#the abstract cartoon kind but just in case

[drill-teeth-art]

Intimacy of the Machine by me!

This is about my trans experience, yeah.

[the-s1lly-corner]

can you make headcanons for all the tadc cast with a reckless reader?

also, have a good day :)

-daz

TADC cast x reckless! reader!

last post for this batch! ill get right back to answering stuff soon! my cinnamon roll dough is almost done with its first rise and ill have to shape them soon! also gotta make the frosting..! short post since the base of one of my thumbs is getting a lil sore idk if its because ive been typing so much these past few days or if i just slept on my hand wrong; maybe both

CAINE:

youre in luck reader! you cant really get hurt in the digital world...! well, not... traditionally.. you can definitely still feel pain, thats for sure, but i dont think your digital body has any bones to break or skin to scrape..! so hey at least you can kind of be as reckless as you want without consequence...! except, there are consequences. caine is not at all happy at your recklessness.. i mean sure yeah some of his IHAs can be more... intense, i mean zooble almost got turned into a gloink, but..! i think he tones down his adventures just so you wont throw yourself into the danger

POMNI:

tries to stop you but her words fall short as you run in yelling into whatever the threat is without a second thought. "i- wait- er..." and youre gone, leaving pomni to hurry and try to catch up with you. she probably has to drag you to safety, assuming this isnt a case where you got all glitched up by an abstracted circus member.. shes gonna have to work herself up to get you to chill out; perhaps ending in a whole emotional thing where she just. explodes? perhaps

RAGATHA:

just because you cant get hurt doesnt mean shes not going to fuss over you. if there were a need for it i think she would keep a pack of Band-Aids on her. however, because you guys cant get hurt in that way, she tries to keep you in bed when you inevitably get knocked a little too hard and need to rest it off. dont even think about trying to get up out of bed, shes going to give you this stern look that only a few percentage of people can muster.

you know the look

the stern one

scolds you too if you get caught up in something real dangerous

only really softens up if you threw yourself in danger for the sake of another person, because i think ragatha would do the same

JAX:

"bet you cant make that jump"

"bet i <> can!"

que you absolutely eating shit after you fail to make that jump, comically flipping over yourself and face planting. you probably have cartoon birds circling around your head. jax laughs at you before eventually coming over to help you up. he will not let you live this kind of stuff, down

KINGER:

he gets so so scared when youre not in his sight, i think if he knew you were willingly throwing yourself into harms way? this man would have a heart attack! like really, or he would if he still had his organs and stuff...if he could he would keep you in his pillow fort with him forever... but he cant, so he has to settle with following you around with meek attempts to try to stop you

ZOOBLE:

zooble would do similar stuff as jax, but when you actually. go to do the dangerous thing they just pull you back. "dude. i wasnt being serious"

bro has to keep you on one of those kid leashes because your first instinct someone says "bet" or "no balls" or anything in that vein, you need to prove yourself

GANGLE:

her comedy mask probably falls off from the sheer shock from how easily you just. launch yourself into things. on one hand she worries for you, but on the other hand she cant help but feel a little jealous; i mean shes just ribbon and a mask, shes not really... tough... strong.. durable... she wants to be able to run around and do the things you do but theres that fear of being immediately broken down or overpowered, you know? didnt mean to get silly there; anyways i think she would try to keep in you bed to sleep off the soreness, like ragatha

[sweettjrose]

Tbh I kind of hate whenever people compare the Looney Tunes with Mickey and Friends because I feel like they are pretty unfair in how they do it. They usually only compare them by which has more comedy or the funnier characters and in that case then yeah Looney Tunes is usually going to win, because it is focused specifically on being a comedy. While Mickey and Friends has always covered a breadth of things in both the shorts and comics. Yeah they can be funny, but they can also be adventurous, action-packed, charming, musical, emotional, inspirational, abstract, etc.

The Prince and the Pauper short might not be the funniest, but you cannot tell me it isn't extremely touching and beautifully animated.

You cannot tell me that the Barks and Rosa comics aren't some of the most interesting explorations of cartoon characters.

And this isn't attack on the Looney Tunes, I love them too and they also can expand in other areas (Duck Dodgers has action/adventure to it). I just think they should be compared on more fair terms and consideration of what their goals are.

[marley-manson]

If you're still doing the character ask game - Ray Vecchio, 1, 8, 12, and 22 <3

Yessss I am always here to talk about Ray, thank you!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Idek man, I imprinted like a duckling or something. I love everything about him. Love his loud mouth, his loud clothes, the armani, the shift between the two fashions, the big nose and green eyes, love his dickishness and complaining, love his selflessness and steadfastness and how they go hand in hand with the complaining, love his family and his shitty dad backstory and his zuko backstory and his childishness with Frannie and his catholicism, love that he will always put his loved ones before anything else he cares about and Fraser gets the highest priority position, love how the show constantly seamlessly shifts from two dimensional cartoon to deep and thoughtful characterization with him as well as Fraser.

I love how he's skeptical but intrigued by Fraser anyway and always ends up convinced by him, love how he was burnt out at first but gets promoted in season 2, love how he vanishes from Fraser's life for the sake of duty, essentially, in what could be read as an ironic consequence for Fraser, love that he'll do absolutely anything for Fraser and feels unappreciated for it because Fraser doesn't prioritize him, love that they get closer and closer to resolving this issue but Ray leaves before it can fully happen.

Character of all time for me.

8. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Ohhhhh boy. I mean I can't stand people characterizing him as Fraser's mean ex of course, but it's pretty rare that I ever saw that because I couldn't get into the season 3/4 side of fandom. Anything that characterizes him as physically abusive in general, which ime pretty squarely rests on italian stereotypes (not cop statistics when every character is a cop) since iirc he never uses violence impulsively in the show - it's always a deliberate choice he makes in the line of duty as part of the cop show format - and the show specifically contrasts him with his abusive father that way. (Though I may make an exception for very thoughtful post Vegas characterization that takes his actual depiction on the show into account.)

Even just like, eg this one Ray/Ray fic I once read where they got into a mutual physical fight kind of bugged me lol because I legit don't think Ray V would.

Among F/V shippers, I really loathe the headcanon that Ray shot Fraser on purpose either consciously or subconsciously. I can respect the attempt for more conflict and angst in theory, but I will die on the Ray V defense hill lol, and he would never. He was clearly aiming for Victoria, we saw that from his point of view in the scene itself, and Fraser deliberately took the bullet to shield Victoria. He sees where Ray's aiming, he runs faster to reach her in time, and Letting Go parallels it with Ray V taking a bullet for Fraser. He also casually protests that it was an accident when they're both over the drama in the tag, which would never happen if that wasn't the case.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

He wouldn't exactly describe himself as bisexual, but Fraser isn't the first guy he's been with. He had a thing with a bff in high school or college, and because his priority system goes: loved ones > abstract ideals, he doesn't feel guilty about it. Bff is gay, bff isn't bad or disgusting or whatever else, therefore gay sex is fine, at least with him. If asked he might still say it's a sin in general, but Ray absolutely has loopholes for people he cares about.

And if Fraser is his first then again, Fraser takes priority and Ray doesn't even have a sexuality crisis. Oh, Fraser is into men? Totally fine, it's Fraser, and he's never refused Fraser anything before so why should he start now? Especially when he looks so good in the brown uniform.

Relatedly I also envision a backstory scene where he once drove Frannie to an abortion clinic, casually bitched about it on the way accidentally triggering Frannie's guilt and making her cry, then instantly switched to pro-choice talking points that he'd always dismissed before to reassure her.

22. If you’re a fic reader, what’s something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don’t like?

I love that it's not an uncommon characterization choice to have Ray just bypass internalized homophobia because Fraser takes precedence over all that. Love fic where Ray is attracted to Fraser and knows it, however he deals with it. I love post-canon F/V fic a LOT. Give them their happy reunion and happily ever after!!!

Honestly I'm surprisingly easy for Ray V fic in general, it's pretty rare to find characterization that annoys me. Even if I disagree, I'll usually still buy in for the duration. I love fic where Ray V is there <3 Like, I'll read het fic for him. I read basically every Ray V/Stella fic out there ffs, just for Ray. That should tell you something lmao.

