#len en art

[azrielfiend]

CRINGETOBER DAY 12: Niche Interest

i present you a game that only 2 of my followers know ever. len'en project. my beloved little interest <3

begging you all to listen to MO-NA-D-1 ~ Memory Pursuit because it sounds insane (and i mean that genuinely)

man i was a diehard lenen fan back in the day. actually if you go search the tag #lenenproject on instagram you are 100% guaranteed to find an artwork of mine from 2022 or 2021. it was soooo embarrassing bc god you can just see the art quality in my older works (the lineart RAGHHHH) and for whatever reason i was so obsessed with like, tsubakura? i was copying suzumis personality of them being creepliy obsessed with tsubakura and wanting to kill them for ... actually i have no idea why i did that but i just thought it was cool?? never let me have internet access when i was 14 years old pls. some of the art is actually not bad though like the one below

[naoiikumo]

memory

[okulki]

HAPPY LEN'EN 10TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

Oh god, i cant belive it has already been over 3 years since i joined this fandom! Unfortunately i couldn't prepare anything for this ocasion, but here are some fanarts that i havent posted yet:

Portrait of tsuba without their hat and waistcoat, actually drew this today :3

Another tsuba but in polish folk attire (although i don't remember from which specific region)

Art i drew for a silly 50+ slide presentation i made, explaining the entire len'en lore (in polish) lol

This one is SUPER old

[stupidhorse2]

Good at cooking.

[houlen-yabusame]

some new touhou music groups if they made len'en music album covers ive done recently 🙏 black onyx (covers drawn by ottiki) and 709sec (took stuff from both typical album cover artists LOL)

black onyx please come back you have to find out about a name cast off from fate

[colorghost-art]

Huevember Day 1-4

Follow my IG and/or TWT for daily updates (@/colorghost_art)

[cybergus]

Urban Scenes on Portra 800 recipe (SOOC), by Abelardo Ojeda.

/ My Street Photoblog:  cybergus.tumblr.com

[len-illus]

an impulse project that i started and finished within a day: a complete (and animated) mouse cursor set inspired by Uki Violeta from NIJISANJI EN 🌈

▶ GDrive DL link (pls make sure you are able to install custom mouse cursors first!) A peek at how the animated cursors look like:

I hope you enjoy and like them!! Please reblog it if you'll be using it!

[ma-mariarie243]

2023 SUMMARY OF ART!!

The year is almost over, so to celebrate ill show the history of my art throughout this year!!

As you can see, my art has improved a lot hehe

Under the cut will be the full pieces, along with my thoughts on them (this will be long)

JANUARY

my first art of 2023, i really like it. It shows my improvement. During this time, i was learning to draw more anime-like things. I took great inspiration from shizu (or is it shidu?), the main artist for the kagerou project music videos/light novels. This is marry kozakura in her medusa form.

FEBRUARY

my hiyori obsession started rising. Anyway i like this drawing a lot (in a sense that ive improved much). I had a dialogue playing in my head "goodbye hibiya.." while drawing this for some reason (wow i havent said hibiya in a while..). I think about this one often.

MARCH

ENE!!! This pose is from "INTERNET OVERDOSE" by Aiobahn which i had an obsession over at the time. I didint really have a good coloring style during these times but it does feel good to look back at it sometimes. Ene was really my confort character during this time, i ♡ her

APRIL

As you can tell, this isint finnished. This was supposed to be of my oc kokuta and my bestie raine's oc azalea. There have been changes to kokutas design lol (this is also the first time i did side profile.

MAY

this wasnt finished either lol. This is my girl adachi from adachi and shimamura. I really identify with her so i wanted to try drawing her. It never got finished though, and im sad that it didn't

JUNE

haruka!! my boy haruka!!! He is really important to me and i decided to draw him during this time. The hand is surprisingly good?!! I was trying to learn hands during this time. I still used the blur tool wich, i dont think was the best opinion lol

JULY

this is my original character called Undead Angel. I tried to experiment with different color and shading techniques and materials (i used the watercolor brush) I was also expirimenting with undead's design hehe.

AUGUST

this was my kagerou day drawing (aka august 15th). I was using a new drawing program for this one. I drew actor (or takane enomoto) for this drawing hehe. I like how it turned out tbh

SEPTEMBER

for this drawing, i drew marry kozakura again. I also exprimented with another coloring style for this one 😎. I really love how the pose turned out, as that was what i was trying to focus on.

