#manga-mania may

[robo-milky]

MANIA Con (TWST Fan Event):

MANIA, Twisted Wonderland’s biggest manga and anime convention, reaches out to Night Raven College to host their annual winter con. Blinded by greed and the prospective good publicity NRC may get (and to look hip), Crowley happily agrees to let MANIA use his school as a venue (not without taking a hefty cut of profits of course). Since Crowley didn’t know much about comics, animated media, and games— who else would be better to act as a director, NRC representative, and emcee than Idia Shroud, a proud otaku and dorm leader himself? Having overheard all of this and not wanting a good con to go to waste, Cloche, volunteers to take Idia’s position.

• Faux SSRs and SR cards with vignettes to go along with them

• You may contribute and expand the event with your own OCs or adding unused characters (asks/fanart/writing/all forms accepted)

• Ambitious and most likely delayed until summer

VS

What Happens Next? (Interactive Event) :

Follow and shape Cloche’ day in NRC. I start out with an interaction/prompt and you, the audience, will decide whatever comes next! All comments and tags will be inserted into a ballot and RNG will decide after a certain time period!

• All outcomes chosen will be drawn (Not HQ)

• Anyone can contribute with a simple comment/tag. All OCs and Characters welcome. (please keep it TWST related or characters I’d know-)

• Faster Responses and Faster to Set Up

Note: Whichever event that doesn’t get chosen will be saved for the next milestone.

[marumafan]

Hello! I think you're now the Yuuram prophet XD so I think you can help me with this. Is it ever explained what is exactly the Maou? I mean the Maou who shares a soul with Yuuri. What is it exactly? Where did it come from? Why was Cheri the previous Maou if technically Julia was the vessel before Yuuri? It just never made sense to me because the anime never explained it

Hello! Oh wow! Plot points explanations, okay.

The 'maous' are just a 'kings/queens' chosen by Shinou to rule the land. (this has nothing to do with being 'keys/vessels')

The 'keys'(vessels that you were talking about) are people with 'pieces of soushu' attached to 'souls' that 'open the boxes that contain the soushu'. These people were NOT related to Shinou.

The soushu according to the novels and the MaHon Encyclopedia Maru-mania (you can google that to find it) are 'entities that tried to swallow the entire world'. So when they were defeated by Shinou and a 'group of brave people' they were sealed into four boxes.

Why Cherie? Well… Cherie gave birth to 3 out of the 4 keys for Shinou and (in a cd "Secret" (written by the author) and novel story Gaiden04, Chapter 7.1, ) it is implied that Cherie is Shinou's descendant. This means Cherie following Shinou's command had 3 keys with potentially his blood (this is likely to be a plot point, but we never got there in the novels). (And she probably wouldn't have been able to do so if she wasn't the maou.)

More info about Cherie here https://marumafan.tumblr.com/post/164589863984/cherie-post-kkm

more: https://marumafan.tumblr.com/post/639340971871600640/i-just-read-the-post-about-cherie-andwow

-In 56. Kyou Kara MAou! Seisakoku DX! Return Trip, Disc 01 , track 8 Shinou and the Great Sage (these cds were written BY the author, also I think this is in manga?), Shinou and Daikenja talk and you can see why Murata left with boxes and keys…

-Shinou is just a 'strategist' trying to get all the boxes and keys back. And if you ask me, making the keys have his blood through Cherie just has something to do with that.

-Also in one of the gaidens, I think Gaiden 2, it's said that Yuuri's parents were chosen according to Shinou's specifications. So Shinou wanted something from Yuuri's parents specifically *(it's not said what), and chose them to make the body for the soul with the key.

----------------------------------------

-What about the 'maou' (Uesama)? According to the encyclopedia

"Uesama (上様)The personality that appears when Yuuri activates the super maou mode. It has a low-pitched voice, speaks in difficult and complicated words, with the characteristics of half-assed historical drama lines. (Novel 2) "

It's interesting to note that they listed his first appearance in the SECOND novel although there was a Uesama in the first novel (when he fights Wolf)

Here's more info about Yuuri's soul and the soushu and all that over here:

https://marumafan.tumblr.com/post/169402082789/about-the-boxes-and-the-keys

https://marumafan.tumblr.com/post/169401741489/info-about-yuuris-soul

https://marumafan.tumblr.com/post/176647242649/maruma-analysis-soushu-what-is-happening-here

Lastly about Yuuri and soushu: Murata tells Yuuri in Gaiden 4 - Chapter 7,2 about how Yuuri 'may end up like him' , with all the voices of the previous lives in his head (and maybe taking over him)? So that he needs to be careful . I think this is mentioned again in Prison arc.

-------------------------------

Lastly, it's important to remember that when the novels started the author had NOT thought about the boxes plot at all, or vessels or anything like that.

The OG reason why someone became maou was "because Shinou said so".

-------------------------------

I have a bunch of analyses here, some about Julia and her life and death too: https://marumafan.tumblr.com/moarkkm

Edit to add: Furthermore Julia was probably a newborn when Cherie was named maou (Julia was about Gwen's age I believe?). Also, sending Conrad to retrieve the arm could have been part of Shinou's plot, killing Julia and using it as a way to make Connie get Berard's arm. (He traveled with one key : Julia, and came back with the other key: the arm), seems like keys and boxes can both travel easily.

[momo-de-avis]

ana pergunta para os teus followers (ou para ti, não sei..). alguem sabe de sites/lojas onde se compra manga? sei a bd mania em lx, mas isso é mais para comics. também já vi na fnac e tal, mas não encaixa bem no perfil..

Depende da manga mas até já a bertrand tem. A bd mania tem muita variedade, vai la e fala com eles que eles são super porreiros e conhecem tudo.. vê também a kingpin

[shizuostrans]

The difference in how successfully executed Izaya’s duality is animated in season 1 vs season 2 is almost funny if I could get over how infuriating it is.

Like take this scene from season 1, where you see Izaya being just the cutest little guy. Someone you want to pinch the cheeks of and fork over all your material possessions to.

And this was him just a few seconds before.

This is the second time he’s introduced, and a fantastic way to really get the audience to understand how truly multifaceted and unhinged Izaya is. In the previous episode he stayed as an overall imposing but collected individual, whereas in episode 3 he’s shown juveniley stomping a phone with his mania in full gear for every character there and the audience to be taken aback by. Izaya is an especially emotive character with a wide range to work from, one that’s noted and designed to be unassuming one moment and chilling the next.

It’s why it’ll always get to me that they chose to go for the Rio scene as our introduction to him rather than the one with Manami. Tormenting me for the rest of my days by the what-if of this part being animated by Brain’s Base instead of Shuka.

How bad did Shuka fuck up this smile you may ask?

That bad.

Love Thy Enemy had so many things and amazing content going for it, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth because of how lackluster the animation is and what a disservice Ketsu does to Izaya.

Oh and here’s the panel from the manga with the same exact line for reference.

[rutilation]

*emerges from my sarcophagus*

Once again, I seem to have thoughts about the rock manga

About two and a half years ago, after reading chapter 84, I published my last essay on HnK, and felt a bit fatigued.  About a week later, I saw on my dashboard that chapter 85 had been released.  Knowing that Phos’s grisly mass-murder would greet me if I clicked the post, I closed the app and thought to myself: ‘I want to have a nice Christmas; I’ll look at this later.’  Christmas was indeed nice, there was much wine, ravioli, and spumoni to be had.  I had brought over some Buccellato di Lucca, and for all the effort I had made to memorize the proper name, the appellation ‘Lucca bread’ was the one that stuck amongst my aunts, who were quite fond of it. I spent the rest of the evening making my usual clumsy attempts at socializing, and when I got tired of that, played with my aunt’s cats.  All in all, it was a good day, and I felt quite refreshed by the end of it.  

But, though I didn’t realize it yet, something in my brain had short-circuited.  From then on, whenever I tried to so much as look at anything HnK related, I’d find myself consumed by feelings of panic and dread.  It occurred me that I had perhaps burned out on my favorite trauma-simulator.  Well, that was okay: I’d take a break, let the accumulated gunk flush itself out of my brain, and then hop right back in.

