procgen. i hope it sells a billion copies.

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making having a fancy bathroom makes me feel like a rich bitch so i got a new shower head. the shower head of course did not fix the abysmal water pressure in this house but it does have an additional detachable head so possibly i will actually clean my bathtub more often. got to use a big fuckoff pipe wrench to take the old showerhead off which was fun. other than recaulking the little escutcheon to the shower wall (annoying) this was a fairly quick and painless process. suspicious. shower head here except i did not spend seventy five dollars on it, that’s ludicrous, i found a new in box one on eBay for thirty bucks.

in other news, acquired the Perfect double breasted trench coat in the Perfect length, it’s got the belt, the wool lining is intact, it’s in decent shape except for the horrible stain on the front. so it’s at the dry cleaners to see if anything happens. the armscyes are just a hair too tight for me in a thin tshirt to lift my arms over shoulder height without looking stupid as fuck so i may find a tailor if i ever want to wear it with a sweater or something. i cannot stress enough how much it is the perfect cut and the perfect length for me. i am willing to invest some dollars in a good classic trench coat i will hopefully have for the next twenty years.

[sketching-shark]

imagine in a retelling where wukong morphs into a terrifying kaiju made of lava after a disturbing metamorphisis like tetsuo from akira when he turned into that giant flesh baby, except its out of negative emotions, like that'll be sick

I've gotta start this off anon by noting that I'm not sure if you should use the term "kaiju" to refer to anything that the Chinese Monkey King might transform into, as "kaiju" refers specifically to a Japanese fiction genre featuring giant monsters. I know that the term has come to have a more general association with any giant creature in media, but I still feel it behooves us to note what terms might be appropriate for which culture, even in regards to their colossal fictional creatures. That said, in all honesty I'm not sure what term exactly would best fit such forms! Even in the Yu English translation of Journey to the West he doesn't give any concrete title to the gargantuan forms taken on by Erlang Shen and Sun Wuong in their heaven-shaking fight with each other; he states that they "had changed themselves into forms which imitated Heaven and Earth" and which were "a hundred thousand feet tall," "green-faced, saber-toothed figure[s] with scarlet hair," but there's no one word given to encompass what they are within that transformation. I do know that Chinese mythology features giants (see for one famous example Pan Gu), so maybe that would be the best descriptor? I've just been sticking to "war form" when talking about the shapes Sun Wukong shifts into for times of intense fighting. But of course if someone knows what the proper monkier is please do share!

But yeah, hard agree that more retellings and reinterpretations of Sun Wukong's story should take advantage of the body horror extravaganza that Journey to the West actually offers & let the Monkey King continue the contemporary trend of "stone monkey = lava monkey" by going full volcano in his rage

(image underneath the cut due to body horror & with apologies to Katsuhiro Otomo)

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: What's your take on Original Characters that make their first appearance or were made specifically for Crossover games? Examples include Ingrid from Capcom, Reiji Arisu for the Namco X Capcom Games and System for BBTAG.

Such characters certainly help "pad" the VAST VOID (applied phlebotinum?) that explains such crossovers in the first place… but I digress…

But, even from that perspective, such characters DO, at the very least, serve a cool purpose of blending some key aspects of any and every franchise they come in contact with in the process.

I'd also like to make the argument that most KOF (King of Fighters) characters were built INTRINSICALLY for this purpose, since KOF is a "crossover fighting game dream match" at its CORE.

That's not to say such unique characters are shallow by nature, far from it… only, to see them step outside their own franchise or SINGLE UNIQUE CROSSOVER GAME in which they existed is going to be like pulling teeth!

Imagine putting said characters in YET ANOTHER CROSSOVER… I mean… Fortnite DOES come to mind… but at most you're going to get maybe a handful of "Hey, I know that character!" moments from the fans.

What sort of business connections do you suppose a man like Katsuhiro Harada must HAVE in order to bring such characters together on the SAME stage? Or Masahiro Sakurai for that matter?

Even a character like Gilgamesh (Final Fantasy Series) might have just the right amount of "magic" to make the impossible "possible" (to say nothing of Hideo Kojima's creations).

That said, putting Reiji and Xiaomu in the same room as Abyss, Galactus, System, AND Leopaldon would be pretty neat!