OCTOBER

this was a drawing of one of my friend's deamon slayer oc aijurou. It was a gift for her but i never got to finish it. I was also trying a different shading, highlighting meathod.

NOVEMBER

my crystal p obsession began, so i tried my hand at drawing the illustration of rb but in my style. I really love this one. I really love how len turned out hehe, i was very unsure of how he would turn out.

DECEMBER

My most recent drawing. This is the version without the effects. I love how i drew the backround and i love how i drew len. I like kaito but he looked kind of off to me 😕. The side profile for len brings me joy i love how i drew him so much. Im going to be proud of this one for a while.

[zondel]

Heya! Being sick has the unique bonus of being able to draw

[unit-zero-two]

It’s interesting to me that when Reed’s EN voice was shown off there was annoyance/disappointment from people about her not having an Irish accent. Then we get to the new event and we find out that it’s a plot point. Reed very explicitly sounds like a Victorian, not a Taran. Until she speaks/sings Taran no one knows that she’s a Taran. She’s a minority passing as the majority. She’s assimilated. Even when it’s revealed that she’s Taran, she’s still treated as separate due to the implied class privilege that allows her to speak like she does.

I love how this helps to emphasize the ongoing theme/question of the event, “What makes someone a Taran?” They talk repeatedly about how the Taran language has been widely obliterated. Their stories relegated to folk tales and avant garde art that’s seen as revolutionary. The Victorians have removed all bits of culture that makes a Taran, and spread them from their homeland through Victoria. In this situation, how could they know who else is a Taran? How could they know they’re a Taran? The Tarans have been made into an underclass with the majority of them poor. Their cultural struggle has become a class struggle and it is through this lens that many see themselves as “Taran”. Is the person who runs the factory that grinds up Taran lives for a better profit margin still Taran? What about the nobles who fund Taran art but otherwise speak the Victorian tongue, wear their clothes and otherwise ignore the plight of the Tarans? What makes Reed Taran? And how does this affect whether she’s qualified to lead the Tarans to salvation?

It also handily plays into how no one who doesn’t know to look for it doesn’t recognize her as a Draco. If Reed doesn’t call herself a Draco and own the flames inside of her, then is she still a Draco? What really makes a Draco and a Vouivre different? This event is a struggle for identity, and doesn’t really have answers to these questions. But it still provides a certainty with the path forward for our characters, and maybe that’s more important than answering these questions?

On a side note, I love the point where a character grumbles about the three stupid Vouire standing up for each other, but only one of the characters is actually a Vouivre.

[naoiikumo]

[okulki]

Haha guess who went delusional again and drew Suzumi homestuck lol

Autism wins today /pos

[stupidhorse2]

jun deserves to be an incident solver.... i think

[phoenix-downer]

KH4 First Trailer

This is the first KH4-related translation post I've done (nearly two years late ;lakjsdf my how the time flies), and hopefully there will be many more to come. I'll be focusing on the dialogue and text in the trailer and not so much on the camera angles, character expressions, etc. this time around just because I want to keep the focus on the translations.

Here’s a general key for the kind of analysis I like to do:

JP: Official Japanese Dialogue

EN: Official English Dialogue

TR: My Translation (usually more literal and thus more stilted than the official English version. I’m not using natural-sounding English in order to stick as close to the Japanese versions of the lines as possible for the purpose of analysis)

Notes: things I found interesting, grammatical points, extra thoughts, etc.

One last note: media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every work of art must be viewed through the cultural lens of the people who made it. Kingdom Hearts, for all its ties to Disney, is still very much a Japanese game, so it should be analyzed in light of that.

With that in mind, let’s continue.

JP 自分が望む結末ではなかったと絶望するのならー

EN If this isn't the ending you desired—if it brings you despair—

TR If (this) wasn't the ending you hoped for—if (you) feel despair—

Notes: Sigurd is apparently the character saying these next few lines.

The word for "ending" here, ketsumatsu, is an interesting word choice. It is often used in the context of stories (though it also has other uses), which fits really well with how KH4 will play around with the concept of reality vs. unreality. So on a meta level it's like, "If you didn't like how KH3 ended, if you didn't like how Sora ended up, then help him escape Quadratum."