And then the plague happened (no more extended family gatherings or opportunities to make Lucca bread.)  And then HnK went on hiatus.  And then I finally graduated college.  And then my dog died.  And then I developed asthma.  All throughout, I thought about HnK nearly every day.  But whenever I asked myself if I was ready to start reading it again, my brain would always reply ‘nope. still cleaning out the mercury buildup.’

To this day, I don’t understand why this manga and this manga alone has ignited such particular mania in me.  Why can’t I just be normal about it?  There are certainly other works that I love more than HnK, but seemingly nothing aside from it has the power to turn me into one of Pavlov’s drooling dogs. Maybe Phos just hits different. That’s the best explanation I can come up with right now.

Anyway, this past May I saw that the hiatus was finally ending, and by that point, I was feeling quite impatient with my brain.  At last, when I saw the magazine cover, my curiosity finally outweighed my anxiety, and with bleary eyes, I stumbled back onto my favorite suffer-train.

All of that is to say that my brain still has some of that gunk in it, so consider this less of a rigorous analysis and more a dump of two years’ worth of feelings that have been left unsaid. My hope is that, even if I can’t be normal about this story, I can at least convey this messiness in a coherent manner.

Having caught up, I find that I’m just as fascinated by the story as I’ve always been, but I no longer have the same dogged faith in it that I once did.  And my issues with it boil down to how the role of the supporting cast has changed.  (Phos, on the other hand, remains the character of all time even to this day.)

I would describe the first two-thirds of HnK as an intimate character drama set against the backdrop of an uncaring and alienating world.  Both elements were paramount to its unique flavor, but when the most interesting path a character could take contradicted the oppressive atmosphere, it was the tone that yielded to the needs of characterization.

Over time, however, the story’s priorities have shifted, and while many of the individual steps were gradual, the difference between where we started and where we’ve ended up is stark. As it stands, I think my description has been turned on its head.  The story is now about the uncaring and alienating atmosphere, and the characters exist in service of it.

This alteration to the alchemy of the story is one I struggle to grapple with.  It hasn’t ruined it for me, per se.  The ideas that HnK is tackling are still fascinating, and as I said before, Phos themselves is just as endearing and heartbreaking as they’ve always been.  I still trust the story to forward interesting concepts, and that it has something to say.  And clearly even the mass character assassination of the supporting cast is in service of the story’s themes about the pitfalls of both action and inaction, the need to be needed, and how society crushes underfoot those at its margins.

Y’know…

Something something Buddhist Deva realm, something something The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas, something something We Live in a Society…

But where does Peridot and Sphene trying to empathize with and give actionable advice to Phos and Cairngorm over dealing with grief and death fit into this?  Or Antarc’s belief in acting with courage and testing one’s limits?  Or the many silent panels dedicated to Kongou’s agony over his children’s suffering?  Why did the gems on the moon feel no alarm and raise no objection when Phos told them they intended to kill everyone on earth? Why is Ghost’s reaction to learning that Lapis can’t be resurrected so blasé?  Why does Kongou need to be treacherous when his well-established pattern of learned helplessness would have probably lead him down this path regardless?  Even accounting for their arrested development and culture of complacency, why aren’t half the gems on the moon rioting over this situation—over the incalculable pain and trauma the Lunarians have wrought upon them?  It should amount to more than just… Bort being kind of bummed while sitting alone in their jellyfish room.

And to be totally clear, I’m not just salty because I love Phos so much that I can’t stand to see them scorned by other characters.  I like that people get tired of Phos’s shit, I like that their lives don’t revolve around them, I like that the story is brave enough to dig into emotions and experiences that aren’t satisfying and life-affirming, I like that Phos’s journey of “self-improvement” is deeply fraught and about as far from a power fantasy as one can get, and I love that Phos doesn’t have a goddamn harem.

But with the story having become so disinterested and dismissive of the inner lives of everyone who isn’t Phos, it ends up feeling like they’re the center of the universe regardless.  And when we do spend time with the other characters, the narrative is practically screaming at us:  “Look at how shallow and hypocritical they are!  Aren’t you so disappointed in them?”  And I don’t need that.  I don’t need everyone else to be shallow for Phos to be profound, and Phos’s clumsy compassion captivates me even without everyone else being callous and apathetic.  To the contrary, I think this story is at its most heartbreaking in the moments when I can empathize with everyone, and completely understand where they’re coming from.  To be invested in these characters’ quest for happiness all while being saddled with the grim knowledge that happiness for one means misery for another is truly gut wrenching.  But when the narrative seemingly wants its readership to dole out their sympathy in a zero-sum fashion, the vibes get a bit… rancid.  As it is now, HnK has this bitter aftertaste of resentment and misanthropy that I do not care for in the least.  And I really, truly hope this sour note in the story mellows out following the long break.

Circa 2018, I would have said that while Phos is unquestionably the star of the show, HnK has a strong supporting cast, with emotional and thought-provoking character arcs for its the major characters, and subtle glimmers that hint at a deeper profundity for its minor characters.  Nowadays though, I really can’t—not at all.  If you’re not Phos, then your characterization has been sacrificed at the altar of bad vibes.

Now that I’ve articulated my gripes, I’m going to set them aside for a moment to talk about my hopes for the ending of this story, now that one seems to be in sight.  Despite my best efforts over the years, I have been unable to crawl into Ichikawa’s brain and divine her thought process.  As such, think of this not so much as a prediction, but as, perhaps, fanfic.  To me at least, both Phos praying everyone out of existence and Phos refusing to do so and dooming everyone to eternal unlife feel unsatisfying.  

Who would have thought, when the profound Buddhist influence on the story first became apparent in those early chapters, that Phos becoming a bodhisattva with the power to save everyone’s souls would end up feeling like the most depraved and unfair path their life could take?  There are a couple of reasons for this.  For one thing, Phos’s life only became unbearable because of the machinations of someone who is endeavoring to make everyone else hate life as much as he does, (and the son of a bitch all but cackles as he relays this.)  In my heart, what I want for Phos isn’t just for them to cut their losses and be put out of their misery—I want them to be happy.  But hey, I’m just a silly mortal who, categorically, can’t be tortured in time prison, so what do I know?  But, even putting my heartache for Phos aside, no one in this story, in my estimation at least, has earned nirvana.  Most of the cast is allergic to introspection, or learning from their mistakes, or broadening their perspectives, and even the few who’ve matured past the preteen level aren’t particularly inclined to work on themselves.  They are, to reuse my words from an earlier essay, about as enlightened as a cornflake, and they don’t deserve to reap salvation for themselves off of such ghoulish misery.  Do not pass ‘Go.’  Do not collect $200.

At the same time, Phos abandoning everyone to their fate out of spite leans too much into that misanthropy I was crabbing about earlier in this essay.  While it would be so very satisfying to see the look on Aechmea’s face when he realizes that all his 5D-chess maneuvers have backfired in the eleventh hour, I just… can’t derive any satisfaction from the thought of the gems getting their just desserts, because the path they traveled to get to this point was so littered with contrivances and shortcuts.  All it would do is remind me of how vivid the cast once was, the story’s repudiation of their selfish inaction ringing hollow compared to my memory of those earlier, more nuanced characterizations.  

With those out of the way, the option that most appeals to my sensibilities at this point is what I’m calling the Wolf’s Rain ending.  Spoilers for a twenty year old anime, I guess.  In that story, the characters inhabit a dying world, and are searching for a legendary Paradise with a capital P.  At the end, after the entire cast has been picked off one by one, the main characters succeed in birthing Paradise out of the corpse of their dead world, but this paradise is seeded with the malcontent of the main villain, (his freaky eyeball falls onto a white flower and turns it purple.  It’s really evocative; go watch Wolf’s Rain) and thus the world is reborn not as an eternal paradise, but as our world, warts and all.  The last episode ends with the reincarnation of the main character poised to start his search for Paradise all over again as Stray plays over the credits.  Did I mention that Yoko Kanno scored this anime? Watch it now.

