#they have same hairstyle and are swordsmen

[krikzilla]

Berserk x One piece

I cant believe that Zoro has to beat Guts to become world's greatest swordsman

[vilandel]

Black Clover Next Generation V ♣️💘

Family Tree of Roselei-Yami-Faust

Time to present this portion of my next generation^^'

Ichika and Nacht first had their relationship in secrecy. One of the reasons was because they wanted some peace and quiet before facing the reaction of their families and friends. The other reason was... Yami being a bit overprotective over his little sister.

Charlotte knew about them way before everyone else, as Ichika needed like a sister figure and advice. Charlotte supported them so much.

She was also the one who hold Yami back the best once he found out. Overprotective brother, especially since... Nacht and Ichika have already done it once he found out^^'

But well, in the end, deep down he was happy for them. Didn't stop him to threaten Nacht and promised to kill him if he hurts Ichika in any way.

Only for Nacht to reply that if he ever hurt Ichika, she probably would be the one killing him. Yami was dumbfounded first, then laughed.

Charlottes mother gifted Yami and Charlotte their very own cottage (actually, a bit big for a cottage, almost a manor) as a wedding present. Locally wise, it is placed like exactly between the places of their own squad bases. Plus, it also has some Hino inspired rooms.

The garden is also a mix of Clover and Hino styles.

When Charlotte got pregnant with their first child, Yami was certain that it would be a girl. It was only until the mid-wife put his baby into his arms and saying "Congratulations, it's a healthy boy" that he realizes that it was a boy.

Their son was given a Hino name, Asahi, which means "Morning Sun". He was called like that in Morgens honor and Nacht is his Godfather.

Asahi is personality wise just like his mother. But he is also very good with the sword and the katana, to his father's joy. He became one of the best swordsmen and fencer in Clover.

Asahi also grows into a handsome lad, he got a Fanclub before he ever got his grimoire.

But he doesn't like that so many girls and also boys are attracted to him, as they only like his good looks and not himself.

Asahi also is since childhood deeply in love with Nymphea Silva (another side he got from his mother^^). And well, his feelings aren't that one-sided over time...

Charlotte and Vanessa are overjoyed about this. Yami and Nozel... not so much, but their love for their children is of course stronger.

When Charlotte got pregnant again, Yami was again more than certain that it would be a girl this time... only to get another son.

Their second boy got a Clover-like name, Clovis meaning "Warrior" (it is a coincidence that it sounds similar to "Clover^^').

He is the only one of their children who got Yamis buff frame. Already with nine years, he was very much big for his age.

Personality-wise, Clovis is the perfect mix of his parents. He also the one who always plays the diplomat when his siblings are fighting... Happen to destroy a wall sometimes to make them stop, but apologizes always immediately.

Didn't got Yamis density, thank goodness.

When Charlotte got pregnant for the third time, Yami was now certain that it would also be a boy this time... Only to finally got a baby girl.

She was named Tora, meaning "Tiger".

Personality-wise, she is totally Yamis daughter. Cursing a lot as well, except when Charlotte is giving The Stare. Doesn't help that Yami encourages Tora with cursing words.

Loves Nozels hairstyle a lot and wants the same one day, much to Yamis despair.

Asahi and Tora are often at each other's throats, with Clovis trying to mend. But deep down, there are almost no closer siblings than those three.

None of them got Yamis toilet problems. But they are always very embarrassed about their father's toilet stories.

As for Nacht and Ichika, given their respective roles, they first had a long-distance relationship.

But they wanted a future and a life together, that wish growing stronger over the years.

With Ryus help, a solution was found. Ichika resigned from the Ryuzen and instead became like an ambassador warrior for Hino in Clover.

They got two children together, twins, a boy and a girl.

The boy got the name Mond while the girl was called Sonne, german words for "moon" and "sun"

Despite their shining names, the new Faust twins are rather gloomy. Mond got a fascination for alchemy (still a much unknown science in the Black Clover world in my head canons) while Sonne got a soft spot for spooky things.

Yami calls them the Dark Lights or the Double Eclipse. He always got a glare when it happens.

Mond and Sonne are never intimidated when their uncle is getting scary, much to his despair and Nachts joy.

Asahi got most of his mother's frame, with her blonde hair in every way, which he wears long with a low ponytail or a low braid; he got Yamis dark grey eyes, though and he got Charlottes Briar Magic, with the difference that he got roses in any color possible. Clovis is buff like Yami and got messy hair like him, but Charlottes hair color, while his eye are a mix of his parents, grey-blue, he got Yamis Darkness Magic. Tora, on the other hand, is physically a lot like Charlotte, but with black long curly hair and her mother's blue eyes, her magic is somehow a mix of her parents, Black Rose Magic.

Mond and Sonne both have black hair, silky like their fathers and thick like their mothers, which they both wear long and free. Mond got Ichikas dark grey eyes, while Sonne has Nachts blue eyes. Mond got Nachts Shadow Magic while Sonne got Ichikas Darkness Magic.

Last point... Don't get the cousins together as a team... The world won't survive it.

[megashadowdragon]

sanji fights garling while Zoro vs Ethan and garling possibly killing shanks or elbaf king ( if he is called Odin)

garling being the new warrior god of science defense and being the knight to Venus samurai ( and garling is the moon associated with Zoro ( shimotsuki means frost moon) while the planet Venus can be associated with Sanji

zeff called sanji chibinasu Ethan’s name is nasujuro

)

adds to Venus vs Zoro and garling vs Sanji ( garling who scarred primebeard

for Zoro ( samurai) and sanji (knight)

Oda says Samurai & Knights are the prototype for Zoro & Sanji!!! Oda's manuscript for his unpublished work 'GREAT SWORDSMEN (Samurai vs knights) ' 30 years ago Oda :"Ryuma the samurai has appeared along with the dragon in my prototype works, MONSTERS. I always want to draw the combination of samurai & knight in MONSTERS, but in the end they've become the prototype version of Zoro & Sanji"

it fits for their opponents to fit the aesthetic and they tend to have enemies that have a dislike for each other rivalry or some coinciding theme it fits for them to fight people who reference each other since they have

Rivalry.

Garling scarred wb. without a df ( who is now empowered is likely the strongest of the gorosei since imu represents earth and the moon is the closest to it shanks references tyr so what if garling killsshanks

Garling may have also gotten a power and become a monster! Is Garling the Fenrir, a monstrous (moon)wolf in Norse mythology? - Fenrir plays a key role during the events of Ragnarök. - Fenrir also has two sons: Hati and Skoll.

plus one of Saturn's moons is named Fenrir

garling took Saturn's seat so it fits for him to have the power of Fenrir.

Garling's replacement of Saturn and his hairstyle representing the moon could symbolize him becoming "Fenrir

(If the above theory is true )Also shanks and garling are like judge and sanji heck both sanji and shanks were raised by pirates

Well the connection between them is very many.

—But we must start off with the first and most important. The science group that judge was in aka “Mad”

Who was the person that Vp took orders from when he started working with the WG…….”SATURN”👀

—Now the new warrior god of science is “Garling” he could hire Neo mads!!!

The connections are really endless. —Sanji dad is called judge & we was introduced to Garling,It said he passed senetence. (Similar to a fucking judge!!) Also both have royal born sons that are outcasts of the family. •Shanks •Sanji Both fathers being and into science!!

—The biggest connection is judge children. His 3 sons wear shades similar to Garling & have those wacky hairstyles just like garlings.

(The eldest vinsmoke brother has red hair)

I began to think to myself. What if shanks don’t only just have one sibling….

—I think shanks will probably have 3 bros & 1 sis!!

maybe sanjis mom is shanks sister

@bottlepiecemuses

@pernanegra

@crepes-suzette-373

"The connection between Garm and Fenrir is made due to 3 Stanzas in the Völuspa in Stanzas 44, 49 and 58 the line is that Garm howls and the next line states that the chains break an the wolf runs. The second line is understood to refere to Fenrir. Since Garm and Fenrir are thus named so closely together it is theorised that Garm is another name for Fenrir or was so at one point, befor becoming its own character in the Mythology."

"

The two images of bound wolves breaking loose at the same time can’t help but make one wonder whether or not Fenrir and Garm are ultimately the same figure.

