#meiritsu

[kaosketches]

The urge to draw one of my OTPs like this was 😩... but then I fumbled and procrastinated in finishing it.

I had this idea of redrawing a screencap from quite a while. There was a Vapowave compilation video that appeared on my YT reccomendations which thumbnail caught my attention just because of its somewhat silly premise (it was from a 80s or very-very early 90s commercial for beverages or bubblegum... wish I knew which it was since I don't have the link of the video on question in my hands, lol).

Silly concept of a couple on what it seems like a boat in the middle of a summery day = why not trying it on Mage and Ritsuka? It's been a long while since I last drew them too, hahah.

Just a drawing exercise trying to understand some anatomy (and I reworked details on this after a while because I wasn't convinced on the first version of this pic's linearts... Even though I know some things are still a little off, OTL).

I also made a noise-filled edit that makes it look like coming from an old TV screencap from a VHS, but I will be real in saying that I'm not fully convinced on how it came out, lol. This edit and the original commercial screencap I used as base are under the Keep Reading cut~

The edit of the pic with a "retro" aesthetic "filter":

The original advertising screencap:

[kaoarika]

Speaking of dandevi, went to look at a draft-like version of a fic I was writing between late 2017 and early 2018 that was canon-divergent to the anime because I was full on spite on how the recap movie ended up being (which, still to this day, it’s kind of disappointing... but in hindsight I shouldn’t have had my bar of expectations pretty high due to a bad translation on certain anime-related news website - it wasn’t a realistic outcome, lol, but also... recapping 12 episodes in a hour with some extra material, is a little unfair, as well, I guess?).

Basically, it was like a MeiRitsu "route” fic based on the anime’s events, adding lore from Mage’s side revealed in the game, but definitely divergent from the anime-canon. Because, again, for Fortuna to have happened, it SHOULD have diverged its events a LOT more for a satisfying different ending, at least in my eyes.

Looking back, I remember I wrote over 20 pages and the idea was like skipping some significant events that wouldn’t have changed whatsoever after episode 5 (vaguely retaining each of Ritsuka’s solo moments with the guys... I know this wouldn’t have been perfect, tbh, but attempts were made), but extending them to Mage’s POV, and then alternating stuff here and there (ie “what if he turned out to be the king of the dance instead of Rem”, or “mayhaps I want Azuna to keep living?”) as well.

And MAN, I did (do?) have some great ideas, and my tone of humor was pretty on point, lol. However, I didn’t really continue it due to stuff like work and because I decided to focus more on my own characters and their own project; also, my mind wasn’t fresh anymore on the anime.

From time to time, I have wanted to continue it or even tried to rewrite it, but tbh? I stop myself mostly because that means I should put a definitive ending on it (human? devil? stay? leave?) and, while I do have some headcanons for those... writing them as full is... dfgdfgdg, hard. And, again, my focus in my OC couple has been predominant ever since (the other thing, I guess, is that I write 99% of my stuff in Spanish... so, adding a TL is fun OTL), lol.

This is one of those times :’)

[acquiredmen]

I think I'm gonna keep ShikiLindo for their ship name. The naming convention in the fandom seemed to be the first two kana characters of their names mashed together (レムリツ RemRitsu / メィリツ MeiRitsu / リンリツ LinRitsu , even Noel got ノエリツ NoeRitsu)

The obvious answer would be LinShiki or ShikiLin (シキリン actually looks good like this?) but I really don't like how the Lin looks in roman letters. Maybe if it was Rin, like RinShiki/ShikiRin? But that doesn't work because the official romanization for his name is Lindo…

I could solve the problem by just writing it in katakana, but that's gonna mess up the organization with the other ships…

It also messes things up in my brain, cause I have to write his name as 'rinn(do)' on the keyboard, which is more letters than 'lin(do)', and with Shiki's name adding up to 5 letters, it's unbalanced :/ At least ShikiLindo is balanced in their number of letters

Weird, because I find RemRitsu very nicely balanced in roman letters? Even though it's the same 3/5. Maybe the problem 5 in front of 3?