Also, the word the official English version translates as "desired," nozomu, can mean "desire, want, wish for, hope for," and it's an antonym of zetsubō, the word translated "despair." So there's this nice poetic contrast going on between hope and despair in this bit in the Japanese version.

JP 他の世界に退場すればいい

EN then leave this world for another

TR —(then you) should leave for another world.

Notes: This particular word for "leave," taijō, can be used for leaving venues, stadiums, parking lots, rooms, sports games, etc. It can also be used for actors exiting the stage. Take a look at definition #1, which translated states, "Leaving venues, stadiums etc." and #2, which translated states, "Actors etc. leaving the stage" (Source):

I thought that was really interesting, because using a word with these specific connotations makes me wonder if this is more of that meta commentary, this time about how we should direct Sora the character to leave Quadratum if we so desire. Sure, the general sense of "leave" or "exit" is the main meaning here, but I always get so intrigued by word choice and all the connotations a word has.

Also, the phrasing isn't exactly the same, but there is a euphemism in Japanese for the place your soul goes when you die, takai, that uses the same kanji as hoka no sekai that we see in "another world" here, it just uses the onyomi pronunciation instead of the kunyomi pronunciation for "another" hoka/tai and has no no particle.

Googling hoka no sekai brought up a lot of images about parallel worlds and the isekai genre, so that's probably the most accurate connotation given Sora's world traveling adventures thus far, but I still thought that was an interesting tidbit, even if it's a complete reach on my end. Like sure Sora can go to other worlds, but he's still dead, so he's still going to more places where he's dead and can't go home where he'd be fully alive.

JP 選択肢は無限にあるはずだー

EN Your options are endless.

TR (Your) options/choices should be endless/limitless—

Notes: I really like how the English version contrasts "ending" with "endless." You don't like the ending Sora got in KH3? Your options for taking him to other worlds are "endless." The Japanese version has this interesting tidbit too where the speaker conveys an expectation. He says hazu, which means "expected," "should be," "must be." So he expects Sora's options are endless, but it has a slightly different nuance than if he'd just said they are endless.

JP 心は魂に宿り　魂は運命によって在るべき場所へ導かれる

EN The heart resides within the soul which in turn is guided by fate to its rightful place

TR (The) heart dwells in (the) soul, (and the) soul is guided by fate to its rightful place (lit. the place it should be).

Notes: There's not really any difference between the official English version and my translation. It's just interesting to break it down. For whatever reason the "rightful place" of the soul has the verb of existence for inanimate objects (aru) instead of the one for animate objects (iru). Not sure if that's a set phrase or if the soul in this context would be considered an inanimate object (time to go down a rabbithole about animacy in Japanese).

This bit also kinda reminded me of how Xehanort talked in KH3 when he was recounting the cycle of light and darkness. The language has a very "mythological"/storytelling feel to me, which makes sense given whoever is saying these lines is talking about fate, destiny, the nature of the universe, etc. And then the floating text in the darkness also reminds me of the Dive into the Heart sequences with the disembodied voice as well, so it could also be a reference to that.

JP 選択は再び委ねられる

EN The choice is yours once more.

TR (The) choice is left (to you) once more./(The) choice is entrusted (to you) once more.

Notes: Once again, this bit of text seems very meta. It feels like it's addressed to the fans, given how we're the ones who will be controlling Sora in KH4. And of course the image shows his chess piece with his crown symbol on it, so the implication is that Sora's heart will be the one guiding him once more, and his heart will be guided by fate.

JP あなたはこの世界に来て7日間　ずっと眠っていたの

EN You've been asleep since you arrived in this world seven days ago.

TR You came to this world seven days ago (and you)'ve been sleeping (the) whole time.

Notes: I don't love my translation because nanokakan more literally means "a period of seven days," but yeah I think I get the gist across.

Strelitzia refers to Sora as anata here when the norm is to refer to other people by their names in Japanese, even when addressing them directly, so either she doesn't know his name yet or she's being very polite, almost distant. She also ends her declaration with no, likely to indicate she's offering more of an explanation (it also makes her sound pretty cute and feminine).

Also, as I'm going through this trailer again, I'm reminded that Sora doesn't talk at all. He has the battle grunts during his fight against the Darkside, but he doesn't have any dialogue. I just thought that was interesting, because Xehanort commented on Sora not having a voice in Melody of Memory as well. Somehow that also told Xehanort where Sora's heart is located (foreshadowing for this game I suppose). I wonder if Sora will be similarly voiceless at first in KH4 or if he just is for this trailer for dramatic effect because Nomura knows everyone wants to hear him speak.