Something I don't like - well there's everything I complained about for question 8 lol. I don't like when fic writers buy into the bitching and moaning and miss the selfless devotion, but that's pretty rare in Ray-centric fic, it's more when he's a side character or just part of Fraser's backstory.

More commonly, I don't like when Fraser wants to get together and Ray pushes him away at first because of internalized homophobia. I'll still read it, but like, I'll be shaking my head the whole time lol.

And lastly, I don't have impassible top/bottom preferences for F/V, but I can't read anything kinky where Ray doms lol, pure personal bias there.

ask meme

[huesofvioletandpurple]

A few days ago, the DRDT channel made public a “character song” playlist with sixteen songs inside (link). Naturally, considering this means that every character has a theme song of their own, I became Fucking Obsessed and tried matching each song to every character

Out of sixteen, I have exactly Four I am completely and absolutely confident in. That’s like, (checks notes), a quarter of the songs. I wish four was as neat of a number as three but unfortunately I do not get a choice in that regard. This would’ve been a quick post on which song I think matches with who + why but these guys made me recite an essay to myself as I paced around the room. So they deserve their own post <3.

Featuring: screenshots, hidden quotes (link) (required reading), and a shit ton of brainrot. explanations are below cut. tl;dr:

Rose is Cartoons

Charles is Asymptotic

Nico is Drawing Pins

Teruko is Good Grief

=

Rose Lacroix is Cartoons

[plain text: Rose Lacroix is Cartoons]

Track #4 is Cartoons by Louie Zong, and I have decided this is Rose’s track too. This is one many, many others have suspected as well. Starting it off with this first because it’s the simplest to explain: Rose is an artist, the lyrics are about art; or, at the very least, uses animation and drawing as metaphors.

Abstractions how I live my day to day, [...] Hard to explain, And to express, Forever just a work-in-progress.

The song in general uses drawing to explain feeling burnt out/not passionate about. Well. Your passions. Rose states herself that her work can only give her catharsis, considering none of it technically “hers” anymore.

[ID: Two screenshots of  Rose from chapter 2 episode 5. She is in the dressing room talking to Teruko, and has her hand on her neck as she looks downwards. Transcript: All I do is make paintings on other’s beck-and-call. It’s been so long that I don’t think I remember how to paint something original anymore. / There’s no value in the creations of someone who’s fallen so far from artistry. The only thing I can get out of art is catharsis. End ID]

Which is even more tragic, considering how she had huge ambitions as a child

[ID: One screenshot from the same episode. Rose now rests her chin in her fist. Transcript: I wanted to be a great painter when I was a kid, but things didn’t turn out that way. None of my original stuff ever sold well. End ID] 

There’s also these lyrics here

Can't hold a pencil or a thought. (Oh uh oh) Can't paint myself something I'm not.

Tryin' to make that ol' deadline, But all I've got are two dots and a line.

Rose knows she’s talented; in fact, I’d argue she’s one of the most secure about her talent than anyone in the class. She understands how useful it is in the killing game when paired with her photographic memory. In chapter 2, however, she hesitates, despite knowing this more than anyone.

[ID: Three screenshots of Rose from chapter 2 episode 8. She is sitting against a wall, knees drawn to her chest as she buries her face in her arms. Transcript of her dialogue: I don’t want to find out what kind of corpse Arei left. It’s easier for me to pretend nothing bad happened and forget about everything tomorrow. / That’s why I’m sitting here, wallowing in my own guilt, unable to do anything helpful. / You probably need me to draw a picture of a crime scene, like last time. That’s something only I can do that can help everyone. End ID]

She doesn’t want to use her talent that way—she can’t “paint herself something she’s not”, and she would “make the deadline”, but she can’t just will herself to simply Do Something when it’s draining and linked to her trauma from the previous case—and she’s more self conscious of it than anyone, that she only has “two dots and a line” —an upset face.

There’s also her hidden quote from the inspect elements of her character page: “In the end, all I can do is watch my wretched life go on.” I think it fits with the general theme of being incredibly discouraged and burnt out. “Forever a work in progress” indeed.

=

Charles Cuevas is Asymptotic

[pt: Charles Cuevas is Asymptotic]

I’ve chosen Asymptotic by (once more,) Louie Zong as Charles’ song. I could say it’s because of the mathsy theming and Charles is literally a fuckging chemist and leave it at that—I almost chose this as Min’s song because of how groovy and nerdy (affectionate) it was. I’m sorry to say it’s because of angst.

We’re aymptotic, Divided, by the smallest, slimmest line

Hey, so you know how Charles has an older brother ?

And you know how he didn’t know this until one of the motives told him ? So now there’s a good chance he won’t remember him fully for a long, long time ?

[you’re] Not imaginary. But it's complex! The limits are infinitely great

Charles now knows of this family member he has no recollection of. He most likely existed at some point—every other secret, though written to show the worst of the cast, are based on some sort of truth. I have a pet theory that his phobia of blood is connected to his brother, considering amnesia of a traumatic event is a common occurrence, and he doesn’t recall the origin of his haemophobia either, which opens up the possibility of them being linked. As long as he has this amnesia, any memory of his brother will always be far from his grasp.

As close as we could ever get, you'll be just out of reach

His hidden quote is about how it’s better to just forget; that means those events weren’t worth keeping.

if you forgot it, then it probably wasn’t important to begin with. none of those memories should ever be kept anyway.

In the context of the creator looking at the lyrics of the song and going “omg that’s blorbo from my brain”, the song refers to him as believing that he and his brother are asymptotes—lines that greatly resemble each other that will never reach, existing in different planes altogether.

=

Nico Hakobyan is Drawing Pins

[pt: Nico Hakobyan is Drawing Pins]

So.

Drawing Pins by Nothing but Thieves ! This song in particular fucking Stumped me. The lyrics are good, they slap, the Creator has fantastic taste in music; I just couldn’t figure out who the Hell it could be. Then, I had an epiphany.

This epiphany, by the way, is also probably one of my BIGGEST reaches. It completely redefines the song—even MORESO than how I treated asymptotic—and focuses hard on One aspect of Nico’s character.

(In my defense, it’s a really huge part.)

I don't feel like I belong Here at all

Tell me what you did it What you did it What you did it for 'Cause I can't figure it out

What do I have to do To be loved, loved by you

These are the lyrics in particular that made me go “wait a god damn Second”.

Firstly, not feeling like they belong.

[ID: Two screenshots of Nico from chapter 2 episode 6. They hold their arm and look nervously to the side in the first screenshot, then bury their face in the collar of their shirt in the next. Transcript: I thought you would laugh at me. I was worried you would pick up rocks and start throwing them at me or pick up clumps of mud and start throwing them at me. / I’m sorry, this never happens! Usually people call me abnormal or say that I’m just trying to be special, in a derogatory way. End ID]

Nico has been a frequent victim of bullying. Even though their current classmates are accepting, that just made them wary that something was off, because their past experiences stuck with them ! I feel like it should go unsaid that that, already on its own, is pretty fucking isolating !

[ID: a screenshot from the same episode. Nico is in the same pose. They say “And then they leave me out of everything and never talk to me again because there’s something wrong with me.” End ID]

So, self-explanatory line in the context of Nico. Cool. Cool. What am I seeing in the other lyrics, though ?

Tell me what you did it What you did it What you did it for 'Cause I can't figure it out

Okay, so. You know Nico’s hidden quote ? It’s “why should I own up for the mistakes someone else made?”, if you’re wondering.

There’s another reason they don’t feel like they belong.

There’s this running thread of Nico misunderstanding social cues, causing conflict and being scorned for it, but never being explained why those social cues exist, leading to them confused on why something so arbitrary is held to such importance. This causes this cycle that they’re just expected to escape, yet not being given the understanding or tools to do.

[ID: Three screenshots of Nico from the same episode. Nico looks down at their hands, then scratches their chin, then buries the bottom half of their face in their shirt. Transcript: If you’re having dinner and want someone to pass the salt, you can say, “Please pass the salt,”  or you can say “Give me the salt.” / One of those things is supposed to be more polite than the other, right? But why? They both meant the same thing. They’re just slightly different mixes of words. / It’s like that. I don’t understand why some mixes of words come off as ‘rude’ and some don’t, even if they mean tthe same thing. End ID]

I suspect the hidden quote is of Nico snapping, of not caring about being polite or nice anymore. They are already honest, which escalated their animosity with Ace, but this time they’re not caving if someone tells them that they’re being “too blunt” about it.