Now that I’m done hard selling early digipaint anime, what I really want out of this is for Phos to decide that their idea of happiness does not accord with Aechmea’s and Kongou’s, that they want a shot at a fulfilling life, and that they’re not going to leave this world before learning and understanding all they can of it, and certainly not before experiencing genuine love unmarred by the need to be needed. And if none of that is possible in an empty world populated by hungry ghosts, then it will have to come out of a living, breathing world full of mortals.  Thus, they use the power they’ve gained from Kongou not to annihilate the remnants of humanity, but to kick-start the cycle of life again, and in so doing, they reincarnate all the Lunarians as mortals.  At last, biodiversity returns to the earth, and everyone’s been reborn as snail people to boot.  Aechmea will probably crab about it and claim that Phos has doomed them all.  “Why would you want to keep samsara going, you mint-flavored idiot?”  Yadda yadda… and I won’t give a damn.  Cue Stray over the end credits as Phos’s journey begins anew.  It’s a punishment.  It’s a gift.  And most importantly, it gives me serotonin!

This manga still captivates and inspires me to write like nothing else before it, Phos still has my heart in vice grip, and Ichikawa’s aesthetic idiosyncrasies still delight me in their uniqueness—I feel like if I could borrow even a fraction of her brain cells for one day my artistic sensibilities would gain like thirty levels. But, with all that in mind…

This is no longer the same story I fell in love with back in 2017, it’s a different beast now, and while I still can’t quite put my finger on why HnK grabbed me so hard in the first place, I think I’ve gained some insight into why I burned out on it so hard: the more I tried to reconcile these two different stories that happen to share the same continuity, the more upset I made myself.  If I want to keep engaging with this work, I need to mentally separate the stuff from before and after the Moon Super Hell Arc.  

In addition to that, I probably won’t pick up where I left off and do an essay every month.  Rather, I’ll simply write when the urge strikes me, whether that means thousands of words or one paragraph.  But regardless of the change in format, I do intend to see this through to the end with no further nervous breakdowns.

With that all out of the way, here are some additional observations and speculations:

·        The hottest topic in fandom at the moment seems to be “who’s going to choose to help Phos?” Or at least, “Who’s going to acknowledge that this situation is even somewhat unjust?”  People seem to regard Cinnabar and Euclase as the most likely candidates, as they’re the two who are the most obviously perturbed by Phos’s situation.  But, if you put a gun to my head and told me to name the gem that I think is most likely to go to bat for Phos, then I’d say I find Padparadscha’s quiet yet pointed disengagement from this garden of earthly delights to be more portentous.  After all, measure twice and cut once is their guiding philosophy.  Having said that, by this point we’ve cycled through a half-dozen characters who “actually” cared about Phos, and I’m kind of over it.  If Ichikawa wants me to go back to being on tenterhooks waiting to see what choices the other characters make in regards to Phos, then the ball is now firmly in her court.

·        I’ve also seen people wondering why Aechmea is so keen on turning all the remnants of humanity into Lunarians even though he believes their state of existence to be an abject curse.  My two cents is that it’s a matter of manufacturing consent.  Gems don’t want to die as badly as Lunarians, and the Admirabilis wish for death even less so.  By coercing all those pesky mortals and mortal-adjacent rocks into becoming miserable space ghosts, everyone will, given a long enough time frame, share his goals and be completely onboard with both his means and his ends.  No need to even be sneaky anymore!  And won’t that be a load off his back.

·        I feel like I finally get Euclase.  One of my bugbears with them was that their newfound concern struck me as insincere because all the strife they claimed to be worried about had been unsubtly festering for many, many years by the time they got around to putting a band-aid on them. But I think the past dozen chapters have clarified their perspective.  They are not just a purveyor of koolaid, but a drinker as well, I now understand.  They believed that things like Cinnabar’s isolation, Kongou’s secrecy, Yellow’s slow deterioration, the Diamonds’ increasingly bitter relationship, going back on their word to Phos and helping to bury them, and so on and so forth, were all things that would sort themselves out with the passage of time.  In their view, since time heals all wounds, and taking action introduces unpredictability and the possibility of making things worse, then the correct solution to any conflict is to wait until it fizzles out on its own.  What they didn’t understand is that non-action isn’t a neutral option that allows one to opt out of the maddening uncertainty of life.  It is a choice with consequences, and it can make a situation worse just as surely as one of Phos’s madcap whims.  And indeed, they ended up paying the price for their misguided assumptions.  While Euclase follows the same ideology as the rest of the gems, they’re the only one—aside from maybe Padparadscha—who engages with it through the eyes of an adult, rather than those of a child who’s simply drifting down the path of least-resistance.  Unlike the rest of the supporting cast, I can confidently say that Euclase has only become more interesting and nuanced with time.  Hopefully that continues to be the case.  

·        I also think it’s hilarious that Ichikawa herself personally reads my essays, saw me write that I think Euclase is shady but that I have faith in the other gems to act on their better instincts, and decided to do the exact opposite of that.  Iconique.  I do unironically love this story’s ability to make a clown out of me.  Honk honk.

·        With regard to what Aechmea and Kongou are implying when they say there’s a way to help Phos, I’m in the camp that they’ll try to resurrect their lost pieces as a Lunarian.  It would mollify any lingering guilt the others have over Phos’s fate by assuring them that the Phos they threw under the bus isn’t the “real” one, and it would give the fandom what they want—a return to the sweet, innocent Phos they fell in love with—in the worst, most twisted context possible, and how could Ichikawa resist that?  I don’t know how they could possibly get a hold of Phos’s legs and arms, but it wouldn’t be the first time the plot has bent itself into an unwieldy shape to make things easier for Aechmea.  Gripes aside, if Ichikawa were to do something interesting with this hypothetical return of Baby!Phos, and use said plotline as more than just an opportunity to further twist the knife in, then I’m all for it.  

·        (What if Baby!Phos and Punished!Phos meet up at the end of the story, have a heart-to-heart, and by their powers combined, make my Wolf’s Rain ending real?  That would be so sick.)

·        I’ve written all I can about Cairngorm.  The rest is up to you Ichikawa.  They’re about three-fifths of a really interesting character, but if their arc progresses no further, and this is all there is, their story will wind up feeling pretty half-baked.

·        I’ve been going back through my past writings, and I’ve noticed that a bunch of hyperlinks have either broken or no longer link to the proper page.  I’ll get around to fixing that.

[butterlily]

Quando gostamos ou até mesmo amamos alguém sabemos quase tudo a respeito daquela pessoa, sabemos suas manias e reações, sabemos o que ela gosta ou admira. Quando amamos reparamos os detalhes que compõe aquele alguém, e já que diz tanto me amar, você sabe me ler como ninguém? Sabe do que eu gosto ou não? Sabe minhas manias?!

Diz tanto me amar, mas sabia que azul me remete calmaria? Sabia que amo ficar olhando o céu e o mar?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer qual meu gosto pra sorvete? Saberia que é chocolate com cobertura de chocolate e amendoim? Saberia dizer que meu chocolate favorito é o ”crocante” ou qualquer um que tenha amendoim no recheio? Saberia dizer que amo paçoquinha?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que amo olhar o pôr do sol? Saberia dizer que amo observar a lua e as estrelas? Saberia dizer que a minha virada de ano favorita foi quando eu deitei no chão da praia e fiquei olhando o céu estrelado e ouvindo as ondas quebrando no fundo?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que quando eu fico nervosa fico rindo do nada? Saberia dizer que coço a nuca, que fico pegando no meu pescoço e desvio o olhar? Saberia dizer que mexo muito as mãos e que essa é uma maneira que achei de aliviar o nervosismo?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que tenho a mania de me alisar quando estou muito carente? Saberia dizer que tenho a mania de ficar checando como estão meus batimentos cardíacos? Saberia dizer que aliso minha costa porque amava esse carinho que mainha fazia? Saberia dizer que amo mexer no meu cabelo porque lembra a forma como minha amiga fazia trança?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que amo tirar foto de Ártemis em qualquer posição que ela esteja? Saberia dizer que amo crianças e o quanto eu acho elas os seres mais puros e amorosos? Saberia dizer que amava cantar pra Vitor quando ele era mais novo e de fazer cafuné nele?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que meu prato favorito é lasanha? Saberia dizer que meu sanduíche favorito é qualquer um de frango porque acho mais prático de fazer? Saberia dizer que amo suco de maracujá que tia faz assim como amo o de manga que mainha faz? Saberia dizer prefiro sopa do que canja? Saberia dizer que se eu não tomo café, fico com dor de cabeça?

Diz tanto me amar, mas saberia dizer que quando tenho crise existencial prefiro ficar o mais longe possível das pessoas? Saberia dizer que quando tenho medo de um sentimento costumo me fechar sem nem perceber? Você saberia dizer que mesmo não querendo, um abraço consegue me acalmar? Saberia que um carinho de dedo despretensioso me dá um quentinho no coração e que amo a sensação de está sendo admirada?