This interpretation is supported by the fact that, as the gods and the forces of chaos battle during Ragnarok, the god Tyr is said to engage Garm in single combat.[3] Since Tyr had earlier tricked Fenrir into allowing himself to be bound in an unbreakable chain, and since Fenrir had bitten off the god’s hand in the process, it would make sense for the two to have a vendetta against each other, which in turn makes it likely that the wolf Tyr will fight during Ragnarok is none other than Fenrir.

"

a popular game I played had referenced this theory

sanji is a foil to Luffy so maybe he is part of a celestial dragon bloodline via his mother while Luffy is part of a D bloodline through his dad

sanji and luffy are foils

sanji and luffy are foils    to each other and the blackbeard pirates are the evil counterpart to strawhats with

blackbeard being evil luffy

lexinthymia . tumblr . com/post/152629529785/alexinethymia-spacespheal-so-i-was  

“ So, I was thinking that Luffy and Sanji are like two sidesfrom the same coin, ‘cause there are some aspects of them that are the same or at least really similar, but some others are just complete opposites (This is going to be pretty long, sorry, so I’m dividing it in blocks, which may be a lil messy, sorry) Appearence: Both, are thin, but, while Sanji is tall, Luffy is short. Sanji has blond and well brushed hair that covers part of his face, but Luffy’s got black messy hair. Both have a “mark” on their face, Luffy’s got his scar, Sanji’s got his eyebrows. Sanji always wears formal clothes that are black, whileLuffy wears informal clothes, which are bright colored. Fighting Style: Both fight without anything else but thier body, but while Luffy’s a Devil Fruit user, Sanji’s not. On the other hand, Sanji’s the best swimmer in the crew. Also, Luffy uses mostly his fists to attack, while Sanji uses only his legs (well he uses knifes in his fight versus Wanze, but just one fight, so let’s ignore it). Personality: Most of the time, Sanji’s composed and mature, but there’s a lot of moments when he’s really childish. Luffy, is most of the time childish, but he can be serious if the moment requires to. While Sanji has shown he has sexual desires, Luffy has shown he has less sexual desires than a snail. Both are hopeless dreamers, with kinda impossible dreams. Sanji want to find a legendary sea that may not exist, and Luffy wants to find a legendary tresaure that’s wanted by a lot of people. Luffy will do whatever he has to do to achieve it, but Sanji has been shown to deny his desire to accomplish his dream, just for the sake of someone else. Luffy’s an excited child that go running towards anything that sounds fun to him without any second thought. Sanji’s careful and thinks his next moves with precison, also Sanji is one of the main strategist of the crew Luffy easily falls for lies,tricks and ilusions, while Sanji doesn’t and even sometimes uses them in his advantage. Both are so damn protective, but Sanji’s a lot more sacrificed. Luffy’s loud and bad at infiltrating, but Sanji’s quiet and awfully good at infiltraitng and finding ways to help the crew. Story/Family: Both are saved by a pirate that looses, an arm on Luffy’s part, a leg on Sanji’s part, Their fathers are both famous criminals, but while Sanji’s father’s more from the underworld, Luffy’s father from the upperworld. Also both have two older siblings, but while Luffy’s aren’t blood related, Sanji’s are. Well, that’s just a list of things that have come to my mind for now. Feel free to expand it. Sanji can’t hit a woman at all, while Luffy could care less about your gender if you’re the enemy. Zoro’s in the middle of the spectrum. I got this from TV Tropes. I’d also like to point out how Oda’s chosen colors for them are red and blue. While you have Zoro and Nami whose colors are their hair color, Sanji could honestly have yellow or even black as a color, but those were assigned to Usopp and Brook instead.

In most literature, red and blue are symbolic opposites. Usually they designate for convenience enemies or rivals at least. While Sanji’s rival is Zoro, sanji unwilling had sort of a heelface turn where in chapter 844 they actually had what they talked about sort of sanji vs. luffy more like sanji hitting luffy in order to strive him down both sanji and luffy had 2 flashbacks first one featuring their mentor and their mentors losing a limb for them and the second featuring a relationship with their brothers for luffy it was in spirit for sanji it was biological for luffy it was positive relationship for sanji negative in the tea party since sanji is trying to save his biological brothers and father who he hates while e how luffy tried to save his brother in spirit ace

this serves as an excellent point of contrast while sanji is  saved his brothers  and father who he hates (along with his sister who he loves)  luffy tried to save his brother in spirit and failed where sanjis mentor lost a leg to protect him while luffys mentor shanks lost a arm saving him heck in the manga this was outright referenced when luffy told him

and they are both connected to the sun with luffy being the son god fruit user

and sanji associated with sun in a meta way

Judge was to be named Saint-Germain, eventually this became the name of Germa Kingdom’s flagship. I think the name Saint-Germain comes from the city Saint-Germain-en-Laye (the same as Paris Saint-Germain FC). Interestingly, this city was the birthplace of Sun King Louis XIV

Sun king Louis supposedly had a twin brother who was the man in the iron mask  ( which is referenced in sanjis backstory )

in the story man in the iron mask

also germa kingdom is a reference to shocker from kamen rider and kamen rider black was solar powered who lit his legs and fists on fire

there’s a tokusatsu that we know Oda likes, which would be a much more explicit inspiration for the Germa 66 : Kamen Rider. specifically the villainous organization shocker

Shocker was a terrorist organization that planned on ruling the world (in the original manga is shown that Shocker had some influences over the governments of the world), with virtually all of its members modified in some way. The founders had mostly Nazi ties

so it fits that germa66 not only references the nazis but the shocker organization from kamen rider

Shocker’s scientists performed surgical alterations that gave the subject superhuman fighting abilities. Even the most basic Shocker soldier was tougher, stronger and faster than the average human civilian. The most powerful of their forces were the Kaijin, modified humans who were combined with animal DNA and human cybernetics to create living weapons.

In an attempt to create the ultimate warriors, they were responsible for the rise of the very first Kamen Riders 1 and 2, whom defected and became the heroes who would ultimately lead to the fall of Shocker.

and sanji and his siblings were altered genetically

and the kamen riders specialty is the kamen rider KICK

In it Kamen Rider Black RX is a cyborg whose motif is a black grasshopper, which mirrors Sanji’s own epithet as Black Leg. Grasshoppers are known for their incredible spring like leg muscles that allow them to jump incredible heights which allow them to launch themselves in the air to fly. However he also has another motif and that is based on the sun. Kamen Rider Black RX is a photosynthetic warrior who is powered by the sun.

Since Kamen Rider is powered by the sun, he can set his legs and fists on fire to increase the lethality of his kicks and punches, which is basically what Sanji’s Diable Jambe does

twitter . com/Oeuf2BoaEnCoque/status/1542888958354460673

this guy even had the ability to turn people into werewolves

@solar-pxwered

[pirunika]

ok. i need to compare Astraeus (Lovestruck) to Blade (WIP - Shepherds of Haven) bc as i was trying to make them on Black Desert Mobile i noticed they r pretty similar in... looks

both black haired / eyed with a sort of cropped hairstyle (one is 5'9 and the other is 6'3" tho)

both swordsmen

both given an east Asian... design. I mean Astraeus downright uses a katana as his main weapon and his theme is cherry flowers (which...i still don't know why as he s a Greek mythological figure but *shrug* im used to it now), Blade less so I suppose, i mean his last name is apparently a Welsh name but its just... here and there you get the sense that's the main inspiration for his culture - food, words, style whatever - which i dont like, tbh, making the emotionless, brutal species Like That but I can head-canon around it all I like its the canon (for now) world-building

this i like :D 1 is from an app that shut down.. like 2 years ago and the other is from a WIP work, not all out yet

both have older brothers, though Astraeus surely suffered more in his hands, having served him for years if not decades and it ends with a death... We dont know what that particular thing gonna go with Blade but I think it wont be that brutal.

Both sort of leaders, Astraeus is to titan army (or whats left of it more like) and Blade to Shepherds militia.