What do I have to do To be loved, loved by you

But it was never on purpose. They are not “blunt” or “brutally honest” to Ace or David whoever because they want to build that kind of reputation. I think these lyrics are suggesting a culmination of their arc, “What can I do to be loved ? Why should I apologise in place of the person who did hurt you ? Why am I constantly apologising for my existence ?

How do I win over people like you?”

I am fully aware that I may be reaching, but if you see the song as a representation of Nico’s rage and resentment that they had to “hold down by drawing pins”, you can at the very least see where I’m coming from.

=

Teruko is Good Grief

[pt: Teruko Tawaki is Good Grief]

Good Grief by Bastille, aka the last song on the playlist !

I’ve seen people say it’s a Whit song, or a Charles song, and I see it ! Death is very important in both of their arcs, and so is their way of mourning. However, I feel like it couldn’t be anyone but Teruko, and I also feel like there’s a very important part of her that people often forget.

[ID: Two screenshots from the episode 1 of the first chapter. They are lines of Teruko’s inner monologue. Transcript: His name, her face, it’s just barely out of reach. I claw and grasp through the dusty haze of my memories. / Choking on my nostalgia, I keep begging for you to come back. End ID]

[ID: A screenshot from chapter 1 episode 9 of Mai Akasaki turning around and smiling at the viewer. End ID]

Teruko mourns.

At the very least, she tries. She misses people. She grieves. That is what drives her distrust—she knows how much love hurts, and doesn’t want to feel that way.

[ID: A screenshot from chapter 2 episode 3. Teruko playing with succulents in her room as if they are dolls. One succulent has an eyepatch and knife, and the other has a knife and a sticky note, with a cowlick resembling Teruko’s. End ID]

Even in this silly moment of Teruko playing with cacti—it shows she didn’t WANT Xander to die ! She misses him. She wishes it could’ve gone better and blames herself for trusting—and notice how Xander in this scenario stands by her side.

Every minute and every hour I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more

She “chokes on her nostalgia” when she thinks of two unnamed people, “begging them to come back”. Will she ever admit it? Fuck no are you kidding me she couldn’t be emotionally vulnerable to save her Life. But Teruko constantly loses and is never given time or space to mourn (That is what I meant when I said she tries), and it’s led her to bottling and hiding them to further isolate herself, to prevent her from losing the ones she loves again.

In my thoughts you're far away And you are whistling the melody, Whistling the melody Crystallising clear as day Oh I can picture you so easily, Picture you so easily

Again, the two people are “far away”, she’s half forgotten after all. But Mai Akasaki’s image is as clear as day. Her memories are one of the only traces of Mai we have at all.

I could repeat myself over and over with pretty much every lyric of this song in particular, so I suggest seeking it out and listening to it yourself. I cannot stress enough how much this song SCREAMS Teruko to me

=

Overall, I’m fully ready to be wrong. I do not have a great track record when predicting story arcs. However, I have thought about this for a very intense bit of time, so this is to work as a way to get my thoughts out there.

I have a few hunches, like Shun-Ran for David or Jotaro’s theme for Xander, but both are just hunches, and neither are as strong as the four above.

Anyways, have a great day ! holy shit this is over 1.7K words excluding the image descriptions.

[vixivulpixel]

I don't inherently hate this type of media but I feel like it's a lil unfair seeing people lump Digital Circus in with "Whoa it's a children's cartoon but it's WHOA DARK HORROR ACTUALLY" just because stuff like that usually hinges on being shocking to make an impact (even when it's something like the very first episode of DHMIS)

But in the case of TADC I never got the sense that it was ever dishonest about what it is. From the early onset it pretty honestly presents itself as "Yeah it's got a lighthearted aesthetic on the surface but Something's Up." And even then it never escalates into anything near the extremes of DHMIS.

Even something like the abstraction monster, if mildly disturbing, still isn't that far off from the kind of monsters I've seen turn up in an Adventure Time or a Gravity Falls.

[sundaysplayzone]

Commonly Asked Questions.

I get asked the same 3-5 questions all the time, so I thought I might make this new lil pinned post to help everyone out! But first, I want to thank you all for visiting my blog!

Do you take requests?

No, I do not.

Are your commission open?

Yes currently! Honestly now a days they’re almost always open. You can check them out on my website HERE!

Are you okay with gift art?

Of course! I would be flattered! If you’d like, you can find most of my characters here on toyhouse (I promise to update it soon!)!

How do you get the retro/vhs effects on your art?

I actually made a tutorial on that here! But honestly at the end of the day it’s a lot of “I plug this picture into several different apps and video editing software.” I wish I could give you a simple answer, but there is no easy way to do it that’s the same every time. I rarely if ever do it the same way back to back. Some colors look better when edited in Photoshop, some in Photomosh Pro. I pay almost $100 a month to have access to all of the software I use to make these effects because it’s part of my job. But luckily you can find so many free tutorials and apps out there, you just need to be curious and try new things!

What do you use to draw?

Another vague answer whoo! Sorry, but I use so many things to draw! But usually it’s sketch/ink/color/shade in Paint Tool Sai, and then move it to Photoshop to add the background, effects and details. I also use Procreate and Clip Studio from time to time. When it comes to traditional, it’s usually standard cardstock or a mixed media sketchbook. Then I draw and color with microns, copic pens, jelly rollers/gel pens, prisma colored markers and copic markers. 

Did you draw the backgrounds in your art? And if you use screenshots, where do you get them?

In the majority of my pictures, I use screenshots from old cartoons. I get these screenshots from the shows themselves. My friend is kind enough to set up a program that takes snapshots hundreds of times during the show. Then when the episode is over, they send them to me. I then spend HOURS, going through thousands of images and delete all but the good pieces. A majority of the time they take a lot of editing to be usable. I have to clean them up, remove character and scale the images.

This isn’t always the case however! I do often draw my own backgrounds! If you ever want to know, feel free to ask!

As for the more aesthetic/abstract backgrounds, I make those myself! I spent far too much money buying licenses and rights to use tons of different patterns and vectors. With those, I love recreating authentic backgrounds in the style of those seen in the 80s and 90s!

I see you draw a lot of Transformation/Chubby/(insert common movie trope here). Are you a fetish artist?

No, I am not a fetish artist. Do I draw art that might be someone’s fetish? Do I take commissions from people with a fetish for this subject matter? Yes, of course. But people need to realize, furry characters alone are a kink to some people. For me the difference is in how it’s drawn. And I personally do not draw my art in a way that sexualizes the piece.

I love drawing transformation scenes, people being swallowed by a monster, extra big tummies, but not because it’s something that I find hot. I just like drawing fun scenes. I get bored of just drawing a character standing in place all the time. I like drawing wacky scenes! 

A lot of my love for these come from cartoons. Edmund getting turned into a cat in Rock a Doodle. Hercules getting swallowed by the hydra. Kaa hypnotizing... everyone xD It’s just a story telling tool and sometimes it’s fun to draw! I’m not into hypno but I do like drawing big, colorful eyes. I’m just whatever about tf but I love drawing the swirling magic effects and the character changing from human to animal. It’s just cool to me!

In short, when I draw these things, it’s like I get to draw scenes from cartoons and movies in my style. It’s so wonderful to attempt to emulate some of the effects and details they used in movies from my childhood. It’s not about the hand changing into a paw for me, it’s the magical sparkles and how it’s so bright and vibrant compared to everything else. Where you see it go from hand to paw, that’s what I love drawing about tf art! Or being able to exaggerate the body and make a character look weighty by making them really round. Getting to draw a comically big mouth, giving a fun and interesting perspective shot. I think that stuff is so neat! Because it’s art!

I don’t care if it is someone’s fetish. I’m not drawing it in a way that’s sexual. Heck, it even says I wont in my TOS! Everything is G-PG here in Sunday’s Playzone! I’m not here to make that kind of content. It’s okay if adults have fetishes, and so long as you and others aren’t sexualizing my art, all is well!