Speaking of which... I do have an "ideas" tag, in case anyone forgot!

[jcmarchi]

Tekken 8 Preview - Return Of The King Of The Iron Fist - Game Informer

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/tekken-8-preview-return-of-the-king-of-the-iron-fist-game-informer/

Tekken 8 Preview - Return Of The King Of The Iron Fist - Game Informer

Following the events of Tekken 7, the stage for Tekken 8’s story is set up to be perhaps the most over-the-top yet. In the six months since the defeat of Heihachi Mishima, his son, Kazuya Mishima, has installed a reign of terror over the planet using his devil powers. And while the setup is, quite frankly, a lot to take in, if the first four chapters I played are any indication, the level of spectacle and bombast reaches new levels in Tekken 8’s Story Mode.

The first chapter opens with Lars Alexandersson on a high-tech plane. He mentions the mission is to take down “evil incarnate,” as he indicates the very man he hunted in previous titles, Jin Kazama, might be their only hope. The scene flashes to Jin speeding through busy city streets on a motorcycle. To my surprise, he rides his motorcycle up the side of a building and, in a move that would make the combined Fast & Furious and Marvel casts blush, grabs the motorcycle with his hands and throws it at the nearby helicopter. Jin lands on the ground and watches the helicopter’s fiery crash. From the flames, his target emerges – Kazuya.

After a heated exchange, Story Mode’s first fight breaks out. Playing as Jin, I take it to Kazuya. Each time I’ve played Tekken 8 so far, I’ve marveled at how the themes of aggression shine through in the most effective strategies. I sprint at Kazuya, launching him into the air and juggling him with an air combo before blasting him with a Heat Smash. From there, I use Jin’s now-enhanced speed from the Heat Gauge to pummel Kazuya. He gets a few good licks in, but I take him down. Between each round, brief cutscenes set up the next round, giving it a more cinematic feel than a standard fighting game.

In this instance, Kazuya goads Jin’s devil form out, giving me a chance to play as Devil Jin. I put his powers to good use, including his powerful Rage Art. Following this second-round victory, Jin takes the action to the next level as he grabs Kazuya and smashes him through the roof of a skyscraper, bringing the entire building down around them. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how far the team is pushing the events of this Story Mode, even in this first chapter.

“If you’re comparing it to a movie, movies are usually 90 minutes or so, so, relatively, it’s not that long; you can pretty much assume your audience is going to stick with it to the end,” director Katsuhiro Harada says. “But for games, we have data that maybe even in some cases, 70 percent of the people don’t actually make it to the end of the game. So, we were thinking we needed to make sure that we really grabbed the audience at that opening scene to make sure they stick with it.”

The next three chapters, which feature Kazuya destroying the world’s military satellites and installing the King of the Iron Fist tournament to determine the new hierarchy of world powers, show that we might be in for a wild ride with this narrative. At the same time, Jin struggles to regain his powers while not allowing them to consume him. It’s silly and ridiculous, and I cannot wait.

“Since this isn’t a free-to-play game – it’s a full-fledged product package – we wanted to make it so that even if you’re not a fighting game aficionado, you’d still feel compelled to spend that full price just for the story,” Harada says. “That’s the barometer that we’re thinking. That’s what went into getting that high level of quality and volume of the Story Mode, so the people think that that’s almost a game in itself.”

On top of Story, I got to play Arcade Quest, a new secondary story mode focusing on a Tekken 8 player as they journey through the arcade scene in hopes of taking home the gold in various tournaments. Its setup and production values are quaint in contrast to the main Story Mode, but I love going around to different arcades and challenging NPCs to Tekken 8 matches, all while learning new techniques via the in-game coach, Max. Through various avatar-creation options, I was able to make a ridiculous-looking character to represent me during my demo, though I’ll probably make something a bit more pleasing to the eyes when the full game rolls around.

This Bandai Namco-created avatar is much better than the nerd I created

Those customization elements carry forward to the main roster of characters as well. Unlockable customization elements let you creatively reconfigure the visual elements of your favorite fighters. After toying around with different hair colors and outfits for Tekken newcomer Victor, I realized that no matter what I changed about his original appearance was worse than his standard character design. As a result, I added a baguette to his back to complement the sword on his hip and called it a day.