THEIR RELATIONSHIP W THE MC: Astraeus pretty much starts in love with the MC, he's low-key a stalker (i mean high key he did kidnap her...) and they have this... connection. Immediately. With Blade... it's... so not that. It's a slow process. Just as strong but slow and steady against.. whatever the fuck was up with Astraeus at one point (and yall kno he s my #1)

Astraeus is very chaotic, the MC says at one point chaos 'thrives within him' (or around him) he's a titan god after all and Blade is.. once again. Not that. Astraeus wears his heart on his sleeve. That's my favorite thing about him actually, he's one of the closest examples I saw to the male femme fatale idea. He's seductive and emotional and acts according to his heart. Blade falls a bit dull against that because we just have…. too many of the emotionless warrior guys, though I gotta give its due, he does his category well - say.. compared to Adam from Wayhaven Chronicles (and there I do love Ava, I know they are the same person but listen almost no female character is Like That) and you can tell he starts caring for the mc - obviously, which makes him much more appealing then the rest of the so called macho guys.

Astraeus is a poet. Blade points out he likes reading poetry. Does he write? I don't know but its surely not a corner of his personality I feel

They also both like gardening, once again Astraeus is more passionate about it, growing a tree in a land where nothing grows (Tartarus) Blade mentioned it but it's not like.. his thing - so far

Overall this made me realize maybe we don't know Blade well, despite the countless asks n everything or that he needs a certain.. something. Not everyone has to be passionate and emotional of course but like uhm... He's a bit too perfect and bland, WHICH is maybe his flaw I mean other characters do call him boring and dour and again the story is far from over so we'll see!

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Picture by @animetrashmuffin

Hatake Yua

Note: A lot of this information has been brought together with the help of the wonderful @samuraiisms who is also the main reason for Yua being from the Land of Iron. Without them Yua would simply not exist in the way she currently does and for that I appreciate them forever <3 <3 <3

Character’s full name: (Minamoto) Hatake Yua

Character’s nickname: Silent Storm (Name she’s known by in the land of Shinobi)

Reason for nickname: During her fight against the seven deadly Swordsmen, Yua used their mist and her homeland advantage to silently rush through their ranks and attack each one of them one by one. 

Birth date: Aprill 11

Physical appearance

Age: 55 (Same age as Tsunade)

Weight: 160 Pounds

Height: 5’9”

Body build: Slim and muscular. In most clothing she looks like a stick, but when her arms and legs are showing you are able to see her muscles are toned. 

The shape of the face: triangle

Eye colour: Brown

Glasses or contacts: N/A

Skin tone: Pale white. 

Distinguishing marks: Mole on her chin, just under her mouth. Two deep scars come down across her face from the left side. 

Hair colour: Brown 

Type of hair: 2B (Wavey)

Hairstyle: Long hair that goes down her back, pulled up into a high pony tale. 

Physical disabilities:

Usual fashion of dress: Prefers higher-end clothing with green as her main colour. 

Personality

Good personality traits: Calm-headed, loyal, focused, quick-witted, kind. 

Bad personality traits: Sarcastic, sassy, blunt, uninterested in others

Mood character is most often in: thoughtful

Sense of humor: Dry and sarcastic

Character’s greatest joy in life: Finding a good place to read

Character’s greatest fear: Drowning and death

Why? When she was young Yua was exploring outside and walked out onto a frozen river. About half way across the ice under her broke and she plunged into the cold water. It was a passing citizen who happened to see her and saved her from a cold early death, but Yua was never able to step over frozen water again. 

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil? The death of her family. Yua’s family is precious to her and losing them feels like being stabbed in the heart. 

Character is most at ease when: Alone reading a book

Most ill at ease when: Surrounded by multiple people

Enraged when: Someone is posing a threat to one of her precious people

Depressed or sad when: Unable to read for long periods of time or when her work keeps her away from family and friends.

Priorities: Family, friends and books

Life philosophy: There’s no such thing as too much training. 

Character’s soft spot: Mifune. Yua was never good at making friends with other’s until Mifune decided to befriend her, and she immediately became soft and protective of her Kohai. 

Is this soft spot obvious to others? Abolsultly. She’s constantly getting called out on it and her parents even debated arranging a marriage between them until Yua shut it down. 

Biggest regret: Leaving her homeland and not being able to save her husband from himself. 

Biggest accomplishment: Defeating the Seven deadly swordsmen in battle. 

Minor accomplishment: Beating Orochimaru in a Kenjutsu battle. 

Past failures he/she would be embarrassed to have people know about: Her inability to swim and her fear of death. 

Why? Yua prides herself on being calm and collected. For people to know that there is something in the world that could make her crumble into pieces feels undignified and pathetic. 

Goals

Drives and motivations: To be the strongest Samurai in her land. 

Immediate goals: Getting Yamato to open up to her.

Long term goals: Keeping her Son as safe as she can from the cold grip of death. 

How the character plans to accomplish these goals: Any means necessary. Yua constantly trains because she knows her son is a capable shinobi, so if he needs her to protect him she needs to be in top condition. 

Past

Hometown: Land of Iron

Type of childhood: Rich Kid, privileged and protected. Yua had a lot of expectations placed on her because of her families status. While she was spoiled she was also under enormous pressure to be at the top of her game at all times. 

Pets: N/A

First memory: Her mom teaching her how to walk by laying out books in certain intervals in front of her, prompting Yua to walk forward so she could pick up a book and hold it up to her parents to read. 

Childhood hero: Her Parents and her Sensei. 

Dream job: Samurai

Present

Current location: Konoha

Currently living with: Living on her own (Or with Sakumo or Tsunade depending on the AU)

Occupation: Retired Samurai

Family

Mother: Minamoto Misaki

Relationship with her: Strained. No longer in contact

Father: Minamoto Haru

Relationship with him: Strained. No longer in contact. 

Spouse: Hatake Sakumo

Relationship with him/her: Close. Left her homeland to be with Sakumo as her parents did not approve of their union.

Children: Hatake Kakashi

Relationship with them: Close. Kakashi is Yua’s ‘Precious Scarecrow’. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for him, and although she struggles to show her affection as most parents would there’s no doubt in Kakashi’s mind of how much she loves him. 

Favorites

Color: Green

Food: Tamagoyaki

Literature: Romance novels

Form of entertainment: Books

Most prized possession: Her Wakazashi swords, given to her by her parents when she became recognized as a full-fledged Samurai. Also a small necklace that she wears at all times, given to her by a lover from her youth who had it delivered to her shortly before they perished due to an illness. 

Traits

pessimist

Introvert 

Daredevil 

Logical

methodical and neat

relaxing

Confident 

Animal lover

Self-perception

How he/she feels about himself/herself: Confident in her abilities, Yua sees herself as accomplished, strong and intelligent. 

One word the character would use to describe self: Worthy

What does the character consider his/her best personality trait? Her sense of humor

What does the character consider his/her worst personality trait? Her aversion to other people

What does the character consider his/her best physical characteristic? Her eyes

What does the character consider his/her worst physical characteristic? Her smile

How does the character think others perceive him/her: She thinks they perceive her as cold and rude.

What would the character most like to change about himself/herself: If she could change anything Yua would make herself more personable and less likely to resort to sass when someone upsets her. 

Relationships with others

Opinion of other people in general: Generally doesn’t bother with other people or form opinions about people until she knows them. 

Does the character hide his/her true opinions and emotions from others? No. 

Person character most hates: Orochimaru

Best friend(s): Tsunade and Jiraiya

Love interest(s): Sakumo and Tsunade

Person character goes to for advice: Her Sensei or her parents. She’ll only go to Tsunade when she leaves to move to Konoha

Person character feels responsible for or takes care of: Mifune (Childhood), Kakashi (Son), Gai, Yamato, Sakura. 

Person character feels shy or awkward around: Her first lover, but after her death Yua came to the conclusion that being shy or awkward was a waste of her time and tried to avoid such feelings as often as possible

Person character openly admires: Her Sensei, Mifune and Tsunade

Person character secretly admires: Sakumo (for his kindness when he’s stuck in a world that expects him to be nothing but cruel)

Most important person in character’s life before story starts: Mifune

After story starts: Kakashi

[kenkao-love]

Kaoru of Rurouni Kenshin and Sakura of Sakura Wars, there are many similarities between them. They have similar hairstyles, personalities, and are the same height and age.