[noddytheornithopod]

So I have seen through to the end of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, so time to post random spoilery thoughts

First of all... I quickly figured out the Homunculi twist. Especially when I saw the meat buns being made. I did jokingly suggest weeks ago maybe they’re made of Homunculi or something... I just got who is eating who wrong. Now if you’ll excuse me, if I see anywhere offering meat buns, it’s gonna be a while before I feel okay trying them.

I also had a feeling Makoto was running this totalitarian city to protect the Homunculi. Interesting that even while many of the cases don’t have more sympathetic culprits, we actually have our central antagonist be someone with sympathetic motives.

This is of course a spiritual successor to Danganronpa, but it especially follows up on V3′s themes, so it’s even more a spiritual successor to that game specifically. V3 ended on a more ambiguous and existential note, but probably because the stuff they were dealing with in that climax was more abstract and well less applicable to real life. I do kind of prefer that still, but I do like what Rain Code ended up doing even if comes to a somewhat different conclusion to V3 (truth being more subjective/the idea of emotional truth vs there’s one truth even if it sucks and we just have to choose how to face it, again I think the difference comes down to V3 exploring the idea of fiction itself and why we tell and care about stories, so different scenarios). Still, wonder if this is Kodaka just exploring different ideas, or if there’s an evolution in his thinking going on here.

Oh yeah, speaking of Danganronpa, the pink blood aesthetic choice becomes an actual plot point cuz that’s now Homunculi blood. I have a feeling there’s already lots of wild crack theories about how the Danganronpa universe is now populated with Homunculi or something, lol. That being said, it could be a fancy way for Team Danganronpa to keep making a cast for more seasons... okay okay stop Noddy

When the other Master Detectives died, I thought it was pretty anticlimactic. It was a relief to see they were alive not just because I wanted them to be (even resident fuckboy Desuhiko), but because if they just unceremoniously died offscreen like that, it would’ve been extremely underwhelming (seriously, at least Halara would’ve made it out, there weren’t THAT many Homunculi in one place, Makoto :v).

I’m really happy we ended with a nonviolent solution - reaping the souls of murderers was no fun and clearly took a toll on Yuma. I’m sure some people are gonna be rolling their eyes because IDK Steven Universe made them allergic to villain redemption stories (also Steven Universe is one of the best cartoons in recent memory and its unique take on justice is a positive, shut up don’t @ me). I’ll still need to think about how this progressed overall and if Yuma could’ve been challenged even more, but I like that it ends with Yuma deciding “no I’m going to spare you because you helping everyone will benefit more”, and IDK he probably also empathises with Makoto cuz y’know he’s basically a clone of him so he understands how he thinks.

Not surprised Makoto was a Homunculus, nor was I at the Yuma connection, but I didn’t quite expect Yuma being Number One. Like, it’s not THAT surprising when you think about it, but it’s not something I was actively thinking about, especially since well... look at him! He’s a fucking baby! How is HE in charge of the world’s most important detective organisation??? Look I know he’s actually like 19 or some shit and character design means fuck all for ages in these Spike Chunsoft/Too Kyo games but you certainly could’ve fooled me.

I felt more with Shinigami than I expected, especially when they said goodbye. Like, it actually makes me see their previous interactions differently. Was Shinigami this rough and rude all the time just so that she wouldn’t let Yuma be attached to her, and thus making vice versa unlikely? Was she TRYING to be unlikeable just so that when the time came for their pact to end (and well it has to, he was using her to solve the big mystery), saying goodbye would be easier? Also to actually see some growth from her too surprised me, always insisting he should learn to be self reliant and stuff (obviously not noticing the hypocrisy lol) but then realising Yuma’s strength was that he could trust others and work with them (and like, that’s the whole point of the coalescence Forte, it’s that trait manifested into an actual ability). I had a feeling the game was going here along with its truth vs lies thing, but it’s nice to be vindicated.

I think there’s certainly stuff to analyse from a socio-political aspect too. I will say that it is kinda bullshit to say there’s objectively a smartest human, and all the weird eugenics-y stuff that came from that (though let’s be real, the Unified Government and Amaterasu might as well be doing eugenics, trying to find “ideal” specimens to grow Homunculi from). Okay, that aside, so the idea for creating immortal humanoids was... for military purposes. Yeah, seeing how much governments would rather invest in the military industrial complex than helping people, that tracks. I do wonder if there’s any influence from Japanese issues too, because I am aware that the Japanese government has been militarising more over the past years despite appearing “pacifist”. I also am sure one could find allegories with Homunculi, like they definitely feel like they would’ve just been eliminated in whatever way they could if Makoto didn’t intervene and blackmail the government. But the idea of a bunch of what might as well be sick/diseased people waking up after a massive disaster... part of me wonders if there’s any Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombing parallels that could be drawn. I don’t know enough about what happened to make any solid comments, but I do wonder if there’s something here, or allegories one could draw to anything else. Also yes yes of course we still technically have Amaterasu Corp in charge and yes okay Makoto did change but the anarchist in me is still kind of shaking my fist that they’re still run by a corporation lol. At least there’s referendums now so maybe they’re slowly trying to break it down and decentralise it? That’s just wishful thinking though, I have no clue what the politics of the people at Too Kyo and Spike Chunsoft are, lol.

So there’s probably gonna be more in this series, I wonder if we’ll follow a different detective in each entry? I think it would be tiring for Yuma to keep making pacts with Shinigami and then forgetting her after each game, lol.

This might be recency bias but I got serious Star Wars Rebels vibes from the end. Yuma fucking disappearing on everyone, and the girl close to him going “I’m gonna find him someday” and going on a big journey to do that? Yeah. All we need is IDK a Danganronpa character popping up to fill in the Ahsoka role (though honestly I’d prefer the universes be separate for now, I’m just joking around). :P

Okay so we’ve figured out stuff like how Homunculi can eat without needing to consume human flesh (yay for not just excessively executing criminals), but what about all the “dead” ones? Are we going to figure out a solution for them so they don’t stay in that zombie state forever? They’re basically immortal because even after “dying” the artificial cells regenerate into something technically alive. Look, if they’ve made skin cream to protect them from that deadly UV radiation, they might eventually find something too.

Also are they functionally immortal? Like, I think they said they don’t age because they look as when the DNA was taken, but what about all the kids and stuff? Do they ever grow up? Do those girls in that cutthroat all girls high school (which is now hopefully less cutthroat now they’re not isolated and don’t need to carry the entertainment industry in Kanai Ward lol) have to go there forever? I guess they can graduate, but what if you’re eternally a teenager? Do they just stop growing once they reach maturity like humans? I have too many questions.

Can Homunculi reproduce? What happens when they get busy? What if say Kurumi and Yuma decide to settle down one day assuming all goes well, what happens if a human and a homunculi want kids? Can half-homunculi exist? I’m asking too many questions, lol.

Anyway, had a blast checking this out. I don’t think it will ever be what Danganronpa was for me, those games got into a really unique part of me, but overall I did like most of what we got here. Now if only they’d release it on more than the goddamn Switch...

More thoughts post OP:

So the humanoid race who fears the Sun and risks going berserk reminds me of what I’ve heard about I am Legend/The Omega Man, especially the idea of treating the supposed monsters as sympathetic and having humanity too? Would track for Kodaka and all his pop culture references.

I also like the implicit commentary on the prison systems. Like taking criminals and turning them into food? Yeah, I bet the prison industrial complex would try that if they could get away with it. :V Resident fascist Yomi is of course the embodiment of the Law and Order criminal punishment ideas. But yeah, stuff like Yuma deciding not to just reap Makoto’s soul, the guilt of reaping the murderer’s souls in general, etc does track because I think even Danganronpa has themes like this when you think about it, with Monokuma’s eye for an eye mentality. But yeah, even with endings where people seem to be more cooperative with society, and are trying to rehabilitate or redeem people seems to be a thing here, not just with Makoto but Martina too. Granted, it seems the Peacekeepers still exist from what I can tell, but whatever, you can’t win them all. :v

Once again gotta love how in the end despite all the crude humour and edginess, Kodaka at his heart is a sentimental softie in his work, lol.