Diz muito me amar, mas será que saberia responder isso? Saberia cada reação minha ou até mesmo minha mania? Saberia dos meus defeitos e qualidades? Saberia como minha linguagem do amor funciona? Você realmente saberia ou apenas ficaria abismado com coisas tão pequenas ao meu respeito?

Espero que com o tanto que diz me amar saiba me ler na mesma proporção, que me observe, me admire, que consiga me ver além daquilo que eu mostro, que me abrace quando eu menos esperar, e que consiga me amar e ficar quando nem eu mesma conseguir fazer isso.

--butterlily

[lordtheodorexiii]

An incomplete and constantly-updating list of things I like

Long post. Goes under read more.

Things in bold are favs. Italicized text is to avoid confusion with commas. Links are included to things I think would be hard to find. Most of these things can be searched for on my blogs.

Aesthetics

Y2K, Vectorheart/Metalheart, McBling, Gadgetpunk, Poolrooms, Retro CGI, Memphis design, Brutalism, 70s architecture, deep blue shades of purple, 80s anime, Retrofuture

TV, Anime, and Manga

Dragon Ball Z, Chainsaw Man, Death Note, Bojack Horseman, Castlevania, Astroblast Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Naruto, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Garden of Sinners, Death Parade, Serial Experiments Lain, Mobile Suit Gundam

Music

Hey I made a document for the sole purpose of sharing music

FRIENDZONE, game OSTs in general, Flying Lotus, Chlorine Mist, Toro Y Moi, Sweet Trip, LTJ Bukem, The Sleepwalk, Date of Birth, Yuji Ohno, Tim Follin, John Coltrane, 2 Mello, Hideki Naganuma, Kinoko Teikoku, RED ORCA, Awlnight, AKTR, Zoomo, Dyelo Think, Beautiful Disco, Toby Fox, Masafumi Takada, Demensa, Jaspre, Disctr4k, Justin.FM, MACHINE GIRL, Yoshino Yoshikawa, wun two, Curren$y, Daft Punk, Voyager, Death Grips, Hiroshi Sato, Family Event, Emune, Zuper, Thundercat, DJ Sun, J Dilla, Nujabes, Hail the Sun, Osamu Sato, Rukunetsu, Richard Jacques, Klaus Veen, Prodigy, cxldr3, Yasuyuki Suzuki, Alec Holowka, J Cole, SkyBlew, The Alchemist, LE$, K.H.D.N. (Ko Hayashi & Daisuke Nagata), Katsumi Tanaka, Masayoshi Takanaka, Sciman101, Kamome Sano, Nobuyoshi Sano, Akitaka Tohyama, Yuji Takenouchi, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Trashii, MNDSGN

Video games

Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star Universe, Phantasy Star Online 2 (Base), Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Persona 3, Fate/stay night, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon Emerald, Fate/Grand Order, Team Fortress 2, Halo, Splatoon, Super Smash Bros., Animal Crossing, Lethal League, Fortnite, Counter-Strike, Final Fantasy 6, Castle Crashers, Battleblock Theater, Alien Hominid, Metal Slug, Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong-nou, Chu-teng, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Under Night In-Birth, Perfect Dark Zero, Banjo-Kazooie, Undertale/Deltarune, No More Heroes, killer7, Resident Evil 4, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, Akatsuki Blitzkampf, BlazBlue, OFF, Yume Nikki, Zero Divide, Bust a Groove, Cosmo Fighters, Kaze no NOTAM, No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!, Zanac X Zanac, Half Life, Bugsnax, Portal, Pictionary on NES (for its music alone), Treasure Master, Data East's Street Hoop, Tony Hawk's games, Bayonetta, Xenoblade Chronicles, Melty Blood, Killer is Dead, Life Tastes Like Cardboard, Night in the Woods, Tekken, Shenmue, MapleStory, Drill Dozer, Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Risk of Rain, DEADBOLT, Sonic Mania, Spy Fox, Mad Tracks, Kero Blaster, Cave Story, Titanfall 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Hatoful Boyfriend, Just, Bearly, Bloons TD, Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk, Devil May Cry, Marvel Vs. Capcom, Yakuza/Like a Dragon, Dust: an Elysian Tail, LittleBigPlanet, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, PaRappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, Left 4 Dead, Quake, Frog Detective, Art of Balance, Wii Sports, New Super Mario Bros. (2006), Outrun, Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, Combat Tournament, Mr. Gimmick, Jimmy & the Pulsating Mass, Yume Nikki, VALORANT, Bomberman, Mega Man

[caixolamix]

Playlist Curso de Cartoon (Rick Ruiz-Dana)

Aproveito a postagem da Playlist montada no YouTube contendo vídeos sobre Desenho e Manga (publicada há pouco) e adiciono à parte outra sobre o assunto, mas desta vez com ensinamentos voltados à criação de personagem no estilo cartoon. O seguinte acervo foi estruturado pelo próprio artista criador Rick Ruiz-Dana.

Anos atrás buscava criar personagens por diversas motivações, mas não sabia como fazer, mesmo depois de frequentar oficinas presenciais. Já estava aprendendo espanhol, então resolvi sair da zona de conforto do meu idioma. Encontrei o perfil do Rick no YouTube e seus vídeos foram precisos para me desenvolver nessa área; melhorando, e muito, a minha composição de feições e formatos de rostos.

Para iniciantes pode ser um problema pois, no começo o desenho fica semelhante ao do Rick, para não dizer igual. Como quando começamos com a mania de delinear sobre papel vegetal para pegar a manha e tal, saca? No entanto, conforme o tempo passa sua identidade sobressai e resta apenas a técnica.

"Ah, mas é cartoon." Não reclame!! É um ótimo jeito para praticar e iniciar. Como também é uma maneira perfeita para adquirir disciplina e, num futuro, partir para desenhos mais realistas tendo noção de como certas curvaturas e movimentações do punho, por exemplo, desembocam na composição como um todo.

Bons estudos!

ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

[waddlehekk]

Some of my favorite Manga Goemon lines from Tokyopop I'll have to accept that they may not be an accurate translation. The "Don't be so negative! He doesn't need to hear that. Nothing but positive thoughts!" line from volume 9 chapter 80 "Killing Time" is soooo good and captures his righteous fury. But I feel as though Tokyopop is more accurate than the Manga Mania translation in some cases, such as in New Lupin III chapter 59 "Jigsaw Puzzle".

I love that line too lol. The original line isn't as funny in my opinion but it's still close. I think the original says something like "Don't be so hopeless! The poor guy!!"

Manga Mania from one chapter I read seems generally accurate but they occasionally change certain lines to something completely different.

There's this other quote I liked from Goemon in the original manga where he tells his masters he wants to leave to go with Lupin. Tokyopop did not care lol but I think it's like this.

"I appreciate your advice so far.

But all you have is the past that you have experienced. On the contrary, I have the future that I am about to experience. Do you understand? That is the difference between us!!"

[genderqueer-karma]

hi~ welcome to my blog! ♡

(if you follow or are already following, please like or interact to let me know you've read this)

BASIC INFO:

☆ my carrd ☆

☆ My name is Dio, but you can call me Dora or Devin as well. Ultimately though, I prefer Dio if I don't know you irl. Bonus points if you can guess how many inspirations I had on that ;)

☆ I'm Black. Keep that in mind, always.

☆ I'm a minor. If that bothers you, feel free not to interact.

☆ My pronouns are they/them. I also use þei/þem (still pronounced they/them), but mostly jokingly. You may use she/her if we're close, but please ask beforehand! He/him is fine for jokes, but not always. And finally, never use "it/its" for me, since I personally find them to be dehumanizing. I'm a black enby, so surely you can understand why I feel that way. Any neos and whatnot are just what they are 🤷‍♀️. I'll let you know for sure if a pronoun makes me uncomfortable.

☆ I have two active sideblogs:

@dios-multiverse ~ my writing and oc sideblog

@crucible-memes-4-salem-teens ~ my sideblog based on the 1953 play The Crucible where I am head mod.