However, Kaoru is actually 15 to 16 years old because she uses Korean age, not general age. (Korean age = Age calculation method applying 1 year old, not 0 at birth. It was used in many East Asian countries, including Japan, in the past, but now it is only used in Korea.)

Also, they are female swordsmen who took over ryuuha(流派) as only daughter after their father's death. They are often misunderstood as the same character, because of many similarities.

[tgirlhawkins]

18 and 23 pls n thank u ♡

THANK U BLOSSOM im kiss u

18. favorite filler episode

ok so. my favorite *moment* from a filler episode was when raiga flung himself off a cliff and he yelled LIGHTNING GIVE ME MY FUNERAL and then disintegrated. because how do you beat that

that one however can't be my favorite because it's, i believe the same one where curry cures ranmaru's illness/disability and that's :\

but it also has this scene.

(four blurry pictures of raiga picking ranmaru up, swinging him around and putting him on his shoulder.)

the highs and lows of the raiga arc.

um. i like the one on the boat with the kakagai. i like the one from the original kiri arc where boruto and kagura fight shizumehada. actually not to mention the seiren episode in two posts in a row but. that one is about 20 minutes of boruto and kagura running around trying to beat an incredibly strong pretty lady, and two minutes of leeches. it's like how much better could boruto have been if kagura was a more recurrent character huh. ALSO the swordsmen filler from the war arc because i am predictable (and it also has kakagai). was the ameyuri episode filler or was that canon? i can't remember.

23. favorite hairstyle in the series

deidara -w- i have a wig for him! it's very hard to wear but what can u do. it just makes me appreciate his dedication more.

honorable mention to jinpachi too because i like his beard. :p

[chibimyumi]

Hi, I hope you're doing well and staying healthy. I've read your post about how Elizabeth attacking ciel is sexism. What about Sebastian getting bully by Frances? Frances is a noblewoman grabbing a servant's hair in front of other people. And fans (including me) are like: oh! What a lioness! Even the devil himself is terrified of her! what if it was the other way around? The idea of a nobleman grabbing a governess's hair calling her nasty and indecent makes me uncomfortable and even angry.

【Response to post: Sexism against men and Kuro Sexist jokes】

Dear Anon,

I’m doing well, thank you very much. I hope you too ^^

Your question is a very good one, and it really had me thinking for a while! I myself admittedly do laugh very hard at Sebastian getting a hard time from Frances. But indeed, like you said, it is still bullying, and bullying is bad. In this post-feminist era, we have been so trained to see women bullying men as ‘funny’ or ‘empowering’, but women getting bullied as unambiguously bad instinctively, that sometimes we forget to check our double standards.

Feelings are feelings, we can’t help what we feel. But how come then that to many of us, Frances bullying Sebas is so funny, but Lizzie almost murdering O!Ciel and Nina bullying men not? This post is merely an attempt to explain this feeling for myself too, but hopefully we can all reach SOME explanation together as well???

Let us first look at in what ways Frances has been making Sebastian’s life hard. From all the interactions we have of these two so far, her main points of criticism seem to be his hair and his lack of professionalism.

Slovenly Hair

Sebastian’s hair is something we’ve gotten quite used to now after more than14 years. In Sebastian’s time however, his hair really would have been the height of impropriety for his profession.

Just like I translated O!Ciel’s looks to 2020 standards, I quickly translated Sebas’ hair to 2020 standards as well. Very clean, innit?! Very professional, innit?!

Even without the translation however, if we look at the worst of wigs from the Kuromyus, we can also see how Sebastian’s hair would be atrocious in any formal setting. Look past the fact that these actors are supposed to represent a drawn character. Just imagine being in a fancy restaurant and encountering a dead-spider feather duster on your waiter’s head.... erm....???

Something that is objectively bad on Frances’ end however, is that chapter 14 is not the first time that Frances has seen his ‘slovenly hair’. If his hair really is so unacceptable, as an authority figure Frances has the right to say something about it. However, as it seems, until this point she has never communicated at all (no, “hinting” is not the same as communicating), so Sebas had no way of knowing what he “did wrong”. She immediately grabbed for Sebastian’s hair without mercy, probably because her crept up frustration got the better of her. This is indeed entirely too harsh for a first time call-out, and entirely on Frances.

Much later in the story Frances criticises and touches Sebastian’s hair again, and this time in public while he was infiltrating as a teacher. Here Frances is even publically humiliating Sebastian in front of his students and other high ranking guests.

Especially when you keep in mind that Frances is a noblewoman and Sebas a mere servant, Frances is indeed abusing her power against a servant who cannot strike back at all.

This is indeed power play. However, though it does not justify anything, in the very least her criticism does have ground; Sebas’ hair is by all measures inadequate for any professional setting. Just be nicer about it, Frances.

Useless Butler

Now, let us look at the other reason Frances disapproves of Sebas. Sebastian is a very competent butler according to most people. To Frances however, this claim is empty. When she arrives, parts of the estate have been destroyed and something very literally exploded in her presence.

Even though Sebas is not the person actively causing the explosion or the destruction, as the senior servant of the household, it is literally his job to manage the other servants. So yes, here too, the fact that things can be destroyed in the household because he either hired inadequate staff or because he mismanages his household, DOES INDEED prove he fails at his job. As the aunt of O!Ciel who cares about her nephew AND her paternal home, Frances is in her right to be concerned and call Sebastian out for NOT doing his job.

In chapter 14, Sebastian’s schedule was all over the place and kept changing the plans for Frances. It is no wonder that she would be quite annoyed and doubt Sebastian’s adequateness. When you know your 13 year old nephew’s household is in the hands of somebody so apparently inadequate, anybody would probably be concerned. However annoyed though, Frances does not overstep any boundaries about this specific issue; she is simply supremely unimpressed. Fair enough?

Compliments where due

Something that is quite interesting though, is that despite disapproving of Sebastian, Frances does also know when to compliment him when due. After Sebastian has saved Lizzie’s life without boasting, Frances recognised how the butler does indeed have some value and the correct attitude as a servant.

She says “though you look indecent what you say is true,” and it is yet another jab at the demon’s expense. But here she is also showing that she is willing to acknowledge somebody’s achievements, looking past appearances.

Before Frances leaves, Frances jabs at Sebas a bit again, but she really is not doing anything dickish this time. Instead of making Sebas think she’s simply chosen him as target to be a prick towards, she concretely states why she doubts his professionalism. She mentions the smashed tea set, bare garden and burnt food; mistakes that are objectively unacceptable. Instead of yelling at him, she actually gives him constructive criticism. So here too, Frances is quite stern, but her grounds are solid.

In the Campania arc Sebas shows up again with the hair Frances disapproved of. Frances clearly wants to do something about it again because in her eyes, the butler simply won’t learn. But given the circumstances and Sebastian’s proven usefulness, Frances actually does shelve her agenda. Just like above, here too Frances shows that she is capable of acknowledging somebody despite their looks.

Later when the zombies dramatically outnumbered the living humans, Frances sends Sebas - who had come to her aid - back to her daughter and nephew. By sending Sebas back, Frances also shows that she in fact trusts this ‘slovenly butler’ with the lives of two children she loves deeply. Sebastian protests, but Frances immediately replies: “don’t you trust our ability as swordsmen?” Here what Frances is functionally saying is: “I trust you with your abilities, so you can trust us back.”

In short, Frances is harsh and doing power-play against a servant, but she can shelve her agenda, and does acknowledge Sebas when due.

Contrast to Nina and Lizzie

So now we have seen how Frances bullies Sebastian, and her motivation behind all her points of harshness. As we have seen, Frances’ only points of criticisms are concrete ones; Sebastian’s lack of professionalism in looks, and his lack of professionalism in management. She goes about them too harshly, but all points are legit criticisms, and something Sebas CAN and probably SHOULD work to improve.

Nina

This is in stark contrast with the way Nina bullies her victims. As far as we have seen, none of Nina’s victims have offended her in any way, nor does she ever give any concrete criticism. She has just decided that because men are men, they don’t deserve proper treatment. Even when providing clothes for men is literally part her job, she refuses to provide the ‘professional service’ she is being paid for. And because she is AN EMANCIPATED LESBIAN!!!!!!! #FEMINISM, it’s FINE (!?!?!?)