There’s a lot of angst you could do with Homunculi killing their human counterparts, eg Kurumi killing her grandfather. On a similar note, sequel idea if they go there: survivors of The Blank Week Incident who escaped Kanai Ward who are convinced Homunculi are dangerous and want to eliminate them, even thinking they “stole” their lives? Maybe even reveal Kurumi’s grandfather survived, he wouldn’t have to face his duplicate so that dilemma would be gone, but the dilemma of facing his granddaughter who thinks and feels exactly as she did her human progenitor but also isn’t and possibly killed her?

So Makoto taking over Amaterasu... good intentions to try and save everyone, but even if it focuses more on the whole creating mysteries aspect at least in the dialogue, there’s something to be said in what a monster he became in the name of these good things. Almost like you can’t just elect the right people to fix what is already a system designed to screw us over, hmm... yeah, see this is why I wish something more radical happened to Amaterasu at the end, lol. The seeds for it are there! Also him saying he’d be fine with Yomi’s totalitarianism as long as he didn’t try to expose Homunculi to other researchers and thus the outside world? I didn’t think about it much initially because I was more focused on how despite everything he did it all started from a good place, but damn, he really did get fucked up. Being afraid and alone is one massive bitch.

[missfinefeather]

Amazing Digital Circus Theory: No one abstracts episode 2

In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone abstracts season 1. It could happen, but, with so few episodes, probably not.

This is in response to all those theory youtube videos where people keep guessing who will abstract in the second episode. They are probably just people trying to pad out their Amazing Digital Circus themed channels until May any way they can. However, in case anyone actually feels this is the direction of the series, let me help ya feel a bit better!

First of all, it's kind of implied in-universe that abstraction isn't something that happens literally everyday. In fact it may even be kind of rare. I mean, yes, there are a lot of crossed out bedrooms, but keep in mind the simulation has been running for YEARS! (Possibly even decades!) Of course you'd have a build up of bodies in that time.

Think about it, if people abstracted everyday, then the other members of the circus tent would have immediately suspected Kaufmo of abstracting the moment they realized he didn't show up that day. I mean, if your classmates died everyday and one of them didn't show up to school one morning, you'd assumed they died too, right?

I think people are just imagining like, a cartoon-y Danganrompa. But do realize that Danganrompa has a lot of characters they can kill off. We only have six circus tent members, we'd be fresh out if we abstracted them off at such a high rate, even if they regularly introduce new ones!

Doesn't even make much sense from a narrative sense. Okay, imagine Zooble abstracts in episode 2. I'd be sad if that happened, many of us would be sad if that happened, but we've been in Digital Circus brainrot mode for 6 months of course we'd feel that way.

Imagine watching the second episode right after the first. Zooble spends most of the first episode kidnapped, and then immediately abstracted the next episode. Wouldn't be emotional impactful, would it?

It'd be way more impactful to build these characters up, give them backstories, explore their characters. If we start caring about these characters, we'll dread abstraction more organically. Abstraction should be an ever-looming threat. Not saying characters will NEVER abstract, but it should be treated with the weight the characters deserve.

Sounds reasonable, right? And if I'm wrong and all the characters are abstracted by the end of season 1, then I'll throw in my hat as a crack theorist.

I'll end this out with some crack predictions that may not be true: Gangle has a body pillow of Zooble, Jax is the character closest to abstracting outside Kinger, and Gangle is from the streets.

[feiar]

The world demands a tidbit on one (or multiple) of your characters!! THE WORLD DEMANDS IT!!!

@their-questionnaire

ummm okay

So Jessy I'll start with him, we already know that right now he's engaged with dusk but we also know that he was initially close with conny instead, after he came back to all of his old friends dead he really regretted not telling conny he had feeling for her. He regretted until he met dusk. Dusk didn't make him feel any different about conny but it did kind of help him move on from her abstraction.

Speaking of conny, she's back now because I wanted cute fluff and she really wasn't going to get much if any backstory without Jessy so I don't have much if anything for her. But I can say that she was 100% the next one to go right after Jessy disappeared.

Kade is a bit of an overachiever and combined with some anxiety she can get quite stressed under pressure, despite this she dosent mind when she's the center of attention when playing and winning one of the games.

Most people already know that clara is colorblind to an extreme, now I don't remember what this type of colorblindness is called but in most cases there is an extreme sensitivity to light and sometimes just blindness.......but we use cartoon logic so no. They are insecure about it but only when they confuse colors or can't see the true beauty of something because it lacks color to them.

This is part 1, if you want a part 2 then you can ask again (can't garentee I'll actually make a part 2 tho)

[bogleech]

On the topic of Terry's "Toon" Saloon, which I just watched Cheshirewolff's reading of. I saw it when it first came out and loved it.

Then, later, I reread it and sent a genuine email asking if Terry was okay. Laughed uproariously at the response, even if I thought it was pretty corny.

I think the part that I found most memorable, far more than any sort of supernatural element that might have been hinted at by the ending, was the discussion of ugly attitudes held by the creator. The sheer hate and sadism present in the cartoons was genuinely revolting, but also thought provoking, especially seeing as they weren't portrayed as nasty due to graphics, but from the framing. Terry's disillusionment also hit close to home, and it sounded like it came straight from the heart.

The whole story was originally an abstract dream I had, but part of that dream was that I knew the creator of these weird tree cartoons was also a notoriously petty, spiteful asshole, and I think my brain may have been remembering the absolutely heartbroken reactions I ran into back in the 90's when the creator of "Cerebus the Aardvark" discovered blogging, and he kept writing these fucked up screeds about how all women are like lying demons. Something similar happened years later with the creator of Dilbert, except nobody was too sad about it because nobody was ever that emotionally invested in Dilbert. I tried to keep that aspect kind of realistically subtle in the story I wound up writing, so it wouldn't feel like it was trying to make an obvious and redundant point like "hating people is bad!" but to have sympathy for more well-meaning people who struggle to accept negative sides to things they enjoy or used to enjoy. I also tried to avoid anything explicitly paranormal or unexplainable in it, but if it is paranormal, I lean towards an idea that the guy's cartoons were somehow feeding his misanthropic outlook in a weird feedback loop that began to bring his hate "to life" somehow. (link to the original version of the story in case this post loses context for anybody)

[eviltothecore13]

Favourite and least favourite things about each version of The Addams Family

 Currently just doing the ones I’m already most familiar with, will add to this another time.

THE ORIGINAL COMICS

Favourite

1) Invented the characters! Can’t not love them for that.

2) Lots of clever and dark humour including some iconic moments that later appeared in the films.

3) Gomez is drawn as actually dark-skinned...something most cartoons “based on the comics designs” seem to forget.

Least favourite

1) The fact they are a healthy family despite the creepiness hadn’t quite been established yet and Morticia seems uncharacteristically uncaring towards the children on occasion as a result.

2) While technically these aren’t Addams Family comics, Charles Addams also drew some quite racist caricatures and they tend to end up in the same collections.

3) The fact they’re one-panel comics without much dialogue does limit the amount of characterisation and plot compared to what later versions can do with the characters.

THE 60s SHOW

Favourite

1) Introduced lots of my favourite character quirks. Gomez pulling lit cigars out of his pockets and having two watches set to different times. Morticia being able to literally “smoke”. etc. The trains!

2) So many scenes of the characters just doing random stuff! Swordfighting, knifethrowing...Gomez standing on his head or hanging from the chandelier...Morticia painting or knitting...it really helps establish the characters and I just love seeing characters’ (very unusual) day-to-day lives like this.

3) This is the show that established just how much Gomez and Morticia love each other--not just the kissing/French scenes but the way they’re almost always arm-in-arm just walking about, the way he thinks her rather...unusual abstract paintings are the most amazing artworks in the world, just...everything.

Least Favourite

1) Being a sitcom, it unfortunately does put comedy over consistency at times. e.g. while Gomez’s swordfighting is never as impressive as in the films, in many episodes he still is portrayed as knowing how (and he’s near-superhuman at knifethrowing), but there’s at least two episodes where he’s completely useless for the sake of a joke. The same goes for various characters’ levels of knowledge of all kinds of things and some other character traits as well.

2) John Astin is a great actor but it doesn’t change that Gomez is being portrayed by someone not remotely Hispanic.

