#saezuru study notes

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a visual analysis of saezuru c50

prefacing this with: I didn’t end up going to art school but I have done a lot of drawing, so these are just my personal notes and thoughts on yoneda’s visual language

I’m not sure if people will actually enjoy this kind of thing, or if it’s redundant… let me know either way!

I really enjoyed the saezuru notes @eidolon-azii writes, and Ive been wanting to throw out some ideas about the art bit. This is incredibly late but I hope someone will love these things with me

I… actually wanted to review chapter 52, but I got sidetracked and I guess this will be focused on chapter 50 instead!

Yoneda uses many types of shading, along with lines, to create mood. Usually, she uses light, clean lines with white and black, and a wash of shading, which is consistent with normal lighting, as seem above.

This changes a bit when we get to moodier or more emotional scenes.

Right after yashiro grabbed doumeki , we see a glow around doumeki, basically chiseling him out from the dark background. The halo of light serves as a focal point, drawing your eye to doumeki’s expression. His expression could be considered placid, and many characters from nanahara to kamiya have noted that he is hard to read. Bringing focus to this expression was a really great way to push the intrigue. We, from yashiro’s pov, are brought to wonder what doumeki is thinking about. Is he upset? Does he feel like he’s being pushed away again? What does he want to do now? Personally, I feel that the (faint) rough pencil shading brings the panel from a doumeki fashion shoot (which… he’s fucking gorgeous here, hello) to a really raw moment. It’s details like this that really control the mood.

We also see a tone shift when they go to “doumeki’s woman”’s club. Rather than shading consistent with the rest of the club or environment, we get liberal use of shading, with crescents of light left to indicate volume. In this context, it seems to convey a quiet sort of turmoil. You see that yashiro’s shading is often darker than his environment warrants… which is something that I’m really enjoying. The framing of yashiro in the center of the stairs with harsh shading is a lovely severe touch to set the dark mood he’s in while he’s probably grappling with jealousy

Something I think we all need to commend sensei for is her incredible, sensuous shading. From her early doujin days, her shading has come leaps and become truly masterful— you can see the effort she has taken to study volume, and to convey the softness and suppleness of flesh. I can’t find this amazing panel of misumi’s old man abs, but somehow they looked to me to be amazingly soft… the slight slackness of collagen loss from the aging process on top of muscle. This sort of feeling is one of the hardest things to convey visually, and I really admire her touch… IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE THIS PANEL IS PLEASE TELL ME I’ve been crying over being loss of misumi’s old man abs for a while now!!!

Here are two panels from chapter 50 where there is also sensuous shading. In these two frames, there is a great use of highlights and shading to create volume. I love the way the doumeki’s hands and yashiro’s legs seem so real and full— you can imagine the plushness of the leg and the firmness of the hands as the light hits it. The gradient in the shading brings a softness to the otherwise sharply defined volume, making it dramatic but sensuous, which I would say is a signature for sensei is work in saezuru.

Note: sensei also occasionally does fully soft panels where the shading and the gradient are both done gently, but they are rare— likely because saezuru is not a soft story and cannot or should not be conveyed in that way

Another thing I really enjoy seeing yoneda use are what I will be calling “moments of impact”. These are composed of totally flat panels of high contrast colors: black, white, or flat shade. She uses clean, crisp lines, and the strength of the contrast is so great that the impact gives you a tiny pause. This is a moment that she wants you to see. She doesn’t use this style often, so when she does, I feel the need to pay attention. Below, both of these panels are cropped in a way such that you only see one singular action. Starkly, we see below a moment of rejection and a moment of protection.

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I can’t really think of anything else for this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed these panels and my thoughts on them! Stay winning (or crying, because I am tired and I really just want them to get together yesterday, for my peace of mind)

[literalfigures]

Summary

“We moved into the lake house a month ago, after I got sick of staying in dingy apartments. Turns out, gambling funds let you live like a king in the countryside.

I didn’t notice until we moved, but I’d never lived outside the city before. I thought I’d hate it there and, to be honest, I would’ve. But I’ve become a bit of a romantic in my old age and living a quiet life with him felt right.”

Or a character study where Doumeki and Yashiro own a lake house, a boat, and Bob Marley pillows. But don't worry they still find things to fight about.

Notes

First of all, this is my first fanfic, or at least the first one I’ve posted. Feel free to complain and criticize in the comments. Lord knows I need the advice. Also I’ve been a part of the Saezuru fandom for about 5 years now and love you all very much. Honestly, you guys are my favorite. I may not post my own stuff, but just know I read every theory, every news update, and every study. All the work you put in is incredible and I’m eternally grateful. You guys are awesome. <3

Okay onto the real notes.

I wrote this because I didn’t think Yashiro could live a normal life. I wanted to write how he’d behave if everything was okay (relatively okay). This is a character study of a far off Yashiro we might never see. I tried to keep him as in character as possible, but he’s a difficult person to understand, especially when you normalize him. So I sincerely apologize if he seems a bit OOC (Doumeki too). I was really hesitant to make this about therapy, but it was another assumption I wanted to put through the ringer. Even if Yashiro went on to live a normal happy life (God I hope he does) he doesn’t seem like the type of person to actively try to better himself. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I wanted to figure out how it would work. If circumstances were right, if feelings grew, if people matured. This is a bit of an experiment, so, again, take everything with a grain of salt. A large grain of salt.

[saezuru-another-tampopo]

Now, a new essay “On Chapter 6” is also ready to read :-)!! Check it out! Don’t forget to read “Explanatory Notes” first!

https://saezuru-another.jimdofree.com/studies-for-volume-2/on-chapter-6/

#twitteringbirdsneverfly #saezurutoriwahabatakanai #囀る鳥は羽ばたかない