Unlike with Frances’ criticism of Sebastian’s inadequate hairdo and managing, being ‘men’ is not something any of these men can do anything about (except Sebas, but Nina doesn’t know). Bullying is always wrong, always low. But it’s EVEN lower when you bully somebody for who they are, and not what they do wrong. What does not help is that Nina seems to only be capable of treating people nicely if they happen to be sexuality-wise compatible with her... but if you are, you’ll get molested. What is wrong with you, Nina????

Yes, Frances is saying: “you are a man, and yet your fringe is so long”. So on the most surface level, it is a woman saying this to a man because he is a man. As we later get to know Frances a bit better though, she would be harsh to anybody who looks slovenly. She just has different hairstyles which she considers appropriate for men and women respectively. Had Sebas been a woman and his hair was the ‘feminine equivalent of slovenly’, Frances would most likely have acted exactly the same. So in this sense, unlike with the jokes using Nina and Lizzie, it is not purely: “Haha, girl bullies boii, lol.”

Something else that is terrible is that what Nina does seems to be systemic. Logically it checks out too; it can’t be that only since the past few weeks she’s decided only women and young boys deserve her kind treatment. For all we know, Nina’s been treating the male Phantomhive staff like this for 2-3 years. Sebastian’s comment about Nina thoroughly ignoring men again with “as always” further supports this theory.

With Frances in contrast, in chapter 14 (so barely a year ago in story time), Sebas seemed to have no clue whatsoever about Frances’ terrors. Sebas announced Frances’ arrival to his master and is very calm about it. It was not until O!Ciel alerted Sebas about his aunt that anybody even guessed what hurricane was headed for them. As such, we can safely conclude that Sebas had only been subjected to Frances’ criticism a couple of times, unlike having had to bear with Nina for years.

Yes, Frances still should have communicated, but I already addressed the details above. Still, the point remains that even though Frances is overstepping boundaries and abusing her power, her criticisms are at least not empty.

Lizzie

Lizzie too just like Nina, had zero grounds for showing that much aggression. She did not give anybody the benefit of the doubt, did not communicate, or even so much as give O!Ciel any chance to explain the situation. So far O!Ciel has given Lizzie no reason to think he’d cheat on her, and yet she hurled so much aggression at him Sebas had to intervene.

Still, Lizzie is marginally better than Nina because she is not systemically bullying O!Ciel. It is a one time event. However, this one makes me more annoyed with Yana because it means that even Yana had to use this stale, stale trope of “LOVE TRIANGLE COMEDYYYY”. Have I ever mentioned how MUCH I hate love triangles and jealousy???

Conclusion

Feeling wise, the most important reason for why Sebas being bullied by Frances is funny is probably because of who Sebas is. Sebas is otherwise an all-powerful demon, but to see him inventing colours to shit at Frances - a human Sebas could crush between his fingertips like a cookie - is just hilarious. Had Sebas been a human though, I would not have laughed so hard personally.

Rationally however, Frances is doing power play against a servant who cannot talk back, so it is still bullying, and bullying is inexcusable.The only bit of “right” Frances has is that she does not seem to be systemically bullying Sebastian, and that her criticisms have some ground.

So if Nina and Lizzie’s behaviours played for jokes are like... a -7 and -9 respectively, Frances’ at least scores a -2 for me?

(Yes, as we’re talking about bullying anyway, I just have to make a jab at Vincent.)

Afterword

Something not really related to why “Frances:Bad”, “Nina-Lizzie:Worse”, but I do wish to mention is Yana’s improved drawing skills. I have no proof, but I think it MIGHT have been where this Frances-joke originated.

Yana’s time in the more traditional mindset of manga-worldview really showed, especially at the far beginning. Besides, she was still in the process of finding a way to draw handsome men. In the more traditional mindset of the early 2000s, handsome men were just not supposed to have slicked back hair - “that was reserved for old men and nasty dudes!!” Yana’s discomfort with drawing handsome men with slicked back hair was clearly visible in Sebastian’s early appearances, and making the ‘”hair, back!!! says old-fashioned lady” was potentially even a way of Yana to laugh at herself.

I don’t know who else is old like me and grew up with 80s to early 00s manga, but at the time, hair for handsome men was a BIG deal. In that world ‘slicked back hair’ just carried a certain laughability about it; a “rule of not-cool”. To me at least at the time this ‘laughability’ really resonated with me, and Yana probably also trusted this same ‘unspoken rule’ to resonate with her audiences.

Much later though, Yana clearly grew more comfortable and  maybe even fond of slicked back hairstyles as she confidently chose to portray Sebas as ‘appealing’ while wearing his hair in the style Yana previously disliked.

Again, I have no proof, but I can’t help but think that if Kuro had started 10 years later, the running gag revolving Frances might look altogether different.

What do you guys think? ^^ Cheers, and stay healthy!

Character analysis Nina Hopkins

Character analysis Vincent Phantomhive

Sexism against men and Kuro’s sexist jokes

MASTERPOST Gender in Kuroshitsuji

MASTERPOST Analyses & Info

[doku--hime]

10, 11 and 18 for yosuga! :>

10. Favorite place? Do they go there often?

In Kirigakure Yosuga’s favorite place was her parents’ house and farming fields. When she was there, Yosuga was not a ninja but simply a daughter and humble farmer helping out her family. It was a refuge from the harshness of the ninja world, where Yosuga could afford to be childish and sweet and happy without it coming off as weaknesses to be exploited.

In Konohagakure, Yosuga’s favorite place is the small lab she has in the back of her pharmacy (literally named Yosuga’s Medicine Shop). It’s where she makes her medicine, the process of which is super fun for Yosuga, and it allows her to be alone and away from other people whenever she feels overwhelmed from social interaction, since entering it while she’s working would cause a regular person (ninja or not) to drop dead.

11. Who was their child hero/heroine?

Kirigakure didn’t have much to offer in terms of role models and heroes, but Yosuga always admired the tales of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Yosuga wanted first and foremost to become strong enough to protect her family, and the Seven Swordsmen, as the strongest ninja in Kiri barring the Mizukage, symbolized that strength for her. When Yosuga became a ninja, she eventually joined them as the wielder of Nuibari!

18. How has their hair changed over time? What is their favorite hairstyle?

Yosuga wore her hair in two long twin tails as a child, as her mother adored how she looked in them. Yosuga cut her hair short when she became graduated from the Academy, but continued to wear her hair half up in pigtails. As an adult, Yosuga wears her hair in the same hairstyle but much longer, and she's very proud of her hair! Fun fact: Yosuga is VERY protective of her hair, so if she allows you to touch it in any way, you know she likes you!

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 1: Anticipation

Introduction

What is your most anticipated game? Not the upcoming game that you’re excited about, the game that, more than any other, made you count down the days until its release. No game has ever made me as excited for its release like Fire Emblem Fates did.

Fire Emblem Fates was first announced in January 2015. Back when that trailer was first released, I was still obsessively playing through Fire Emblem Awakening, the game Fire Emblem Fates was meant to be a successor for. The trailer hooked me and I eagerly waited for more information on this bold new entry into the Fire Emblem series. The trailer showed a battle between two armies, a monster destroying a castle, a woman dancing, and a duel between two swordsmen. Between these clips, the trailer showed a return of Awakening’s gameplay, the addictive gameplay that’d taken away hundreds of hours of my free time. This trailer told us nothing, leaving me eager to learn more about this new story.

As the months went on, it was announced that Fates would tell the story of two kingdoms at war. More interestingly, the player would be given the opportunity to choose which kingdom to support, adding a layer of moral ambiguity and complexity to the story. I loved this concept and had no doubts it would be executed perfectly. The game released in June 2015 in Japan, but American fans had to wait until January of the next year to play it.

I bought the game as soon as it came out.

And I loved it. I played through all three routes half a dozen times each. For about six months, Fire Emblem Fates was the main game I played.

I haven’t played Fates in four and a half years. I don’t know why I went from spending multiple hours each day playing it to dropping it and never going back. I’ve played Awakening about once a year since then, but I haven’t gone back to Fates for some reason.