3) While it was progressive for its time, some stuff really hasn’t aged well. Voodoo/witch doctor tropes (straight out of Charles Addams’s racist caricatures in some cases), general portrayal of foreign cultures as “weird”, a few references to the Civil War that don’t seem to realise that the Confederacy was TOO horrifically evil and bigoted to ever be the right kind of “funny evil” for the Addamses.

THE 90s FILMS

Favourite

1) The entire summer camp plotline making fun of rich WASPs/Republicans/bigots so perfectly.

2) The increased budget just made these films really aesthetically amazing in general. The house finally looks like a proper creepy mansion, the outfits are more detailed and varied, you get to see the whole extended family together, THAT DANCE between Gomez and Morticia in the second one... but most of all, the absolutely amazing swordfighting scenes.

3) The best cast of any version...Raúl Juliá’s performance will always be my favourite Gomez portrayal, Anjelica Huston is amazingly sinister...but the biggest improvement compared to the show is Christina Ricci, obviously Wednesday is older in the films and it’s easier to find a good 11-year-old actress than a 6-year-old so this is not meant as an insult to Lisa Loring, but having a much more capable actress in the role allows for so much more to be done with the character.

Least Favourite

1) Pugsley becoming a sidekick who isn’t as much of a genius.

2) Both films focus heavily on Fester, who I don’’t hate, but he is my least favourite character, and Gomez and Morticia were very much the main characters of the show.

3) In general the mad-science aspects of the Addamses are downplayed here in favour of the supernatural and aesthetically old-fashioned aspects...and I love those aspects but I find it more entertaining to have the contrast of them also building robots, computers, rockets better than NASA’s,  etc...

THE MUSICAL

Favourite

1) All the political humour! I’m still bitter because a Munsters fan claimed that the Addamses would be Republicans because they were rich (as a “our fandom’s superior” thing), OK? This more than any other version disproves that with a lot of mocking of the right-wing. Mal calls them “creeped-out, left-wing Spanish weirdos” as an insult but I honestly think they’d take it as a compliment.

2) I don’t normally even like musical-style songs, but The Addams Family is a nonsensical enough series already for it to work and some of the songs are truly amazing.

3) Lots of very funny dialogue. Gomez seems to get most of the best lines here...Alfonso the Enormous, for instance...or discussing his ancestor who was burned at the stake as dinner-table conversation.

Least Favourite

1) The touring version in particular, but both to some extent, makes Morticia unusually harsh--not just in terms of the misunderstanding that forms part of the plot (I can accept that the characters won’t always get on perfectly all the time! In fact, I wouldn’t want them to!) but just randomly sometimes? Like, treating her as if she’s always disliked Grandmama and held her in disdain? Where did that come from? That wasn’t in any previous version that I know of.

2) The Broadway version has the song “Where Did We Go Wrong?” which feels like it has character inconsistencies with most previous versions. Lines like “we did all that we could to keep her sad”...OK, so Morticia seems to enjoy being “unhappy” sometimes and they talk about a “gloomy”-looking room as a good thing, but...none of them, including Wednesday, were ever previously depicted as sad all the time, wanting to be sad all the time, going out of their way to make the others sad, or seeing happiness as a bad thing. Morticia even talks about what a “happy colour” black is in the show, Gomez in the films has lines like “to mirth, to merriment, to manslaughter”, and if someone is actually sad about something the rest of the family generally worry about them and try to help (which is even the case later in the musical with Gomez worrying he’s made Morticia upset)...it feels like the writers went “they like dark things!” without actually checking how they feel about specific things in previous versions.

3) OK so... That giant squid plotline in the Broadway version. [NONCON TW].

Now, anyone who’s spoken to me about Wesker might know, I have nothing against tentacle sex. Far from it. But it has to be consensual! Mal gets dragged off with no idea what’s going to happen to him, even though he’d expressed some kind of interest in the squid he doesn’t actually say he wants sex with her, and while we don’t know exactly what happened between then and his next appearance, without seeing him give consent and seeing him get dragged off like that...it comes across more noncon than was maybe intended. And then we’re told “oh actually he enjoyed it and it made him less uptight”...I do not like the way this is handled and I’m glad the touring version of the script changed this plotline.

[translationandbetrayals]

Openings and endings with particular animations in anime.

Even if anime series on their own are master pieces of animation, it is not the same without their openings and/or endings, which show us a sneak peak of what the anime is about, decorated with a well-developed animation and a catchy and recognizable soundtrack that alludes to their series. However, there are some endings and openings that outstand for the fact that the creator took some creative liberties concerning animation, making a difference in comparison to the standard animation of the series.

An example of what is previously mentioned, here are some iconic openings and endings that are good material for artistic analysis.

- Beastars, opening season 1: “Wild Side”, by ALI. We know this series, not only for the argument, but also because it is 3D animated. But that is not the only surprise that we received in the animation context, because it also has an opening made in stop motion, something not usually seen in series of anime.

- Spy X Family, opening: “Mixed Nuts”, by Official Hige Dandism. Here we have an interesting simplified 2D version of our protagonists in the first seconds of the introduction, making reference to classical designs of superheroes or spies.

- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, opening: "Inner Universe", performed by Origa, written by Origa and Shanti Snyder in Russian, English and Latin.

Although it’s an older series, and the 3D animation was not as developed as it is now, the level of detail is very good, which is also complemented with the epic music of the background.

- Subete ga f Naru: Here we have an interesting case in which both the opening and the ending use special animations; Opening: "Talking", by KANA-BOON. We only see moving white lines on a black background, that represent silhouettes of dancing people, that go from a very detailed and faithfully anatomical to a version in which it captures the movement of the dancers, but with “abstract” shapes that interact with each other.

Ending: "Nana Hitsuji", by Scenarioart. Here we have a simpler theme, that is merely a series of transitions of computer windows that form fractals and pixels, to finally form the silhouette of the protagonist.

- Full metal alchemist: Brotherhood, ending 1: “Uso”, by SID. In this case, we have an ending made with a style of drawing very simplified, alluding to the kind of drawings that a little child would make.

- Horimiya, ending: “Promise”, by the band FRIENDS. Here we are presented with chibi 3D animations of the protagonists, making a little summary of how they interact during the series, with simplified representations of their surroundings.

- Kaguya Sama, ending 5: “My nonfiction”, performed by Makoto Furukawa and Konomi Kohara, the voices of Miyuki Shirogane and Chika Fujiwara. In general, Kaguya sama outros have a different kind of animation in the sense that they are more elaborated, apart from showing a story aside of the central theme, but, in the fifth episode of the third season there is a special ending (that might just be for that episode), that is made with an 3D animation, where the characters of the series are shown rapping and dancing hip-hop, in honor to a situation previously shown in the same episode. The level of detail is very meticulous, although the movement of lights make intense contrast.

- Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru, ending: "Koi no Yukue", by Akari Akase. Simplified drawings of the characters decorate the credits of the episodes, with a style of typical japanese animation that we usually see when they are decorating or promoting something.

- Bakemonogatari, ending 1: “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari”, by Supercell. Here we have and animation with a style of drawing with sharp edges and exaggerated proportions of the characters, with flat colors and a reduced palette, looking a little bit like some drawings of cartoons made in the 2000.

But there are also some openings and endings that, even if they have an animation very similar to the anime that they are in, still take some liberties in some aspects, these are some works worth mentioning as honorific mentions.

- Jujutsu kaisen, ending “Lost in paradise”, by ALI feat. AKLO. Simple outline and flat colors that go outside the lines. - Yuri on ice, opening “History Maker”, by DEAN FUJIOKA. Some have simple outline and other parts have a more brush like outline, flat colors. - Mob psycho, opening season 2 “99.9”, by Mob Choir. There are some seconds of 3D animation of the characters of the series. - Attack on Titan: The Final Season, opening “My War”, written by Noko and interpreted by Shinsei Kamattechan. Has standard anime animation but with monochromatic gamma of colors that give the impression of antique videos and statues.

In the end, the idea of these short animations is to get adapted to the style and genre of the series in which they are involved, without the limitations of using the standard anime animation that we know.

Jocelyn Queirolo C.

[sailormoonsub]

So you've watched a lot of different shows through the patreon and kori donations

If it's not too time consuming I was wondering how you would summarize those shows in a sentence or two

Or maybe just do the most memorable ones?