[if-i-want-to-dance]

THIS COUPLE

THEY’RE SO CUTE

UGH MY HEART CAN’T HANDLE THIS LEVEL OF ADORABLENESS

[kaoarika]

Ohh, I also recently got this acryllic stand featuring this Fairy Tale (Red Riding Hood and the Wolf) version of Undead Unluck's Andy and Izumo Fuuko!

This is actually from a Weekly Shonen Jump blindbag acryllic stands collection that featured the cover illustrations from Weekly Shonen Jump 21-22 (2021), which was released... last year, I think? This collection is based on, you guessed it, fairy tales. You had, for example, Luffy dressed as Aladdin, Roboco as Snow White, etc, etc. These were also released in "mini" variants, but I suppose those were lottery or subscriptions related...? And are much smaller than these.

ANYWAY, I basically fell in love with this one. Especially since these are the same outfits or versions of Andy and Fuuko that were featured in Ch 39's color cover (which, instead, happens to be one of my fave color covers of the series so far...) and MAN, do I love a nice werewolf design (and it fits Andy SO WELL, I CAN'T-) And Fuuko as Red Riding Hood is nice.

That being said, GOSH, I WISH there were WSJ-related stuff like these AGES ago! There's neat older thematic cover illustrations variants from WSJ featuring their older series and I feel they would have looked SO cool in physical merch like this? Especially when I am more familiar with some of their older series that have finished in the past few years :').

Here it is with my other couple of acryllic stands of Mage (I wish he had more meat on his bones, but this was from those CG profiles from the Dandevi PSVita game) and MeiRitsu (this one actually featuring art by @/kuroztonbi)

[kaosketches]

Everything became a mess, yet I still want to see you once more.

Once upon a time, like... 4-ish years ago (2017), I did a pic of angsty full Mage for a potential aftermath of one of his game bad endings (because, iirc, he didn’t have an aftermath cg?), and here I am retaking this idea plus another one that came from a ship ask for MeiRitsu, also from around the same time (a post-apocalyptic idea-kind of question?) because I am trying to work out a couple of ideas for different future!Mage (angsty and positive good future-like ideas, lol).

In basic concepts, all I wanted for this specific angsty Mage is the idea of a deteriorated, full-on powered individual. 

Tired, with no more options other than pushing (himself) forward at any cost. He lost part of his right arm in a previous incident, yet replaced it with a monster’s (his own? alternate(?) form). His skin is looking every passing day more and more gaunt (and he has a stubble, because why not), as they are part of the after effects of grabbing so much power and becoming a destructive demon, whose best (and happier) days are long way behind (also, thanks to sadness and wrath and regrets 24/7, because he lost the true love of his life and he is 100% alone those days). 

The hair is the part I’m still not so sure about. I have considered giving him loose long hair that is all messy (as I did time ago in that one pic... or in a more normal stylized way as per canon... but I also thought of this other alternative which I think it’s much more better:

“Long hair” doesn’t work in a battlefield, 24/7, you know? Although I know he loses his distinctive long and beautiful blond hair, but angst, wrath, and regrets do different things to you after a certain period of time.

[kaosketches]

A slightly older Mage and his daughter.

Two months or so ago I was working with an idea of “what if” if DwD had a Mage ending. SURE, I was also discussing about the idea of “well, I could defintiely not do a “Dance with _____” song in, but, well.

My “definitely (happy) ending” thing would be a timeskip of various years into the future, Mage holding his and Ritsuka’s child, in the middle of this huge field (during the sun set?), revisiting the first moment he fell in love of Ritsuka (while a duo performance between Subaru and Himika is heard in the background*bricked*). In this route (and ending), he decides to stay in the human world because he doesn’t feel like going back to the demon realm (due to various reasons, but I will go further into that when I have time writing that).