○°•°○°•°○

MY CURRENT INTERESTS:

♡ Ace Attorney! I love the silly little lawyer game, so feel free to talk to me about it! I've watched playthroughs of the trilogy and am currently playing Investigations 2 as well as the TGAA duology. In addition, I've watched most of the stage plays as well as the anime and the live-action film. I have yet to watch the musicals. Plus, AA gave me my current problematic fave~

♡ Ouran High School Host Club! OHSHC is a lifelong love of mine. However, I've only watched the anime and have only read the first three volumes of the manga. Still, I don't mind spoilers, so if I come across them, I'll be okay. I don't have a *favorite* host, though I am somewhat partial to Mori-senpai.

♡ JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! This is a recent interest of mine, so I've only watched up through Part 3 (started Part 4 recently!) and have yet to read the manga for any part. Once again, I have no qualms with spoilers, so feel free.

♡ Markiplier! Once again, lifelong appreciation for him as a person and creator. One of my favorite series from him is probably his playthough of West of Loathing, though I love most of his other videos as well and find myself coming back to his channel again and again.

♡ RTGame! Another favorite youtuber of mine. I love most of his videos as well, though his Planet Coaster videos are what drew me to his channel initially. I really like his content, so I frequently watch his videos.

☆ The Crucible! Yes, that play from the 50s. It gripped me in a hyperfixation when I was in 11th grade and hasn't let go since, hence the blog! I also like other works of "classic literature", though my interest in those is a bit more tame.

♡ Percy Jackson and the Olympians! (and related franchises, such as Heroes of Olympus). Though I'm out of the "target" demographic for those books, they are still near and dear to my heart. However, (possibly controversial opinion) I don't like Jason Grace as a character. Sorry guys, but he's mid. 🤷‍♀️

♡ My Chemical Romance! This band has stuck with me since middle school and I did cry when I found out they got back together, so jot that down. Also stream Foundations of Decay.

♡ Fall Out Boy! Another lifelong love of mine. I've loved this band since before I knew it existed. It truly has been there for me from the start. Also, MANIA is a good album, you guys are just anti-black. 🤷‍♀️

♡ MALICE MIZER! I've only recently started listening to them (and the members' solo work), but so far I really like them! It feels weird to be obsessed with a band that was created and broke up went on indefinite hiatus before I was even born, but I'm used to it at this point. Like the blog description says: I experience gender envy for Mana-sama.

♡ Queen! I typically only listen to music from the 90s and 2000s, but I love Queen a lot. Like with Fall Out Boy, I liked a lot of their music before I even knew it was them, which is interesting for a number of reasons.

♡ ABBA! Another golden group from the 70s. Absolutely love them and I think it's funny how they can now say they went on a 40-year hiatus. How many of your faves can say the same?

♡ BABYMETAL! While I'm not caught up on all the lore (I'm getting there, okay?) I really do like them. I'm actually a fairly new fan, having only started listening to them in 2019, right before METAL GALAXY came out. When that album came out, I obsessively listened to Night Night Burn! almost every day. It was crazy.

♡ Honorable Mentions: Greek Mythology, the novels Homegoing and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, too many WEBTOONs to name (though currently I'm really into Get Schooled), Waterparks, DE'WAYNE, Kero Kero Bonito, MARINA, Lil Nas X, and Paramore!

○°•°○°•°○

DNF (Just remember, I firmly stand with all of my marginalized family. My love for them overrides my hatred for you 100% of the time.):

× Anti-Black/Racist/Neo-Nazi. I don't tolerate that shit here. Leave me and my blogs alone.

× TERF/SWERF. Our trans siblings and sex working siblings belong in our community. If they hadn't fought for us, we wouldn't be able to live freely now.

× Homophobes. I'm not explaining this one. Just know you shouldn't care who other people want to kiss or fuck.

× Exclusionists. Ace people, Bi/Pan/Poly/Omni/etc people, and Nonbinary/Genderqueer people do not have to explain themselves to be allowed to exist in our community. I don't care if you don't understand their identities. It's not their job to teach you.

× Transmeds/whatever the hell you people are called these days. Trans people do not need to suffer for you to consider them valid.

× Anti-Semites. Idc. Y'all's hatred of Jewish people is quite literally irrational. They haven't caused any problems for you and don't secretly control the government. Don't believe everything you read.

× Islamophobes. Again. As a whole, Muslims are not causing problems for you, and if you think that, you're too far gone.

× Pedos/MAPs/NOMAPs. It's not okay or right or normal to be an adult attracted to children. I don't give a fuck. Get away from me. Even when I ultimately do become of legal age, I still don't want you fuckers around.

× Pro-ship. Idc if it's fictional. It's weird. I personally just feel like "ship and let ship" can't and never should apply to real person, pedophilic, abusive, or incestuous ships, and that's a normal opinion to have. It doesn't "squick me out" if it's straight up illegal! It disgusts me.

× AO3 simps. I use AO3! I like the platform. Its tagging system is well-organized. However, I would not put my moral character on the line for it. It's not that deep, babes. I promise. No one's going to cleanse the internet of your Destiel smuts.

× DDLG/DDLB/MDLG/MDLB. Why does other people acting in child-like manners or dressing like children arouse you? Quickly. Prove with facts and research how that doesn't make you adjacent to being a pedo. Fuck off.

○°•°○°•°○

Finally, I hope this blog is a safe and happy space for everyone to be in! Let's have fun together~!

[sexstories-101]

Hentai..What exactly is it

Hentai. Yes, I will go there! Some of the information on this page may be considered graphic. You have been forewarned!

Hentai is a legitimate branch of manga and animation, much like shonen and shojo. Hentai sex has a complicated history and contradictory definitions. The word hentai is a compound word that describes a sexually deviant person, behavior, or state. Hentai refers to a subgenre of sexual writing rather than the entire genre. Sometimes the word nmaru is used as an antonym for hentai. H (pronounced etchi or ecchi) and ero are terms used to describe any manga or anime with sexual content. Hentai solely refers to sexual scenarios that are deemed deviant and wonderful, such as strange partners and gang rape. H and hentai are sometimes used interchangeably by Western fans.

Hentai is defined in three ways:

form or shape change

a contraction for the 'hentai seiyoku' transformation (as in the change from caterpillar to butterfly)

Hentai seiyoku approximately translates to "abnormal sexual urges." This was a branch of Japanese sexology during the Meiji period (1857-1912). Between 1912 and 1925, the phrase was applied to works with unusual sexual content. Previously, such literature was referred to as "erotic, hideous rubbish."

Hentai entails history may be traced back to the dawn of comics. Manga has its origins in Buddhist texts from the 12th century. These scrolls featured political drawings of animals mocking aristocracy and clergy. These eventually became ukiyo-e prints. These prints were manufactured using wood engravings and were far faster to produce than hand-crafted scrolls. During the Edo period, shunga engravings by Ukiyo-e were utilized as sex manuals. Japanese art forms incorporated Western aspects over the twentieth century. This combination resulted in the manga art style we know today (McLelland, 2006).

Those who survived the conflict frequently had nothing more than their bodies. Everything else was annihilated. This made people appreciate their bodies as a possession even more. This was also the first time women's bodies were publicly shown. Petting couples and other open shows of sexuality were seen. Around 1952, H (etchi) began to describe sexual literature.

The 1950s saw a rebirth of love suicides, a popular love story genre prior to the War. Hentai, love suicide is deemed odd. Focus periodicals covered homosexual relationships, sadomasochism, fetishes, lesbian relationships, and even seppuku. Hentai fetishes include loincloth mania, male disembowelment, and the trademark tentacle (McLelland, 2006; Ortega-Bren, 2009; Serendip Studio, 2012).

Both manga and hentai proliferated after WWII. During this time, Astro Boy and others appeared. The Japanese press was free to investigate any topic that the concentration on wartime literature had prevented. Carnal literature, Nikutai Bungaku, was omnipresent. This was a reaction of World War II survivors as much as it was a reaction to the lifting of wartime press limitations.

If you are looking for motivation to enhance your sexual drive.

Kindly visit https://porno19.com/ a Vietnam porn website about pregnancy sex movies

[comicscourse]

Defining Yuri, June 2023

Introduction 

While manga, whether we talk about shonen, shoujo or seinen, often displays elements that are distinct from Western literature, as a whole it is easily recognizable. You can use the same tools you analyze East of Eden with to look at Lone Wolf and Cub. If you can parse A Midsummer Night’s Dream then Urusei Yatsura should be just as comprehensible to you.  