Since its release, Fates has gained a certain...reputation among the Fire Emblem fanbase. Put bluntly, it’s widely considered to be the worst Fire Emblem game. And, to be honest...I can kinda see why. Looking back, the game’s writing was filled to the brim with problems. But still, I can’t bring myself to hate the game like other Fire Emblem fans. I still remember asking my mom to preorder it for my Christmas present when I was fifteen. I still remember devoting hours of my life to this game.

So, I’m left with this quandary. Who should I trust? Other fans, or the memories of my youth? Is Fates really as bad as people say? Well, I kinda want to figure that out for myself. And I think the only way to figure this out is to obsessively play the game.

Over the next few months, I’m going to do a deep dive through Fire Emblem Fates and post my thoughts on this blog. I’m going to go through every chapter, every support conversation, every part of this game to answer the question: is Fire Emblem Fates a good game?

Opening Cutscene

Booting up my copy of Birthright for the first time in years, I’m greeted with an opening cutscene containing much of the footage from the trailer. It’s worth noting that the two armies from the trailer have very different aesthetics, one being heavily influenced by feudal Japan and one being heavily influenced by medieval Europe. The transition from the battle to the woman dancing is done by zooming out, revealing that this battle is actually taking place inside a painting. I actually really like this, it shows that the hostilities that this game is centered on have been going on for a long time.

Another thing to note: the song the dancing woman is singing has been translated into English. I’ll be going through the Lost in Thoughts All Alone’s lyrics and analyzing them when they appear in the actual story. The dance scene leads into circling shots of two families; judging from their different styles and fancy clothing, they are presumably related to the two kingdoms at war. The eastern family has a red and white color scheme, while the western one has a black and purple color scheme.

After that, the camera pans into a deep chasm until it arrives in a land of floating castles and islands, which looks interesting. Next, the opening cutscene shows the dancer in a lake, being choked by a large dragon-like creature. As the creature pushes her further underwater, its scales turn into light and fade away, turning into a humanoid form. Finally, the trailer shows the two swordsmen clashing as the dancer freaks out, setting her up as being an in-between that doesn’t want this conflict to grow. Her necklace flies off as she panics and lands in a pool of dark blue water, bringing us to the main menu.

The opening cutscene, like the trailer, hooked me in and made me excited to play this game. Even though I know that the game is going to bungle the story beats it sets up, I’m still excited to dive right it.

While staring at the dark title screen, which features only the quiet sound of waves for background noise, I get a strange hint of nostalgia. It’s a weird type of nostalgia, though. When I replied Awakening last fall, it felt familiar and comforting. Coming back to Fates, it doesn’t feel familiar. I recognize it, and it’s nostalgic, but it isn’t comforting. It’s like nostalgia for something I’ve forgotten, if that makes sense.

Character Creation

Jumping in, I am presented with three settings each for two types of difficulty. Normal/Hard/Lunatic control the strength of enemies, while Phoenix/Casual/Classic determine whether or not units come back to life. I’ll be checking out the other difficulties in a later entry, but for now, I create a Normal/Casual save file. Yes, it’s taking the easy path. But I barely remember this game and am playing it on a deadline, I don’t have the time to restart every level multiple times.

Next comes the character creator. We’re shown the player Avatar standing at the bottom of a lake and given the ability to customize gender, build, hairstyle, hair decoration (if a girl), hair color, face, scars, and voice. None of the options look bad, but the fact that it’s just choosing from a set list of faces is a bit disappointing. Understandable, considering the fact that these assets are drawn in, but that just raises the question of why there needed to be customization in the first place.

A few oddities about the character creator: hairstyles are sorted on two axis chart of Stylish/Simple vs Wild/Slick for boys and Long/Short vs Cute/Wild for girls. I don’t have time to go into each hairstyle, some are better than the canon versions, some are absolutely ridiculous, some are just boring. The short build is the canon design for Male Corrin while the tall build is canon for Female Corrin. This is probably for the best, because Short Girl Corrin looks like she’s eight. Finally, while both choices have three voice choices, two of Male Corrin’s choices are played by Cam Clarke (Corrin’s other male voice is Yuri Lowenthal, while Female Corrin’s voices are performed by Danielle Judovits, Marcella Lentz-Pope, and Stephanie Lemelin). Later games featuring Corrin stick with Clarke and Lentz-Pope.

I flip a coin and end up deciding on Female Corrin. I go with the generic design, because I really don’t care enough to customize her. Speaking of design, Corrin’s design is a mixed bag. Regardless of player choice, Corrin always wears the same outfit: a grey, black, and white suit of armor with a blue cape. Corrin’s generic hair color is also grey, but like a pinkish grey. I do appreciate Corrin being associated with grey, gold, and blue, making them visually appear to be between worlds, but I personally think the armor looks too complicated, looking more like a striped suit than actual armor. I also don’t get why it has a neck cuff.

Also, Corrin is barefoot. Always. This does give Corrin a sort of animalistic appearance, but that design element isn’t present anywhere else in Corrin’s design. Fire Emblem Awakening was kinda infamous for the fact that none of its characters had feet on their models and I get the vague feeling this game is overcompensating.

Next, we get to the details that actually matter. Name (I went with Corrin, because it’s the canon name and I don’t relate to this character at all), Birthday, Boon, Bane, and Talent. Boon and Bane determine stat growths, but they are labeled by personality traits instead of the actual stars, which is both more immersive and slightly annoying. I made Corrin Quick and Unlucky. Talent determines what Classes are available to you. I didn’t care, so I spun it randomly. It landed on Mercenary.

Prologue: The Ties that Bind

Now that we have our character created, let’s start the game. The game starts with the dancer singing Lost in Thoughts All Alone at the shore of a lake before walking into the lake and sinking below the waves. The song continues as she goes underwater, which means she must be amazing at ventriloquism. As she goes deeper underwater, ruins start to appear, floating in the water. The dancer swims into a bright light and disappears.

Smash cut to the Western prince riding on a horse, commanding an army as they charge into battle. The Eastern prince charges through his army, wielding a sword surrounded by lightning. The anime cutscenes in this game are beautifully animated and incredibly cool to watch. The Eastern prince introduces himself as Ryoma of Hoshido and challenges the Western prince, Xander of Nohr, to a duel. Xander accepts and charges into battle, wielding a sword surrounded by shadowy purple fog. The two clash as the cutscene ends.

We then see Corrin and a Hoshidan Pegasus Rider named Hinoka fighting an enemy, This fight is rendered as an actual game cutscene. Side note, the fact that this scripted battle features Hinoka guarding an attack for Corrin is a great way to foreshadow that mechanic. Hinoka mentions that Corrin looks distracted and reassures her, pointing out that all of Corrin’s siblings are here.

The game then moves onto introducing basic mechanics. If you move your cursor away and look at the other units on the battlefield, you’ll notice that all of them have unique names and designs. Fire Emblem Fates shows both armies off to you during the prologue, which is really interesting. Still, it must be noted that the Nohrian Units are marked as enemies and the Hoshidan Units are marked as allies. This isn’t super important now, but keep it in mind.

Between turns, Ryoma asks Xander why he’s invading and mentions a cowardly attack. Xander tells him to surrender and the two fight some more, both doing decent damage. The camera pans over to Xander’s siblings. The youngest of them, Elise, mentions that, due to a bridge collapse, they can’t get over to Corrin. Her older sister, Camilla, tells her not to worry, because their royal blood allows them to manipulate dragon veins. Camilla moves over to the river and a fireball flies out of her, striking the river and evaporating it. The third of Xander’s siblings, Leo, tells Elise to stay back as they attack the Hoshidans. The Hoshidan royals remark that Camilla’s use of a dragon vein means she’s royalty and the Hoshidan prince Tamuki smirks, saying that he’s always wanted to use a Nohrian royal as target practice.

The two armies of named characters start fighting and a Nohrian general named Hans shows up with an army of reinforcements. He then refers to his own army as cannon fodder and says king Garon sent him to kill them all, because he’s very obviously an evil person. A Hoshidan general shows up and we get some more tutorials as Corrin and Takumi beat up a single redshirt. And then the level just ends.

Corrin and the Hoshidan royals run up to the bridge to help out Ryoma. Xander calls out to Corrin, happy to have found her alive and well. He beckons her to come back to her family, which angers Ryoma, who shouts that Corrin is his sister. Xander counters, saying that Corrin is HIS sister. The other royals argue over which family owns Corrin and Hinoka states that the Nohrians kidnapped her. Xander points out that the Nohrians raised Corrin since she was a child and are her real family. As the two families fight over Corrin, the screen fades to white and we hear voices yelling for Corrin to wake up.