And thus, this pic. 

I think he and Ritsuka would be in their mid/late 20s when they would have their child. She was born with more blondish hair, but as she is growing up, her hair is more or less matching Ritsuka’s color. Also, Mage is a proud and happy papa.

This was one of the first pics I did with FireAlpaca,and went on to do lots of things with the whole illustration like the details of the grass (which were based in a tutorial, for example) because I felt it would be empty if I only drew them. and I’m happy how it turned out? For being a first time?

[kaoarika]

I’m somewhat salty there wasn’t a new “risky” CG of Mage (like certain others) in the trailer and all we got were:

A smoking hot devil in the middle of a rain.

Ritsuka playing and brushing this same (dork) devil’s hair in what it looks like a very fluffy intimate moment where he is also blushing.

I could have been complaining more but... fluffyness.

[kaoarika]

DwD Character Appreciation Week - Day Five

Nanashiro Mage

(And finally, I’m posting this)

I cannot exactly pinpoint why I love the outfit that Mage uses in EverSweet (2016/17)... it just... kinda is my fave outfit? Something casual and different than the usual, while not losing that “Mage” feel (I hc that the shirt he is using beneath the jacket is sleveless, lol). I was on the floor when the first reveal of that illustration came up. It even was my Tumblr icon for a while!

I also adore how his hair is styled (while not being tied/or in a manbun). I’m very cool if designers/illustrators put him with his hair down (like the cover for Charming Book), or when they try something a tiny bit more different (like the Airline theme for AGF2017 Avex’s merch). Mage has that kind of silk-like hair I crave want to touch, lol. (Lots of thanks for character design decisions, tbh).

Like I pointed out in my previous post, Mage is by far my fave character in the franchise. It’s also thanks to Subaru(’s voice acting) that I like him that much. I love how is this character, who is all “oresama this” and “oresama that”, who looks like he enjoys getting in trouble, but, at the same time, is a BIG softy in the inside (you see this a current recurrent thing in many of Suba’s charas?), to the grade of being a tsundere. I also love the contrast where he manages to show his affection and feelings and is willing to save the love of his life w/o restraints.

One of my fave moments in the anime is still that fight vs Lindo, especially when Ritsuka stopped the battle, while both of them deflected their attacks to not harm her.

Speaking of Ritsuka... you will notice that this is a (not-so) subtle MeiRitsu piece. Is there a continuation to this...?

[kaoarika]

DwD Character Appreciation Week - *BONUS* Day Eight

Tachibana Ritsuka

It took me a while, but I realized from WHERE this set of clothes was based on. And I tried to not make it look more closely to the merch set I based this pic on.

Ritsuka’s wearing a similar attire to the one she used during the School Festival in the anime. You know, the one where her group were doing a café, and when Lindo did the most ridiculous thing he could DO as a way of keeping an eye on her.

So, anyway. There’s this set of (Union Creative) merch visuals that I really don’t remember was announced through the oficial PR account for the franchise, but I saw them on AmiAmi in earlier 2017 (probably before Fortuna was announced to be in production). By October, I went to snatch a box from the can badges (as they didn’t sell out) as they were kidda cheaper than they were when the pre-orders opened. So, yeah (they are supposed to be here, but my post service’s hijinks are TOTALLY a thing).

I admire Ritsuka. 

I’ll defend her and her actions from heaven to hell, and back. She was motivated to find her kidnapped mother, what she knew about her own life was a lie (from her being the Forbidden Grimoire; to her disappeared dad being a demon from another realm; to her “older brother” being not only her cousin but also having a severe siscon, etc), and all of sudden, being in the middle of devils vs vampires war who wanted to have an almighty power to conquer them all. Not to mention that she fell in love of a devil. And that her best friend died while protecting her. All in a short span of time.