And then of course I have to mention the significance of Sora being asleep in Quadratum for seven days. Seven has a lot of significance in the KH universe, given how there are seven guardians of light. Seven is also the length of a week, and it's a number that has connotations of wholeness and completion in certain cultures.

JP ここは クァッドラトゥムー

EN This is Quadratum—

TR (This is) Quadratum—

Notes: Not really anything to note here other than the gorgeous graphics, how Sora doesn't look at all like his usual cheerful self (no smile to be found), and the colors in Quadratum seem very warm/brown/earth tones/"real" and not super bright and colorful like in the "main" KH universe.

JP 生者の世界ではあるけれどー

EN It's a world full of life—

TR (It's) a world of living people/the living but—

Notes: Seija is translated as "full of life" in the official English version, but it more literally means "living people" or "the living." So Strelitzia is pointing out that all around them are living people and yet, for her and Sora, it's still a world of death because she and Sora should be dead.

JP 私たちにとっては“死の世界”ってことになるみたい

EN but for you and I, it's similar to an "afterworld," I suppose.

TR —for us, (it) seems like it's "a world of death."

Notes: This is where I wish the English version was closer to the Japanese version. "World of death" or "world of the dead" would've been a closer translation, and I'm not sure why it wasn't used (perhaps to avoid mentioning the dreaded "d" word). I do like the pun-like quality of "afterworld," combining "afterlife" and the oft-used-in-the-KH-universe "world," and since the translators have access to information I don't about the game's lore, I can't say whether crucial lore has been lost in translation, but I wanted to point out the difference here.

Also, the grammar pattern Strelitzia uses here, koto ni naru, indicates something that's outside of her and Sora's control. This being an afterlife of sorts for the two of them was decided by factors beyond their control, in other words. She also uses mitai to indicate her speculation/observation.

JP だがー

EN However—

TR However—

Notes: This is back to Sigurd speaking, and very ominously so.

JP 一度退場すれば元の世界に戻れると思うなー

EN if you do leave this world behind, don't expect to return to the one from which you came—

TR —once (you) leave, don't think (you) can go back to (your) original world—

Notes: This ends on a rather ominous note. Again the word taijō is used here for "leave" much like earlier in the trailer. I remember this dialogue when I first watched this trailer because it was such a wham line. What do you mean Sora can't go home? He can go to other worlds but he can't go home? What will it take to bring him home then? Something pretty drastic from the sounds of it.

Also, I like the formal wording of the official English version. Sigurd sounds like he's from a different time.

Then of course this next bit cuts to Donald and Goofy, searching for ways to find Sora presumably:

JP どこにいるんだろう？

EN I wonder where he is.

TR (I) wonder where (he) is.

Notes: Nothing really to talk about, just that the "I" and "he" is implied in Japanese (Japanese tends to drop pronouns in places they would be required in English because there's enough info provided by context, verb conjugations, etc. to figure out who the speaker is talking about).

JP 手がかり見つかるといいね

EN I don't know, but I sure hope he can help.

TR I hope (we) can find (a) clue.

Notes: A bit of a difference here, Goofy is focused more on finding a clue in Japanese whereas in English he's hoping "he" (Hades, presumably) can help.

JP おい

EN Hey!

TR Hey!

Notes: Hades' Japanese VA has a very distinctive voice, and so right from this word you know it's him a;lsdkjf and he's as snarky and blunt as ever lol.

JP どこへ行くんだ

EN Just where do you think you're going?

TR (Just) where (do you think you)'re going?

Notes: I love the sass and snark of the English translation, and it captures the vibes of the Japanese version well (Hades uses ~nda at the end of the sentence to indicate he wants more information out of them). They found Hades, but now they'll actually have to deal with Hades...

And that's what I have for now! I am curious about what promo material will be released next and what new tidbits we'll have to speculate on. Fingers crossed we get more info around the anniversary this year!

The Japanese trailer is here.

The English trailer is here.

[cybergus]

Shades for Busy Streets (Mexico City 2022), by Abelardo Ojeda.

/ My Street Photoblog:  cybergus.tumblr.com