Yuri however, is distinct enough that it is worth talking about what is intrinsic to it. This is very much an evolving work in my mind and I welcome feedback as it evolves. For this point I’ve considered some of my recent reads in Yuri and re-read volume 1 of Eclair.  I intend to expand this over time so consider this a work in progress.  

For future reference this is dated June 18th, 2023.

Common Yuri Relationship Themes 

I think these are important to deconstruct so that we can speak with more precision about the nature of yuri relationships.

Types of Girl Love

One theme drives everything else in Yuri - love.  This includes five types of love that serve as sub themes:

Familial Love - While the first three are all common in Yuri, familiar love is the least common.

Familiar Love - While at risk of sounding similar to familial love this is very different. Familiar love is about shared experiences, sometimes, traumatic, sometimes not but it binds the persons together in a way that becomes a unique bond.

Philial Love - I avoid the word platonic because of its non-sexual denotation. Here philial represents a deep long lasting friendship and could be sexual and/or romantic as well.

Romantic Love - Most audiences are very familiar with this concept.

Sexual Love - While love and sex are often separated the emotions connected with physical attraction should not be understated and are important here. 

It is important to underscore that several of these afflictions are not sapphic or lesbian and while yuri comics are often sapphic the genre has enough diversity that it shouldn’t be defined as such.

Secondary Factors in Girl Love

Aesthetic Attraction - This can be a bond between girls who appreciate each other aesthetically but their connection does not necessarily become a form of love or may co-exist with a form of love. It is common with romantic and sexual love but exists in stories with platonic relationships as well.

Mania - This is a false form of love, representing obsession. It is different because it is not reciprocated in any form. This is unusual in yuri which mainly focuses on sweeter story plots.

Playful Flirting - What the Greeks called Ludus. This encompasses several concepts from the so called Bi for the Guys to fan service or just for fun. This is a form of relationship where two girls flirty, perhaps have a skinship, but it is meant to be fun or provocative not escalate.

Power Exchange - Sometimes confused with BDSM, power exchange does not necessarily include any bondage or sado-masochistic elements and can take place in what are seen as very vanilla relationships with a wide variety of forms of love or none.

Skinship - This relationship term was originally coined to describe the close physical bond between a mother and child but is now used more broadly. It can now describe the close bond in a relationship that has a physical component, for example two platonic friends that enjoy holding hands and cuddling. This is often combined with Playful Flirting relationship when the girls want to be provocative. It is considered more intimate than a sexual relationship though can certainly be combined with one.

Ambiguity 

Ambiguity is a common theme in the genre, with character feelings and even the exact form of conflict resolution often unclear to the reader and open to interpretation.  “The Hairdresser” is an example of this, where the characters have a relationship at the end but the nature of it is unclear.  It might be a mild form of devotion though one clearly has some level of aesthetic attraction.  

In “A Tropical Fish Yearns for Snow” both characters are ingénues and everything is ambiguous throughout.  In “The Hairdresser” a girl attracted to another does her hair, they clearly develop a relationship at the end but what kind is left in doubt.  

Conflicts 

All Yuri has one central false conflict and one or more true conflicts.  The false conflict mirrors western romance literature and is the resolution of the status of a relationship between two women.  

The tone of resolutions is diverse ranging from happily ever after to tragedy and bittersweet endings far more common than in English western literature.  Additionally, even the tone can be ambiguous.

This is attributed to a critical difference between Yuri and Western romances.  While both revolve around a central relationship conflict the resolutions are very different.  Western romances may factor some self revelation in the build up to resolution but resolving the relationship itself resolves the conflict.  This is to say the conflict is external.

After the rain

In Yuri the true conflict is internal to one or more of the main characters.  The resolution of the relationship between them is a side effect of internal conflict being resolved but optional.  Nothing may change in that relationship or it may be ambiguous.  

Character Plot Roles 

Because so many plots center around resolving ambiguity and conflicts in relationship most plot roles address sides of those issues.

The Devout - This role is paired with the Goddess. The devout is a character absolutely fixated on another character.  The devout could be a yandere but often is a kind soul who is genuinely devout and willing to put their own emotions aside for their Goddess.

The Enigma - This is a character we don’t get to see the internal voice of and is often unexpressive.  They are an object of interest from other characters and we often don’t know their feelings until the end and even then may only be implied. Their job is to react. Kai-san from “Happiness in the Shape of a Scar” from vol 1 of Eclair is an example.  Note that being an enigma is not about being emotionally reserved but their viewpoint as to the relationship is unknown.  In “Human Emotion” from volume one of Eclair we see that the minx is very reserved and probably autistic while the enigma is very vocal and expressive.  

The Goddess - The goddess is the object of devotion by a Devout character. They may be beautiful and accomplished or may be very average. They may be aware of the Devout’s dedication or may be unaware of it. They do not have control over being a Goddess, it is determined by the focus of the Devout on them.

The ingénue - This girl is naive and is likely interested in other girls but not even aware of it herself. Often paired with a Minx. Examples: Yuma-chan from NTR.

The Minx - Is interested in another girl sexually and/or romantically.  This does not preclude other types of relationships as they are often friends as well.  May have many self doubts and not be as sophisticated as they appear.  May be aggressive and a combination of their doubts and interests are usually a major driving force behind the plot in stories in which they appear.  Examples: Hotaru from NTR.  Both characters in “The Unemployed Woman and the High School Girl” are minxes, an unusual point of conflict. The aggressiveness of the minx can mix into themes in a variety of ways, for example in “Master for 1/365” the minx positions herself to be the slave of the enigma until out of frustration she makes a physical ploy.  

The Opportunist - Is either pan or they see practicality as more important their sex choices, can often happen because what they are opportunistic to is erotic acts in a relationship and may occur because they acknowledge other feelings of connection and use physical as a pan easy way to reciprocate, the opportunist is a manipulator though it may be a result of self defense mechanisms 

The Tourist - This character has just wandered into a Yuri story and really has no place in it.  Often used open endings and plot twists.

The two combinations of the Minx and the ingénue and the Minx and the Enigma are the most common pairings because indeterminate relationship is one of the most common storylines in the genre.

Character Archetypes 

The Emo Queen - The emo queen rarely show feminine embellishments even if they are attractive, they are socially withdrawn and only interact with others to push them away. This is often a persona created as a defense mechanism and the person actually wants to connect to others.

The Girl Next Door  - The Girl Next Door is pretty, sexy and relatable. They are desirable but don’t put a lot of effort into their appearance being genuine and down to earth.    

The Ice Queen - Unlike the Emo Queen, the Ice Queen doesn’t so much push others away as create a barrier of non-interaction around herself. She is usually very good at her job and respected whether she is an office worker or student. They often have a less severe personality outside of their school or work.

The Kawaii Girl - This girl is obsessed with fashion, make up and in general being girly. She is probably attractive and at least emulates popular behavior and may have a big social media following. 

The Non-Human - This is taken from the 1948 novel of the same name by Osamu Dazai. This character is in many ways a more extreme version of the Emo Queen that is not a persona but a true state. This person has reached a point of social alienation and depression where they no longer qualify to be human beings. Trigger warnings often abound when a character is Non-Human. These are unusual in yuri.

Titles 

Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon

Hinako is a pretty girl who calls fashion magazines her text books. At her office girl job she is fashionable, attractive and a daily lunch partner of other girls even when she can’t afford it because she spent so much on beauty supplies. She desperately hopes that by fulfilling social expectations she will be normal, attract the right man and maybe be happy. Asahi is five years older and respected at their workplace. She keeps to herself and brings her lunch. Hinako wonders why Asahi isn’t afraid of being alone.

One night crying in the street Hinako is discovered by Asahi who shares donuts with her on a park bench. This starts a relationship based on empathy and respect which grows from there. 

Characters

Hinako - (archetype) Kawaii Girl, (plot role) Ingénue

Asahi - (archetype) Ice Queen, (plot role) Enigma/Ingénue  

Details

Story and art by Shio Use 

Seven Seas Entertainment

Began English publishing in 2021

Four volumes, complete.

Notes

I really enjoyed this series and consider it very good. First it was nice to have a series about office working age characters instead of school girls for a change and the discovery of two homo-erotic but asexual characters was nice.