At the end, she is the owner of her own destiny... although she knew they could be together, the reason she stayed in the human world instead of being alongside Rem in his, is because she wanted to stay human, with the rest of her little family. Maybe things weren’t going to be the old same, but she wanted to rebuild them... even if that meant not seeing the one she loved the most in a long time.

Tbh, I don’t know why people think Ritsuka would have given that up to pursue Rem. And Rem absolutely knew that was the fair and possible route that would have happened after all they did in making her suffer. Besides, they knew that their mutual love didn’t know frontiers, as much as sad as it really was meant to be, because the future is quite uncertain. “Long time” is uncertain.

This piece is obviously a continuation from my Mage’s pic, with a more Valentine-ish feel to it. Because, why not~

While I ship MeiRitsu as my OTP, I’m very okay with RemRitsu as such, and I melt away with stuff about them, too. Looking at my old posts about the series as such, there are things that I often smh because most of my feelings have been reinvindicated. SURE, I love MeiRitsu and love this AU idea of how Mage and Ritz may have worked out, but everything is just part of my imagination, partially based from the game and so, and so, (and how I wish Fortuna was different than what it ended up being... curse you, fake incentives >.>) and I wish I have more material of (and from my own hand, as well), but you know... RemRitsu is also beautiful in its own way too.

[kaoarika]

This is the cutest thing that Rejet may have given as an earlier-christmas gift (for me as a MeiRitsu fan), as part of these Christmas-y scenarios for My Carol.

I do agree that the colors from this CG (and the other routes variants) are very dull, though? I understand that it’s supposed to look “bright” because of the lights, but let’s be honest...

Also slight complaints - 

* Mage, if it’s supposed to be cold... and I understand is kind of your go-to kind of sleveless clothes... I’m pretty sure a scarf doesn’t do anything to cover a “slight” cold breeze.

*Also, CG illustrator(s) and character designer for the game... Ritsuka could have used another couple of (newer) casual clothes too, ya know?

[kaoarika]

Have been meaning to post this from a LONG WHILE (finished it on February!) I see that my phone camera doesn’t do it too much justice either.

Although not my first Meiritsu’s pic, I wanted to do something more chibi-fied? I cannot believe to say that while Ritsuka’s uniform is kinda hard to draw in such form... Mage’s hair WAS HARDER. WHY.

[kaoarika]

Tag time

Rules: Tag 9 people to get to know them better.

Tagged by: Saw this was made by @13polkadots, and thought “huh, a meme to distract myself”.

Relationship Status: Single, but dreaming with an impossible love and 2.5 fantasies.

Favourite Colour: Green and pink. 

Lipstick or Chapstick: I still prefer chapsticks/lip balms that are somewhat flavored.

Last Song Listened To: Division All Stars - “Hypnosis Mic - Rap Division Battle” (AGF Live version) (it was thanks to the niconama streaming, lol)

Last Movie: Red Carpet (레드카펫), a few weeks ago on Netflix.

Top 3 shows: Stuff that is suddenly coming to mind as I don’t see too much TV nowadays... with few exceptions on streams. Not my “all time top 3 faves”, btw

- Psych - Age of Youth - The Adventures of Pete & Pete

Top 3 Ships: (not the top 3 as such, but they are still in high places??? top 5 at most?)

- YoshiHara (Assassination Classroom) - SynYui (Corrector Yui) - MaRitsu (or is it MeiRitsu? Dance with Devils)

Tagging: If you want to, I cannot stop you.

[kaoarika]

“Awful at flirting” is what I tell myself in the head as the original concept of this pic. But hey, they enjoy it, right?

And I messed up the original sketch of this pic with awful lineart because my eraser was giving me problems.

[kaoarika]

Ship ask! 16,17,23,27 for MeiRitsu (´⊙ω⊙`)

For the Ship Headcanons Meme - MeiRitsu (Mage x Ritsuka)

(This wasn’t fully intentional, but my writing got longer with the first two questions, so, Keep Reading cut)

16.When the zombie apocalypse comes, how do they cope together?