When it comes to actually learning how to play Tekken 8, Bandai Namco has put in various ways to let you learn the ropes. In addition to the Special style control scheme, which lets you pull off combos by pressing simpler button sequences, Tekken 8 carries forward and improves upon many of the other learning tools present in past games in the series. My Replay + Tips lets you study how you can improve your game through tailor-made pointers, while Super Ghost Battles allow you to play against an A.I. opponent that learns player tendencies in real time. And of course, there’s the full Practice mode to really let you figure out how to pull off that move that’s giving you trouble.

When you feel like you’ve studied enough tape, you can take a break and play a little Tekken Ball, which makes its first appearance since the Wii U version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2. This volleyball-style competitive mode lets you smack a ball back and forth, dealing damage with each successful point. It’s goofy and far from the most in-depth feature, but it’s a lot of fun.

After a strong year for fighting games thanks to releases like Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, Tekken 8 hopes to carry that trend into early 2024. With 32 fighters available at launch, including some incredible additions like Victor (who will probably be my new main), Reina, and Azucena, I feel better about Tekken 8 each time I get my hands on it.

[thetoxicgamer]

A Tekken 8 Beta Could Be Coming, Prepare Yourselves

While the Tekken 8 release date still remains a secret, Bandai Namco’s king of all things fighting games Katsuhiro Harada has suggested that a Tekken 8 beta may be on the cards. When asked “can we get a weekend beta of Tekken 8,” game director and chief producer Harada responds “we are still only doing closed alpha testing at each event, so please wait for the beta.” This confirms two things: firstly, the game is still very much in its early stages, meaning a 2024 release date is probably more likely than even Q4 of 2023. It also seemingly confirms that there is potential for a beta, something that hasn’t been discussed before now. Tekken 8 brings the age-old franchise into the modern age, making use of Unreal Engine 5’s tech to enhance the graphics and make your killer blows look, well, absolutely killer. Harada also confirmed that the game will have crossplay, a first for the series and a very, very exciting announcement. And, let’s be honest, it’s an announcement we needed. Tekken 7’s solo campaign didn’t have the spark of its predecessors, and everything felt just a little dusty. Tekken 8 is the redemption the franchise needs and, honestly, given just how good those character trailers look (I think I’m in love with Ling Xiaoyu all over again), I believe that Bandai has got it right this time. Maybe it’s just some copium; we’ll have to wait until launch to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGQBmSsunT4 Until then, though, have a look through the list of all the currently confirmed Tekken 8 characters – there’s a lot, and you’ll probably recognise quite a few of them. Otherwise, if you’re looking for something a little different, we have everything you need to stay busy in our best PC games guide. Read the full article

[imasallstars]

Luna say maybe by Temari Tsukimura

　Lyrics&Music: Minami 　Arrange: Minami, Katsuhiro Mafune

[hiddnthings]

some things you may consider doing if i went missing, part. 1

watch these very peculiar movies (in a tiny cinema, with few to no people in the room, maybe in a slightly daze-like state) - Twelve Angry Men, 1957 (Sidney Lumet) - La Jetée, 1962 (Chris Marker) - Pierrot le Fou, 1965 (Jean-Luc Godard) - Throw Away Your Books, Rally in (...), 1971 (Shūji Terayama) - Serpico, 1973 (Sidney Lumet) - Stalker, 1979 (Andrei Tarkovsky) - Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola) - Blade Runner, 1982 (Ridley Scott) - Akira, 1988 (Katsuhiro Otomo) - Fallen Angels, 1995 (Wong Kar-wai) - Ghost In The Shell, 1995 (Mamoru Oshii) - Gummo, 1997 (Harmony Korine) - Duvidha, 1999 (Mani Kaul) - Karisuma, 1999 (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) - In The Mood For Love (Wong Kar-wai), 2000 - Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola), 2003 - Collateral, 2004 (Michael Mann) - The Limits of Control, 2009 (Jim Jarmusch) - Detachment, 2011 (Tony Kaye - Tales from the Loop, 2020 (Nathaniel Halpern) - The Green Knight, 2021 (David Lowery) - Lobo e Cão, 2022 (Cláudia Varejão)

This post is an (infinite) WIP.