NTR: Netsuzou Trap

From Wikipedia: “Yuma and Hotaru have been best friends since childhood. Yuma would protect Hotaru from things such as bullies, and made it her job to look after her. Now, the two are second-year high school students, but Hotaru is anything but innocent.”

Characters

Yuma - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) ingénue

Hotaro - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Minx

Details

Story and art by Kodama Naoko

Seven Seas Entertainment 

Began English publishing in 2020

Six volumes, complete

Notes

This was actually the first yuri work I read so it has a special place in my literary affections. NTR is a cheeky title as it is meant to invoke NTR as an abbreviation for ‘netorare’ a genre focused on cheating. And the female characters are effectively cheating on their boyfriends. Some yuri fans don’t like the work because of the aggressiveness and mind games played by Hotaro though they are born out of insecurity. Also it is one of the racier yuri series with risque fan service but I do worry that sometimes the innocence of yuri goes a bit bar in ignoring female sexuality.

Strawberry Fields Once Again

Pure, an attractive outgoing girl starts attending Akira’s school.  Akira pushes everyone away and swears off romance after seeing her parent’s relationship collapse though she still enjoys playing otome romance games. Pure immediately upon meeting Akira declares her love claiming to be from the future and Akira’s future lover. This story sounds crazy but it turns out that Akira’s shut-in brother has been working on a time machine.

Characters

Akira - (archetype) Emo Queen, (plot role) Opportunist, Goddess

Pure - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Devout

Details

Story and art by Kazura Kinosaki

Yen Press

Began English publishing in 2020

Three volumes in English as of June 2023

Notes

I’ve read the first two volumes and the start of the third at this point. I am enjoying it but it is not a must read. It is notable for having a science fiction angle that is unusual in yuri. It also occurred as I read it that more recent yuri I’m reading treats lesbian relationships as more normalized and less commented on.

The Summer You Were There

From English publisher: “Shizuku is a shy high schooler who hardly talks to other people. Instead, she loses herself in writing, crafting a novel that she never intends to show anyone. But when her cute, popular classmate Kaori gets her hands on Shizuku’s manuscript, everything changes. Kaori suggests that, in order to give Shizuku material for her next book, the two of them should start dating! Can this mismatched pair create their own happily ever after?”

Characters

Shizuku - (archetype) Non-Human, (plot role) Goddess 

Kaori - (archetype) Girl Next Door, (plot role) Devout 

Details

Story and art by Yuama

Seven Seas Entertainment

Began English publishing in 2022

Three volumes in English as of June 2023, fourth scheduled for Jan 2024

Notes

I’ve read the first two volumes and so far am really enjoying it. The developing relationship may warrant later changing the plot roles but some trigger warning for possibility suicide thoughts need to be included. Also the developing story that is only hinted at for Kaori is giving me I Want to Eat Your Pancreas vibes which concerns me. Overall, yay.

Non-Yuri Works Recommended for Yuri Readers

After the Rain 

I Want To Eat Your Pancreas 

[minhavidaperegrinaworld]

🍂🍂🌻🌻🌻🍂🍂🍂 *Bom Dia....*

*Mesmo que nossos projetos e sonhos sejam cortados no tronco, quando Deus tem um propósito em nossas vidas continuamos a dar frutos. Nunca esmoreça, nunca desista, sempre acredite que pode, que consegue, que vencerá...Deus é contigo sempre!*

🖊📚🕊❤😇🙏🍂🍂🍂🌻🌻🌻

_Não desanime jamais! Sentimentos como tristeza e desânimo só fazem piorar qualquer situação, deteriorando as relações, trazendo fragilidade emocional e física, e atrapalhando o pensamento… Arregace as mangas e busque novas soluções! Faça tudo que está ao seu alcance para resolver seus problemas. Caminhe firme no bem, e quando você menos esperar, coisas surpreendentes e abençoadas vão acontecer pra você. Como diz o ditado, o homem se agita e Deus o conduz, portanto faça sua parte, e confie no Pai, ele nunca desampara._

✍🏻 *BOM DIA!*

*As vezes Deus diz Não. As vezes Deus diz Sim. E as vezes Ele diz Espere. Espere para ver o agir de Deus em sua vida, espere para ver tudo tomando o seu lugar e espere para que Deus prepare a sua vítoria. Quem espera, confia. Quem confia tem fé. Quem tem fé tem Deus. E com Deus nada faltará. Acredite, quem espera não é decepcionado, mas surpreendido!*

🍃🕊🍃🕊🍃🕊🍃🕊

¸🕊¸•.¸.• ´⁀⋱‿. 🌸ꦿ໋ 🍃:*:🎀🌸

*PARE E REFLITA*

*É preciso acreditar, confiar e seguir. É preciso abraçar as novas oportunidades sem se maltratar tanto pelas coisas ruins que passaram. É preciso proteger o coração de sentimentos infrutíferos e é muito importante salvar a mente de pensamentos negativos. Deus está com você, pronto para realizar o impossível em sua vida e te fazer viver grandes milagres. Daquele passado que tanto de doeu, traga somente o que você se permitiu aprender, o resto, lança no esquecimento e se permita ao novo todos os dias.*

¸🕊¸•.¸.• ´⁀⋱‿. 🌸ꦿ໋ 🍃:*:🎀🌸

*╔═══❖•ೋ° °ೋ•❖═══╗*

*Bom Dia!*

*Que a gente nunca esqueça que o amor de Deus é o centro de tudo. Deixe Deus entrar em seu coração e te ajudar a se livrar de qualquer medo, angústia, preocupação ou sentimento ruim. Deus quer te nutrir com amor, quer curar sua alma e te mostrar o quão forte você pode ser confiando n'Ele. Converse com Deus agora, deixe Ele te guiar.*

*╚═══❖•ೋ° °ೋ•❖═══╝*

══◄• 🌱🌻 •►══

*DEUS TE ABENÇOE*

*Não permita que o teu passado mate a possibilidade de existir um futuro brilhante. Perdoar, esquecer, reconsiderar, eis aí verbos libertadores. Você precisa caminhar, precisa viver, mas para isso terá de deixar para trás todo esse peso que carrega. Falaram muitas coisas, te decepcionaram, te humilharam, mas você é alguém que precisa continuar! Continuar por você mesmo, continuar pelo seu propósito de vida, continuar pelo seu próprio bem. O seu futuro pode ser diferente. Quer um conselho? Se afaste de quem nunca cooperou com você, se ausente de ambientes que bloqueiam suas habilidades e se aproxime de quem te apoia, acredita em você e nos seus sonhos. Viva! Não permita que uma parte ruim da vida comprometa a totalidade dela. Ainda dá para salvar seu propósito, seus sonhos e sua visão de futuro.*

══◄• 🌱🌻 •►══

*OLHE O QUE VOCÊ TEM*

🍂🌻🍂Ao invés de passarmos a vida a nos lamentar pelo que não temos, invertamos essa situação dando graças por tudo o que temos e não valorizamos. Temos a terrível mania de só olhar para o que não temos ou não conseguimos, ou para aquilo que perdemos, e nos esquecemos de olhar para o que temos. Não somos capazes de ver as nossas conquistas. Gostamos de olhar apenas para as nossas frustrações e fracassos e deixamos de olhar para tantas vitórias que nos acompanham pela vida. Tudo o que é material é passageiro. Só nos serve em determinados momentos e situações. Deus sempre nos dá o necessário para cumprirmos a nossa jornada aqui na Terra. O grande problema é que nunca estamos satisfeitos. Queremos sempre mais e mais. Reclamamos porque vivemos numa casa mediana, enquanto o outro agradece a Deus por achar um cantinho debaixo de uma ponte para se abrigar. Quando despertaremos para a grande verdade? Quando deixaremos de ser ingratos? Quando perceberemos que o maior tesouro está dentro de nós e que ele se completa por si só, desde que nos desapeguemos das coisas materiais e nos liguemos mais a Deus, nosso Criador?

🙏🏻Pensemos...