A zombie apocalypse in the DwD world sounds not reallyfar off from possibly happening… if things ended up SO bad and twisted foreveryone involved (in the demon realm, the human realm, and beyond). 

No oneknows what or who exactly to blame, but at least for a devil that has gonethrough everything since younger, Mage has a need to survive this, too. He hasthe skills and power to destroy zombies who are up to attack them and, welp,feed from them, but he needs to reconsider some of his violent options – as hispartner, Ritsuka, is still a human and not a full-blooded demon as him. She isa powerful human by the time this event happens, who is in constant research ofhow to stop this whole menace (be it mostly by magic and the like).

So, with help of Mage’s teleportation powers,they both go to different points of the world in search for a “cure”, and meansto survive together, because Ritsuka still believes that the human race do NOThave to finish like this and she has seen much of this, already. And Mage…well, he has seen lots of stuff like that in his world. For his significantother, he wants to risk it to save it, too.

17.When they find a time machine, where do they go?

A time machine. A time machine… for funsies, I thinkRitsuka would be willing to go to Victorian-like times in Europe. She may havea fascination with how pretty the Victorian dresses were like. And with Mage’spowers (again), it would be easy to catch up that, too. He also wants to seewhat’s the deal with all of that, as well.

For reals, and if it was a given… there’s somethingthat Ritsuka want to know about – her father. Maksis is at this point stilltrapped in a book and all that, and she only knows her mom’s perspective abouthim. But, she wants to meet him? To know what he was like when they weretogether? She has heard many of things about him, going from her grandfather,to the rest of the devils… even Mage. Especially, from Mage’s own account… sheknows he wasn’t a well-intentioned demon, and that he slaughtered his entireclan (ofc, she knows and he recognizes that they were greedy to initiate acoup/rebellion/etc, but still…).

And then the time machine appears. They end updiscussing about it, and all that, and they agree if it would be okay for herto use it.

“But, would you like to use it too, Mage?”

“You know, I’m not particularly very familiar withthis world’s own history to be willing to travel somewhere with it just toamuse myself.”

Hesitating, Ritsuka replied: “Don’t you want to visityour family, too? To relive those memories?”

“Just go. I’m not really tied up anymore to my past asI am for my present. If you want to meet him, I will not stop you. I don’t knowthe kind of man he was when he was with your mom. Even if he had originally ulteriormotives… they still fell in love together, and had you”.

Ritsuka just smiles at him, giving him a kiss in thecheek. “Just like you did fall in love with me?”

“D-d-don’t say embarrassing stuff and just GO!”

23. Where is their favourite place to be together?

The Tachibana’s living room. Especially the couch.Whenever they are watching a movie or anything, they just snuggle in ittogether, until laying down to cuddle some more. Maria is amused at this (andeven gets them a blanket when they fall asleep)… but Lindo, not so much.

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

Because Mage is a terrible flirter. 

When theyare together, they do lots of flirting as some kind of game… but when they arein the presence of the Student Council… or Azuna… or Lindo, there’s always THATsomething that fails and makes it even more obvious than it is –and it’s Mage’sfailure to be smooth at flirting. Ritsuka only laughs about it because it’sadorable… but the rest don’t think the same.

[kaoarika]

Got a dumb headcanon for Ritsuka that kinda appeared on my mind yesterday.

Ritsuka giving hickeys.

In a Meiritsu scenario from yours truly, I was like DAMN 👀

Like, like... Mage would swear he is fine with such a "brave" and hot action from her, but... he would melt away because he turns out to be very sensitive in certain areas from his torso... INCLUDING HIS NECK.

That, and the idea that Ritz would be okay with that in the first place, where he would be at the receiving end 😈.   

 "I can take this, no problem, who do you think you are treating with??? 

*moments later* 

OooooK, OK, OK, I cannot *blushes intensely while squirming from the feeling as a reaction, and awkwardly/nervously laughing*"

I could go deeper with this one, but, WELL...