Not a bad idea! Here’s a one-sentence summary and a one-sentence personal note on every show I’ve reviewed more than one episode of on this blog. TLDR I’ve pretty much enjoyed everything that appears on this blog, though for different reasons. Links to all my posts about these shows can be found here! 

This is turning out to be a rather long post so I’m going to throw the list under a Read More. 

ANIME

Sailor Moon: I feel compelled to list it here but, like, I think you know enough about Sailor Moon by now.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: Group of high schoolers write and draw a romance manga while simultaneously living the most chaotic reversal of common romance tropes. SO happy this was recommended to me because I never would have picked it up on my own but it’s officially a new favorite!!!

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard: Gem expert and his assistant solve rock-related mysteries while engaging in homoromantic behavior. A lesser known franchise that I think deserves more love!

Snow White with the Red Hair: Herbologist in a medieval fantasy environment escapes her oppressive government and starts a new life in a neighboring kingdom where SHE makes decisions about her life. I’m not even that far into the series but I am OBSESSED with the premise and all the character dynamics are so genuine and honest in a way I can’t describe.

Penguindrum: Himari dies of Glamorous Victorian Illness but is resurrected by the Penguin God in exchange for a favor. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen so far, although it is Ikuhara so it’s often confusing and abstract and all the characters need therapy.

Madoka: Being a magical girl is bad actually due to the amount of sacrifice involved. Reviewing this one is so effortless because there’s SO much material to talk about and it has such a well-established presence in the mainstream pop cultural consciousness.

My Next Life as a Villainess: Girl is reincarnated as the villain in an otome game and rewrites the script by being nice. I’ve compared it to the Good Place which is one of my favorite shows, and I cannot get enough of these characters, especially, of course, our angel queen, Catarina.

Cardcaptor Sakura (and Clear Card): Sakura has to capture all the cards. I LOVE the low stakes, slow pace, sweet and friendly vibe of this show, which might frustrate some people, but for me it’s the very definition of a comfort anime.

Zenonzard: Speaking of cards; apparently a witch created a card game to get revenge on humanity and now it’s the future where everything is neon, there’s humanoid robots all over the place, and card games are a gladiatorial sport. The visuals are amazing, the world is fascinating, and overall I’m impressed with an anime that’s based on an app.

Princess Tutu: Duck turns into a ballerina and uses unconditional kindness to save everyone from sad feelings, while ALSO working against the author who is writing her fairytale. I can’t describe how much an impact this show left on me!! A Big Fave!!

Revolutionary Girl Utena: High schoolers with swords fight each other for a shot at finding something eternal. If you read this blog, you already know I had a delightful time with this series.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!: Three girls use their skills to make a hand-drawn anime. I only reviewed the first two episodes, but I had watched it while it was airing. I love series that delve really deep into a niche subject, and this one tackles the animation process in a fun accessible way while ALSO having a wonderful trio of protagonists with wildly unique personalities.

Fruits Basket 2019: Professional Cinnamon Roll Tohru collects friends who can turn into the zodiac animals. From what I’ve seen, the characters and relationships are a huge strong point in this series. I want to give them all a hug. This fell by the wayside a little while ago but I would love to get back into it!

CARTOON

Gargoyles: They are gargoyles, who come to life at night. Never got into it as a kid, but certainly appreciate it now!

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Girl from futuristic underground city arrives on the surface to find out that animals have taken over and have developed arts and culture. It’s so refreshing to see a post apocalyptic world that’s NOT a dystopia! It’s not earth as we know it, but it’s still bright and colorful and full of art.

LIVE ACTION

PGSM: I don’t think I need to list a summary, but WATCH PGSM OH MY GOD. Sailor Moon but with soap opera levels of drama, a killer soundtrack, an incredible cast, puppets, and a really cool reimagining of the Silver Millennium mythos.

Tokusatsu Gagaga: Office lady tries to hide her obsession with tokusatsu shows and makes friends who have similar interests. I fell fast and hard for Gagaga; if you’re a nerd who has tried to function in a non-nerd environment, you WILL relate to this 7-part series!!

Russian Doll: Natasha Lyonne relives the same day over and over and has to make connections in her life. First introduced to me when it won a Patreon vote, and even though it was different from my usual content, I was enraptured by the dark comedy and surreal vibe. Thursday, what a concept.

Good Omens: An angel and a demon low-key turn their backs on Satan and God in order to prevent a war between heaven and hell. I can’t even think of an adjective that’s good enough to describe how well this miniseries was translated from the book. Legendary casting, satisfying plot twists, hilarious commentary on religion.

Cutie Honey The Live: Robot girl fights off an organization that turns people into living weapons through various wacky schemes. Over-the-top in all senses of the phrase. I love a show that’s extremely silly, but takes itself seriously.

Gokushufudo: Former yakuza member becomes a househusband. Only just started this series but man, with a premise like that, how can you NOT fall in love.

[art-now-south-korea]

image-face, GyoBeom An

I was born in 1973, and my parents were farmers. In 1999, I got enrolled into an art college with a dream of becoming an artist. I am currently a father, a husband, and a painter. The duality and struggle between a domestic life of being a parent and spouse with a working life became a subject matter to my work. My work expresses conflicts and emotions aroused from distinct social roles through figurative subjects that ranges from models and cartoon characters, to gods. For each piece, I start with a simple drawing on a canvas of a chosen figure/ image. Then, I go into a constant exploration of constructing and deconstructing the image with obsessive amount of acrylics or oils to ease out my emotions. I adapt myself and live out the society through such actions. Painting, and Painting Over: Closing In On the alternation of repetition and reversion in An Gyo Beom’s portrait paintings Yi Hyun(Art Criticism) Francis Bacon asked himself how he differed from dead animal meat at a butcher shop. He used to say that more cruel is the scene of a live meat that drools with saliva over the sight of another meat hanging at a butcher shop. No matter how grotesque the scene of meat as portrayed in his paintings, Francis Bacon claimed that they are not nearly as brutal as human life in reality and the horror we experience in them. In the likewise manner, An Gyo Beom’s portrait paintings evoke in its viewers the strong feeling of confusion and the sense of ferocity that borders insanity. The material aspect of An’s paintings — fiercely pasted lumps of paint over the surface of canvas that easily exceeds the height of an average male — amplifies the impact of the content. Stylistic detail is where An’s painting differentiates itself from the great Francis Bacon: whereas Bacon’s meat can be compared to the meat of prime quality that was chopped and handled by a skilled butcher, An’s meat resembles scraps of meat left over from the butchering process. Leftover is often synonymous with low-grade. But the things we throw away can often tell us clues that can provide us with insights on what we as a community are eager to deny or forget, knowingly or unknowingly. An employs various media for his work. They often come in two kinds: Pen and pencil are dedicated to contouring and detailed portrayal; Oil and acrylic paints are used to express chaotic and abstract qualities. If the former emulates and builds human figures, the latter dissects and deconstructs such figures. If we were to compare the former to a bone structure, the latter can be likened to flesh and bowels. That is, of course, metaphorically speaking and not in an anatomical sense. Let’s dig in further into the artist’s day-to-day method. An constructs human figures with the most delicate of his media: pen or pencil; subsequently, he paints over completely the so-formed figures; or sometimes instead of complete cover-up, he deliberately leaves hints of the original figure by unveiling traces of human form in a subtle manner, say, a hint of an eye here and a nuance of lips there. As a consequence, a viewer can recognize not much else than the pure materiality elicited by the crumbled mass of wildly mixed paints. It is not to say, however, that An’s methods, apparently tilted towards abstract style, merely aims at totally concealing the figurative sketches with paints. The same goal could have been easily achieved by just starting out with paints in the first place. The artist appears to be purposefully attacking the preliminary sketches: he pokes, scratches, and glides over his figurative sketches, as if out of temperamental outbursts, with palpable intent. Hence, it may be reasonable to assume that although the pencil sketches are destined to be hidden eventually beneath the paint layer, they do seem to have a distinct purpose of existence. It seems safe to presume that An intends the traces of his procedure to be visible. This whole process resembles an act of a person in a constant and desperate struggle to forget something. Again, the artist would have just skipped the sketch part, if his purpose was the total elimination of it. If this is the case, what is the artist so desperately trying to put behind him, beyond the horizon of oblivion, perse? The subjects of An’s paintings range from models and manga characters to painting classics, and even God. They tend to vary but have one thing in common: they’re all socially accepted generic images. One thing to note in specific is that An portrayed professional models and rarely, if ever, painted off of his friends or family. What is the socially accepted role of the models? A person who is a model is scarcely regarded past his or her occupational description. Models serve the role of promoting or enhancing the value of the main products and thus consumed as human “samples”. Manga characters and iconic images of God are not much different from models. They are quite the universal and unidiosyncratic signs that effectively appeal to the masses across many cultures and regions. An collects images on the internet and recreates them rather honestly on his canvas, as though he consents to their given meanings and roles. In the course of his painting, however, he inadvertently shifts attitude. As if suddenly grown disgusted at his own conformist images, he adds to them the abnormal shapes such as horns, dogs, or even dragons. He obsessively paints over the initial image until he completely turns it around. In the Baconian sense, by the act of altering the reality An forbids his work to end up yet another one of those portrait paintings and imprints a violent subjective mark in his work. He appears to be doing so for the purpose of creating a false that is truer than the truth. The role asked of individuals by a State or a society resembles that of a model. Individuals are called upon as a mere component, regardless of their individual context, then consumed. All member are required to act accordingly to the cause of their community. The pressure to act as an ethical, compliant member of the society is almost inescapable. To be specific, the standardized social role that is cast upon a middle-aged man in the Korean society does not allow an artist any latitude necessary for his artistic practice. If you comply and carry out the role of a model as expected, you end up a model. If you don’t, you are labeled a questionable character, and the social retribution follows. In this circumstance, An chooses to consciously deny the dilemma. He does so by way of repetitively painting (about repression), and painting (about his impulse). In the face of the unavoidable situation, the artist oscillates: he chooses to comply one moment, then retracts his compliance in another. By doing so, he can defer his impulse to flee. The notion of oblivion logically requires the preceding act of memorizing. An is on a crusade to his personal calling, ceaselessly balancing himself between where he stands and where he’d like to be.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-image-face/781688/4344516/view