The prologue features some good teaching of mechanics, some bad teaching of mechanics, and an introduction to the game’s plot. It introduces two countries at war and Corrin, a bridge between the two that is caught up in this war. I just have one question.

What even is this chapter? It isn’t in media res, the actual point in the game this chapter is playing off of happens differently. The fact that it cuts to Corrin waking up implies that it’s a premonition of the future, but Corrin can’t see the future in other parts of the game. At least, I don’t remember that ever happening. Sure, this chapter introduces the plot, but it does it in such a confusing way.

Awakening did something similar to this, admittedly, but Awakening is a game about time travel. That scene happened, just in a different timeline. Awakening’s use of media res both set up the plot and helped foreshadow the game’s main twist.

Also, the Hoshidans are allies and the Nohrians are enemies. In a game about a morally grey conflict between two sides made up of real, suffering people, it’s not great to start out by calling one of them evil.

These two traits, aping Awakening without knowing why it worked and failing to be a morally grey story, are going to become much more apparent as the game goes on...

[kirbydevpostarchive]

HAL Laboratory イシダHAL_Laboratory 12/02/2016 4:16 AM Good to see everyone again! The time has finally come to reveal the winners of the drawing category of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge"! We'll get to revealing the artwork soon, but first, the director of the game, Mr Kumazaki, would like to say something!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:19 AM Hello everyone, Shinya Kumazaki here. I just want to say that it was a really enjoyable experience to look through all of your wonderful entries. It was obvious how much effort and enthusiasm went into each one. Thank you for sending in your work!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:21 AM Then let's begin from the Platinum Prize. Take it away, Mr Kumazaki!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:24 AM Our Platinum Prize goes to… Kowal! Meta Knight plays a big part in this game, so we received a lot of entries featuring him, but Kowal's work really showcases his speed. It's also very well executed at a difficult angle. That white mask with the black cross cut into it looks particularly cool. Speaking of Galacta Knight, we came up with him back when we were working on Kirby Super Star Ultra because we wanted to create an ultimate enemy for Meta Knight. We gave him an angelic, godlike look to contrast with Meta Knight's bat-like wings. That was a while ago! Congratulations, Kowal!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:26 AM Wow, what an intense image. It really makes you want to see how that showdown went! Next up is our Gold Prize.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:29 AM I'm happy to say that kirby！ has earned our Gold Prize! All of the submissions kirby！ made showed a high level of quality with their use of clean lines. And they all featured Labotories having fun, so I could see kirby！ has a lot of affection for this character! Incidentally, Labotories are in charge of researching and developing weapons and such in the Haltmann Works Co.'s laboratory towers. They're the hardworking citizens of another planet, hired by the Haltmann Works Co. and every morning they sing the company song from the bottom of their hearts. Congratulations, kirby！

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:31 AM Wow, I didn't know they had that much backstory! They always seem so happily busy, don't they? Oh, Kirby's in there too! I hope they all get along. Well, now it's time for the Silver Prize winners - and there are two of these.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:34 AM The first Silver Prize goes to ななし! This drawing features some incredible background work - even though it's all in black and white, you can really feel the blue sky and white clouds. The sunlight on the Robobot Armour in Jet Mode is fantastic, too.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:36 AM Silver Prize number 2 goes to アンテラ! アンテラ's work gives us a unique perspective. Lots of entries focused on the final boss and iconic scenes, so to see Circus Kirby reflected in one of the giant balls of Resolution Road was a really nice idea.

Congratulations, ななし and アンテラ!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:38 AM Both of those entries were drawn so nicely - I especially like Kirby's expressions in them! Next we have the Bronze Prize, with five winners.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:40 AM The first Bronze Prize winner is yucky♪! At a glance, this looks like a fairly ordinary picture of Kirby, but look closer and you'll see it seems to be from the perspective of the Robobot Armour. Could this be one of the last pieces of data left in the Robobot Armour's fading memory banks as it floats in space after everything is over? If you think about it like that, it brings a tear to your eye... Just heartbreaking!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:42 AM Our second Bronze Prize goes to てるや! This is a particularly dynamic Robobot Armour, and what puts it over the top is the screen-shattering punch! It also sparked my imagination - is the Robobot Armour punching the camera itself, or maybe the monitor of an enemy robot?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:45 AM Our third Bronze Prize goes to key! This might look like a normal picture of Mirror Kirby, but it's actually showing off the old and new hat designs, which I thought was a unique touch. About that hat design - in older titles, due to issues with things like storage capacity, we often had to use the same hat design for multiple Copy Abilities, only changing the colour. So the original Mirror hat was a colour variation of the Beam hat. But when we brought it back for this game after a long absence, we gave it a big makeover to make it more unique and easier to differentiate.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:47 AM The fourth Bronze Prize goes to rH! This is Dark Matter's true form, that you only get to glimpse for an instant in this game. This was a submission from outside Japan but the artist's use of Japanese characters really draws the eye. You can tell that rH is a real fan of the character.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:48 AM Our fifth Bronze Prize goes to Shira! These Dedede Clones have such rich expressions. Their faces really give you a sense that they were formed from pure innocent destructiveness extracted from King Dedede's heart.

Congratulations, yucky♪, てるや, key, rH and Shira!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:50 AM Right, last up in the drawing category is a set of special awards we're calling the Secret Kumazaki Faves! We have three to give out. Mr Kumazaki, if you'll do the honours?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:52 AM I chose these entries based on ideas that made me go "Wow!" The first Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to Lady!

Lady's picture really captures the goings-on "behind the scenes" of the game! After the Haltmann Works Co. destroys King Dedede's castle, the repair works get underway in this refreshing picture. And King Dedede has even taken off his crown! I never expected someone to try depicting that... Together with his clothes, it all makes for a very original image. As for his true hairstyle, maybe you'll get to see that one day...

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:54 AM Secret Kumazaki Fave number 2 goes to クリームロール!

All of クリームロール's entries were very technically accomplished, but this was the one where I felt the concept really shone through. The pixel art in the centre seems to evoke a simpler time when Meta Knight was still himself. And the lines and dots at the bottom of the image are actually a message in Morse code! It says S, O... Ah, but I shouldn't spoil the fun. I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves! There are plenty of fun little things like this hidden in Planet Robobot as well, so if you want, you can go back and try to find them all.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 4:57 AM The final Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to ラリアット!

ラリアット's entry shows Meta Knight, ready for battle, reflected in Dark Matter's sword, and it's a really fantastic image. The heavy use of black gives it a chic look, and the portrayal of the characters is very nicely done. Incidentally, you may have noticed that in this game, Dark Matter's sword shines with a rainbow light. This light is materialised from Dark Matter's memories of the Rainbow Sword that he faced in Kirby's Dream Land 2. Those memories must have been included in the original data used to create the clone. Just like how in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, King Dedede faced Dark Meta Knight for the first time ever, in this game Meta Knight faces off against a version of Dark Matter for the first time. So Dark Matter must have sensed that Meta Knight's powers were truly formidable, and materialised the power of the Rainbow Sword to counter him. Seeing two expert swordsmen face off against each other is always a thrilling experience!

Congratulations, Lady, クリームロール and ラリアット!

イシダ 12/02/2016 4:59 AM And that's the end of the drawing category of our "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge". We'd like to thank everyone who entered! Don't forget, though, we still have the screenshot category of the contest to go! We received a lot of entries worldwide for this contest, so it'll take us some time to select our favourites. We know a lot of people are excited, but please wait a little longer for the results!

[rosethornartanddesign]

Freedom is mine and I can finally get back to finishing the designs for this AU! Keith fills the ‘Shulk’ role of the Voltron: Xenoblade Chronicles AU in that he wields the Monado, but he’s more of a soldier than Shulk is, so I designed Keith’s outfit to be somewhat of a mix between Shulk’s and Reyn’s.