🍂🌻🌻🌻🍂

*A vida é como um livro. Todas as páginas são importantes e você é o personagem principal de sua história, você não pode mudar o que já foi escrito, mas pode recomeçar um novo capítulo, está em suas mãos este poder. Recomece, nunca é tarde.*

🕊✿🕊✿🕊✿🕊✿🕊✿

[dagamingshelf-database]

FCBD 2023 Animal Crossing & Kirby Manga Mania

This will be released in the United States on May 6, 2023 by Viz as a freebie for Free Comic Book Day. It was released as merchandise for Animal Crossing: New Horizon and the Kirby series. Free Comic Book Day is an annual event where publishers offer a single comic of a popular series for free, either reprints or even unique exclusives. These typically are the first volume of an on-going series and the event is meant to encourage new comic readers to these works or comics as a whole. The comics differ from their original release as they feature the FCBD brand. This particular comic features the series Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Vol. 1: Deserted Island Diary with a small excerpt from Kirby Manga Mania. This is a reprinting of both series and do not feature new content. Shops will receive these on April 19, 2023, but are properly distributed in May.

Animal Crossing: Read the gag-filled adventures of four goofy residents living among the Animal Crossing: New Horizons characters! Kirby Manga Mania: Jump into Dream Land with Kirby and gobble up some fun! Everyone's favorite pink puff teams up with his friends to keep arch-frenemy King Dedede in line. Fans of all ages can enjoy this sampling of a classic Kirby comic; just take a deep breath and hop on in!

[amarionetista]

Você é uma bruxa

    Sua loja estava parada naquele dia, poucas vezes Beatrice precisou deixar de lado o livro que lia, talvez vez ou outra apenas para mexer o que quer que estivesse preparando em seu caldeirão.

   Podia sentir o cheiro mudando cada vez que a colher terminava uma volta. Rosas, margaridas e então tulipas.

   Beatrice parou nesse, o cheiro era ótimo para acalmar o seu estresse e o livro ótimo para libertá-la de seu tédio.

   Beatrice retornou ao seu lugar novamente, mas dessa deixou seu livro no balcão, a caveira estampada na capa a observando com suas orbes vazias.

   Beatrice podia sentir o inexistente e ver o invisível, seu sexto sentido era muito bem afiado. Era claro como água que ela não estava mais sozinha.

— Espere só um minuto — Beatrice avisou em tom zombeteiro. — Como pode ver, estou com muitos clientes. 

   Então, como se sempre tivesse estado lá, ela apareceu. Felícia estava lá, seu vestido preto bem rente ao seu corpo muito bem esculpido, seus cabelos brancos caindo pelos ombros como uma cascata congelada. Talvez para os desacostumados os negros chifres em sua cabeça arruinariam sua beleza, e talvez a ideia de estar frente a frente com uma beldade do inferno não fosse o plano de pessoas comuns para uma sexta a noite, mas Beatrice a achava verdadeiramente linda.

   Felícia se sentou no balcão, admirando as unhas pintadas, cada dedo possuindo aquele tom escuro como sombra, aquele escuro você não vê nada além, tudo pode estar lá e você nem sabe disso.

— Como foi seu dia hoje? — Beatrice questionou enquanto apanhava duas pequenas taças douradas de baixo do balcão e as servia de uma dose generosa da bebida que preparava.

   Uma vez nas taças o cheiro mudou para lavanda. Felícia não teve pressa nem de falar e nem de beber a sua bebida, ela parecia mais preocupada em observar como Beatrice estava cuidando da loja desde a última vez que esteve lá.

  Felícia notou algumas prateleiras mais cheias e outras mais vazias, tudo organizado por tamanho, uma mania de Beatrice que ela jamais entenderia 

  Já Beatrice permanecia quase sempre da mesma forma, aquela bruxa poderia parecer jovem, porém Felícia sabia de sua idade real, uma que a magia jamais permitiria que caísse sobre seu corpo. Seu cabelo negro curto parecia mais repicado hoje, sua camisa sem mangas deixavam fortes braços a mostra, os dois cobertos de tatuagens e cicatrizes. 

   Então Felícia sorriu, tomando o último gole de sua bebida com muita satisfação.

— Infernal como sempre.

  Beatrice riu.

— Bom, essa é a palavra perfeita para resumir o inferno, não?

   Beatrice se levantou e se aproximou de Felícia, cada braço ao lado das grossas coxas da demônio esbelta à sua frente. O contraste nas cores de suas peles era algo que Felícia sempre adorava admirar, ela gostava da diferença, assim como ela sabia que elas eram iguais por dentro.

   Uma das mãos de Felícia se perdeu nos cabelos curtos de Beatrice, o tom das suas unhas combinando perfeitamente com o das mechas de Beatrice, aquele acerto que ela tanto buscava a deixou, como se diz por aí, no céu.

— O meu foi tedioso, você sabe? O que você acha de fazer algo a respeito disso?

    Felícia então puxou Beatrice contra ela, seus corpos se chocando era sempre o ponto mais inebriante para Beatrice. Seus corpos não só eram moldados de formas diferentes, seus poderes eram tão diferentes e incompatíveis, suas naturezas também divergiam. Apesar de se dizer que as bruxas servem os seres infernais, eles têm forças muito diferentes. As bruxas têm seus poderes da natureza, indo a ingredientes até os quatro elementos. Os demônios tem seu poder na ganância, no desejo, na ambição. Eles não tem regras a seguir e não tem limitações, seu poder é algo muito perto do ilimitado.

   Beatrice sabia que parecia como um mágico de festa infantil quando estava perto de Felícia, mas ela nunca se sentiu medida assim, aos olhos de Felícia ela sempre foi tão grande quanto ela.

   Quando Felícia tomou seus lábios para si foi como se estivesse levando um choque e se queimando ao mesmo tempo. Era confuso, mas essa não era a tarefa dos seres infernais? Causar confusão? De que outra forma conseguiriam entrar na cabeça de suas vítimas?

   A mão livre de Felícia acariciou suas costas, seus dedos brincando com a beira de sua camisa, buscando contato com a pele. Beatrice suspirou em seus lábios quando sentiu as unhas de Felícia arranharem Felícia sorriu satisfeita, ela mordeu o lábio inferior de Beatrice, forte o bastante apenas para fazê-la estremecer, nunca para tirar sangue.

— Isso é o bastante por agora — Beatrice anunciou enquanto se afastava.

   Ela ajeitou sua camisa, mas não se preocupou com seu cabelo bagunçado muito menos com o batom borrado que lhe cobria os lábios depois do beijo.

  Felícia levou um segundo a mais para deixar aquele estado de estupor. Beatrice lhe ofereceu uma segunda taça da bebida, seu sorriso travesso deixando claro que ela se divertia com a situação que tinha colocado Felícia.

— Beba. Eu quero aproveitar com você um pouco mais antes de aproveitar você.

   Beatrice piscou. Ela é uma bruxa, pensou Felícia, no pior sentido da palavra.

[imbriaart]

Coming 2023 So many may have been wondering why I keep saying I will do a stream and keep failing. As things have been I have been living out of my car and my phone connection … well sucks. And as we have a bigger interest in Aye appearing then my aging real life mug, it’s a good idea to wait to improve things. But now as we head into 2023 there are some things good to state. First off. We are returning to art and streaming (maybe mid to late January to mid February for the relaunch date) mainly this is due to trying to find a place to work from that isn’t on wheels. The art may start sooner. New schedule for streams and new / suggested games. In 2023 when streaming returns we will host streams Wednesday - Sundays likely around 6 Pm EST for games on Friday, and Sunday. And 8 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday for art, chat, Lesser Look Live (Thursday) and Mania Manga review (a new comic / manga read suggestions by you). On Wednesday we will be chatting and doing manga as we draw from our own creations and comics. While Saturday will be 3 hours of Dining and Doodles, with our normal 2 hour block for requests and the final hour drawing something original. Most streams will last three to four hours with hard out times. Planed games will be More Stardew Valley (mods) danganronpa One Piece: Odyssey Breath of the Wild 2 And more New Art and writing 2023 will see the return of weekly Demon Blade pages, a new (name yet to be revealed) Webtoons series. And new novels / novelettes from us including a planned hard cover release of 11 Kingdoms hopefully by Summer. To say 2022 was a rough one for me would be a understatement, but with it we hit number 1 in Stardew Valley streaming, one of the rising art streams and a quickly growing audience in all avenues we released last year. You all the fans and supporters had helped me so much in this past year. But we are starting 2023 with a new job. Eventually (soon) a new home. My health still being a problem but finding better ways to deal with and move forward with it. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm2OU2zP-OV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=