[salavante]

I’m going to do a quick analysis on the pieces I felt I learned the most from during Artfight2020. I made 20 character illustrations over the course of a little over a month, got to draw a lot of different characters and environments, and would like to catalog what I feel I gained from it in terms of technique and process. A little Post-Mortem, if you will. Normally I would draw a little cartoon or something as a header but I’m tired lol. These are not really in any order. I am going to include the username of the characters’ owners but am not going to “@” them as not to annoy anyone, these are just kind of my personal thoughts about my process. 

Burn Forever - Character owned by @/evilbeards. Really love the colors in this one, it makes it look very regal, while also reminding me of medieval antiquity. This is the best fire I’ve done in awhile because it has both pleasing shapes, and a variance in hues within the flame. I made a point to remember this when I did “The Last Candle Burns”. I also really went all in with uplit lighting that clung to every crag in Tel’s face and think it paid off, it made me more confident that I could pull off more scenes with dramatic lighting in the future. Also, knocking the top of the throne of branches out of black and into dark blue gives an effective illusion of distance.

Bloodline - Characters owned by @/SaltiestGoat (twitter). A solution to characters presented primarily in black and white was to make the colors more symbolic than naturalistic - the story these two characters (who are father and daughter) were presented with was extremely vivid, and so it wasn’t hard to distill it into motifs that could be represented with color - power and violence as red, which is both compounded and spread via war/material wealth (gold), a cyclical relationship that is bright and searing against a cold, grey world. And white as something strange/supernatural and unearthly (eyes and teeth). Something I like when viewing art on a digital screen as opposed to a print or an original is the way that the brightest value of white feels like a stabbing pinprick, it really feels like it shines and elevates it a bit. But, anyway, using so much black was kind of a leap of faith, but it allowed for me to capture the sort of dreamlike atmosphere I was going for.

Dern It- Character owned by @/slabmangrave. Another one of those leaps of faith in using a lot of black, this time to create an illusion of depth implying that perhaps Hogarth here has been wandering around in an endless, stabbing field of cactuses, injecting a little humor, but also the vastness of the landscape. I found it a fun challenge to try and muster up a desert scene in a setting that effectively has no sun (relying on cool colors). The purple was a last minute addition that I ended up really liking, as I think it did better to silhouette The Teeth. I also used very minimal “line coloring” on this - something I really like about the source material is the textural mark making, and I feel like the starkness of black makes things have a little more of a tactile quality, in this case. I also think I might be on to something, representing specks of floating bits as small, short lines.

It’s Coming For You Through The Trees - Character owned by @/peg-head. One, I think this is my favorite set of teeth. I think the uneven quality of the two front teeth really sells it I also found it a fun challenge to change the camera up and have it be looking from a little ways below - I don’t think I entirely sold the concept of the character handing an object down to the viewer, but I think it’s a lot closer than my other attempts. I also liked using what was mostly a limited color palette, and getting to have a more desaturated, naturalistic range of colors. And like I said before, I love that small, stabbing pinprick of white light on a computer screen, and I think it works really well here.

Grease Monkey: Character owned by @/night-margie. This one may have been the most extreme test of my abilities, as I usually try to stay away from background elements that are inorganic, if I can help it. But I’m in the throughs of working on my own sci-fi setting right now and figured I should challenge myself. Not quite limited colors per say, but I think the division of gold and violet light works to separate the different areas of the piece (I tried it first just with blue but found it to be way too homogenous). Not entirely successful in regards to making a character look like they are seated beyond the lip of an object, but I think the pleasing shapes the character creates make up for it…but just barely, lol. I think this has a good balance of black negative space to grimy such-and-such, and am pretty pleased with the stylization of electrical sparks. I’ll have to experiment with it further.

Cryptid Sighting: Character owned by @/gnarliegnasties (twitter). First of all I think the thing this encouraged me to do the most was invest in more abstract, stylized background elements to create the illusion of depth, and I really gotta keep that in my comic-ing back pocket . Typically, I don’t tint my blacks entirely - I usually just color objects and edges that I feel are of special interest, or need to look more cohesive (as is usually the case with seams in clothing or armor, or a character’s fingernails). But In this case, I felt tinting them violet would make the environment feel more lush, and would also attractively frame the warmer blue of the character. This is a color scheme I haven’t tried (teal, purple, blue-green and a light orange-red) and I really enjoy it.

Summersong: Character owned by @/satourni. I really love the colors on this one - but, this is one of those pieces where I feel like I could do it better if I tried again! I definitely learned a lot from - I don’t think the underwater effect around the character is quite convincing, and would have been better served with the surface being visible in the gap between Kester and the camera. I’d also say the small, beadlike drops of water are more effective than the really big, heavy ones. I’d love to do more underwater scenes - makes me homesick! 

Hail To The King - Character owned by @/ petarvee (twitter). This is the one that I think I put the most time in that yielded the least satisfaction for me - I definitely feel like I overworked it. Snakes and creatures with likewise long necks are hard to draw, they need to taper in a way that feels natural, and I don’t think I really sold their feeling of mass - and the way it squishes and stretches - to my preference. I also stepped out of my comfort zone with the brighter, more saturated colors, and though I like the hoodoos, I think the rest of it is a little too discordant, despite my efforts. Should’ve had a stronger light source, or focused less on spectacle and more on portraying the character. I bit off a little more than I could chew with the hydra. I admit, I really like this artist’s work and was anxious about doing something for him - so, I ended up trying a little too hard to make something flashy. But, better to have rose to a challenge and failed doing something ambitious than to do something boring, I suppose.

In summation: 

-Let shapes made out of solid colors or black create illusion of distance or more objects.

-More limited color palettes seem to yield the best results for one-off illustrations, I’m still a little new at coloring compared to other people and need to remember that. I need to “grind” a little more. 

-A painted-in highlight accentuating an edge can both imply a stronger light source, and be a way to separate shapes too similar in value. But don’t overdo it or it becomes a little obnoxious. 

-Knock back an object with color to make them feel further away - you know, atmospheric something or another. 

-Balance black negative space with textured surfaces - it shouldn’t be a clean 50/50.

- Those little hash marks do a pretty good job at varying texture and particle effects. Use em more.