Katie ‘Pidge Holt Allura Shiro Lance Hunk Coran

Keith in the Voltron: Xenobladde Chronicles AU:

A rising star in the Colony 9 Defence Force, Keith is set to be one of the best swordsmen on the Balmera

His tendency to skip drills in favour of visiting Hunk and Pidge in the Weapons Development Lab have gotten him in trouble with Commander Iverson on several occasions

It’s only thanks to Shiro and Haggar that he hasn’t been kicked out yet

Also, his mullet isn’t exactly a regulation hairstyle. Another reason why he keeps getting in trouble – he’s too stubborn to cut it

He is close friends with Hunk and Pidge, and has somewhat of a rivalry with Lance but would still trust him with his life

He lost his parents fourteen years ago during an expedition to the Baku Mountains. It was during this same expedition that the Monado was discovered, and it was Haggar who brought him bak to Colony 9

Since then, Haggar has been an adoptive mother of sorts to Keith

Shiro also took Keith under his wing and became a brother figure to him

Keith takes up the Monado during an attack on Colony 9 led by the Voltron Galra, headed by a strange machine called a Robeast, after Shiro collapses due to no longer being able to control the sword

Using the Monado, Keith can see brief glimpses of the future – how near that future is is not always certain, but he tries to change it however he can

Keith leaves Colony 9 to enact revenge on the Voltron Galra for destroying his home. At first, Hunk is his only companion, but they soon meet up with Lance outside Colony 6 and pick up even more allies along the way

Keith is not the best at picking up social cues, and has a tendency to act rashly at times, but his sheer determination helps the team get through a lot of hardships

Keith primarily wields the Monado in battle, but before then he used a custom made sword that Pidge made for him. He also carries a strange dagger with a glowing symbol on the hilt which he has had for as long as he can remember

[kirbydevpostarchive]

HAL Laboratory

イシダ HAL_Laboratory

12/02/2016 12:10 PM 

 Good to see everyone again! The time has finally come to reveal the winners of the drawing category of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge"! We'll get to revealing the artwork soon, but first, the director of the game, Mr Kumazaki, would like to say something!

クマザキ

12/02/2016 12:12 PM

Hello everyone, Shinya Kumazaki here. I just want to say that it was a really enjoyable experience to look through all of your wonderful entries. It was obvious how much effort and enthusiasm went into each one. Thank you for sending in your work!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:13 PM

Then let's begin from the Platinum Choice. Take it away, Mr Kumazaki!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:16 PM

Our Platinum Choice goes to… Kowal! Meta Knight plays a big part in this game, so we received a lot of entries featuring him, but Kowal's work really showcases his speed. It's also very well executed at a difficult angle. That white mask with the black cross cut into it looks particularly cool. Speaking of Galacta Knight, we came up with him back when we were working on the Kirby Super Star Ultra game because we wanted to create an ultimate enemy for Meta Knight. We gave him an angelic, godlike look to contrast with Meta Knight's bat-like wings. That was a while ago! Congratulations, Kowal!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:17 PM Wow, what an intense image. It really makes you want to see how that showdown went! Next up is our Gold Choice.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:19 PM I'm happy to say that kirby！ has earned our Gold Choice! All of the submissions kirby！ made showed a high level of quality with their use of clean lines. And they all featured Labotories having fun, so I could see kirby！ has a lot of affection for this character! Incidentally, Labotories are in charge of researching and developing weapons and such in the Haltmann Works Co.'s laboratory towers. They're the hardworking citizens of another planet, hired by the Haltmann Works Co. and every morning they sing the company song from the bottom of their hearts. Congratulations, kirby！

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:21 PM Wow, I didn't know they had that much backstory! They always seem so happily busy, don't they? Oh, Kirby's in there too! I hope they all get along. Well, now it's time for the Silver Choice winners - and there are two of these.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:23 PM The first Silver Choice goes to ななし! This drawing features some incredible background work - even though it's all in black and white, you can really feel the blue sky and white clouds. The sunlight on the Robobot Armour in Jet Mode is fantastic, too.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:26 PM Silver Choice number 2 goes to アンテラ! アンテラ's work gives us a unique perspective. Lots of entries focused on the final boss and iconic scenes, so to see Circus Kirby reflected in one of the giant balls of Resolution Road was a really nice idea.

Congratulations, ななし and アンテラ!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:28 PM Both of those entries were drawn so nicely - I especially like Kirby's expressions in them! Next we have the Bronze Choice, with five artists.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:30 PM The first Bronze Choice winner is yucky♪! At a glance, this looks like a fairly ordinary picture of Kirby, but look closer and you'll see it seems to be from the perspective of the Robobot Armour. Could this be one of the last pieces of data left in the Robobot Armour's fading memory banks as it floats in space after everything is over? If you think about it like that, it brings a tear to your eye... Just heartbreaking!

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:32 PM Our second Bronze Choice goes to てるや! This is a particularly dynamic Robobot Armour, and what puts it over the top is the screen-shattering punch! It also sparked my imagination - is the Robobot Armour punching the camera itself, or maybe the monitor of an enemy robot?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:34 PM Our third Bronze Choice goes to key! This might look like a normal picture of Mirror Kirby, but it's actually showing off the old and new hat designs, which I thought was a unique touch. About that hat design - in older titles, due to issues with things like storage capacity, we often had to use the same hat design for multiple Copy Abilities, only changing the color. So the original Mirror hat was a color variation of the Beam hat. But when we brought it back for this game after a long absence, we gave it a big makeover to make it more unique and easier to differentiate.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:37 PM The fourth Bronze Prize goes to rH! This is Dark Matter's true form, that you only get to glimpse for an instant in this game. This was a submission from outside Japan but the artist's use of Japanese characters really draws the eye. You can tell that rH is a real fan of the character.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:38 PM Our fifth Bronze Choice goes to Shira! These Dedede Clones have such rich expressions. Their faces really give you a sense that they were formed from pure innocent destructiveness extracted from King Dedede's heart.

Congratulations, yucky♪, てるや, key, rH and Shira!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:40 PM Right, last up in the drawing category is a set of special awards we're calling the Secret Kumazaki Faves! We have three to give out. Mr Kumazaki, if you'll do the honors?

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:42 PM I chose these entries based on ideas that made me go "Wow!" The first Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to Lady!

Lady's picture really captures the goings-on "behind the scenes" of the game! After the Haltmann Works Co. destroys King Dedede's castle, the repair works get underway in this refreshing picture. And King Dedede has even taken off his crown! I never expected someone to try depicting that... Together with his clothes, it all makes for a very original image. As for his true hairstyle, maybe you'll get to see that one day...

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:44 PM Secret Kumazaki Fave number 2 goes to クリームロール!

All of クリームロール's entries were very technically accomplished, but this was the one where I felt the concept really shone through. The pixel art in the center seems to evoke a simpler time when Meta Knight was still himself. And the lines and dots at the bottom of the image are actually a message in Morse code! It says S, O... Ah, but I shouldn't spoil the fun. I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves! There are plenty of fun little things like this hidden in Planet Robobot as well, so if you want, you can go back and try to find them all.

クマザキ 12/02/2016 12:47 PM The final Secret Kumazaki Fave goes to ラリアット!

ラリアット's entry shows Meta Knight, ready for battle, reflected in Dark Matter's sword, and it's a really fantastic image. The heavy use of black gives it a chic look, and the portrayal of the characters is very nicely done. Incidentally, you may have noticed that in this game, Dark Matter's sword shines with a rainbow light. This light is materialized from Dark Matter's memories of the Rainbow Sword that he faced in the Kirby's Dream Land 2 game. Those memories must have been included in the original data used to create the clone. Just like how in the Kirby: Triple Deluxe game, King Dedede faced Dark Meta Knight for the first time ever, in this game Meta Knight faces off against a version of Dark Matter for the first time. So Dark Matter must have sensed that F21Meta Knight's powers were truly formidable, and materialized the power of the Rainbow Sword to counter him. Seeing two expert swordsmen face off against each other is always a thrilling experience!

Congratulations, Lady, クリームロール and ラリアット!

イシダ 12/02/2016 12:49 PM And that's the end of the drawing category of our "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge". We'd like to thank everyone who entered! Don't forget, though, we still have the screenshot category of the contest to go! We received a lot of entries worldwide for this contest, so it'll take us some time to select our favorites. We know a lot of people are excited, but please wait a little longer for the results!