#tl manga

[iamtabbychan]

Baltus and Lala invites you to read their original, hot and funny NSFW/+18 manga! https://iamtabbychan.gumroad.com/

[sinful-liesel]

Amai Choubatsu SCARLET - Watashi wa Kanshu Senyou Pet Vol.5

Original Title: 甘い懲罰 SCARLET～私は看守専用ペット5 Author: Show Izumi Release Date: October 18, 2023 Type: Manga Genre: Teens Love

My heart says Higa but my body says Aki 😩

[yazzydream]

The record holder for consecutive Black Flash uses, Nanami Kento, speaks It's not like using Black Flash consecutively is anything amazing. To do so consecutively more than twice in a row… Rather, if not done within the same day it would be difficult. It doesn't matter if the first time is by fluke or skill. Once they land a Black Flash, sorcerers temporarily enter a state athletes call "the zone." The manipulation of cursed energy that is normally done consciously, comes as naturally as breathing. There's a sense of omnipotence, like everything else revolves around you… That might be a good way to put it.

[mlembug]

Decided to repost old TLs which were posted only on Twitter before because

so anyway, here we go first with a translation that absolutely exploded on Twitter and also on various other sites.

"Three years after breaking up, my ex-boyfriend turned into my ex-girlfriend"

Original Twitter comic by mrmk_z

[questionablelightyagami]

[filmgecs]

HES SECOND ONLY TO SATORU GOJO

he’s #1 in my heart <3

[turtledotjpeg]

This started out as just "hey I like both of these characters what if they interacted," but after seeing Melody crying about Kacho in chapter 400 I really wanted to draw her with someone who Gets It

if no one else will give them a hug... can they hug each other :'(

Oito & Melody both have a tendency to freak out a bit in stressful situations, so I wondered if they might amplify that in each other haha. But on the other hand I could see them empathizing with each other and maybe being able to comfort each other? (or maybe I'm just a bit delusional lol)

[class1akids]

Shoto's Gangimari face

[deus-ex-mona]

when you look at lipxlip...

The Charm Points of LIPxLIP, As Seen From the Eyes of Those Around Them

Film live, anime, new songs, MVs, novels, etc… In the 4 years that have passed since the release of their previous album, the world around LIPxLIP has been portrayed from many angles via all kinds of media developments. Let’s check out the charm of the pair, as seen from the eyes of the people around them!

The People at their Agency

shito: The President is a person who knows what Yujiro and Aizo are like deep down inside, so she is the one who spoils the two of them, even when they selfishly say “No means no!”. I think that she’s able to treat Yujiro and Aizo that way because they trust her wholeheartedly.

Yamako: The President is the only person with whom the two of them can be selfish without having to act cool, isn’t she?

Their Fans

Yamako: Yujiro and Aizo, as seen through the filtered lens of Chuutan, are truly the epitome of “perfect idols”. I tried to be extremely conscious of this when I was drawing her MV in order to portray them as perfectly cool as she sees them.

shito: However, from the perspective of Yujiro and Aizo, Chuutan is just one of their many fans. Aizo doesn’t like women, so if she got too close to him, he would inevitably grow to dislike her. Their relationship will not go anywhere, no matter what she does.

Yamako: Yujiro and Aizo put on an act even when they are at school, despite being off work. They are not truly off work when they’re attending school, having to play the role of “idols during their downtime” so that they do not disappoint the fans around them.

shito: That’s probably why Chuutan views them as “perfect idols”, huh? She doesn’t know what they’re truly like, after all.

Their Family (Brothers)

shito: They don’t pay much attention to their family so they don’t take the initiative to converse with their brothers all that often. However, the two of them do trust their brothers from the bottom of their hearts. I guess it’s something like that sense of distance that can be found between family members in general.

Yamako: They have a realistic sense of distance with their families. They don’t encourage each other with simple words, but I think a bond that can be conveyed through the atmosphere, like the one they have, can only be found in families that trust each other. And I’m sure that there is love at the root of the bonds that the two of them have with their families.

Same-Aged Peers Who Know What They Are Truly Like

Yamako: For Hiyori, oh gosh… (laughs) They don’t express their gratitude nor consolation directly to her, with their intentions peeking out through their not-so-honest sides. For Nagisa, they have shown a tiny glimpse of jealousy with regards to him. For instance, in the anime, when their manager asked Nagisa “Would you like to be an idol?”, this very feeling of theirs surfaced in their response to her of “Why are you scouting a guy like that? You already have us.”. I find them very cute when they’re trying not to show their cheeky and twisted sides in front of others, only to be unable to hide all kinds of things about themselves.

shito: I think Yujiro and Aizo try to play it cool in front of Hiyori and Nagisa. The fact that they get along seems to be the very thing that makes the two act cold and put on airs with them, which may be linked to that feeling of wanting to overachieve, which is distinctive of High School students.

Their Co-Performers in the Entertainment Industry

Yamako: Minami is mainly an entertainer, so he is not a rival to Yujiro and Aizo, who are both idols. As such, I get the impression that they get along as pure boy friends. On the other hand, they do not have good relations with mona… They look down on her with a sense along the lines of “Well, if you’re gonna give it your all, go ahead and try.”.

shito: From the perspective of Yujiro and Aizo, mona is just like any other idol. mona is trying to catch up to them, but it seems like they don’t see her as a worthy opponent yet.

A Unit of Their Seniors

shito: Despite being respectful to FT4 because they are their seniors, the two of them are eagerly awaiting their chance to surpass them, like “One of these days, we’ll really let you have it!”...

Yamako: FT4 and LIPxLIP sing together in Shin Jidai, though that song itself is close to the settings that FT4 are familiar with. I think LIPxLIP were cool when they were desperately trying to break out of their norm to keep up with FT4. It was nice to see a different side from the usual LIPxLIP.

[gojosbf]

gege: maybe if i start a geto in nurse outfit trend people will forget about 236

[iamtabbychan]

My new OCs Maroo & Apolline! My new TL manga is on the way!

[bas-writes]

with the new wave of fans coming from the live action one piece & having the topic of picking the manga/anime up I think one thing is not discussed enough

due to its length, One Piece is an over 25 years old piece of manga history

that's half of Oda's life, that's his evolution as an artist and as a human, from times when he was a barely known young mangaka with head filled with boy-ish ideas to times when he's a husband, a father, and one of the most influencing & best selling mangaka in industry's history. that's a manga as a genre evolution, over 25 years of history packed into a linear story. it started in fucking 90s, that's like ages, eons even, ago within the fast current of popculture.

you will see not only how the style & narration changes, you will see how Oda's life influenced his magnum opus, how manga market & condition of world-wide popculture shaped and influenced him as an artist.

you will see the worst and the best takes on trans characters in manga. you will see misogyny & fatphobia - and amazing female and fat characters. you will see asexual MC and heavy ace-coding of the story, and subversive takes on sexuality and female sexuality empowerment, and subtly yet clear-cut stance against SA - and at the same time jokes and fanservice based on harassment (fuck you, Sanji). you will see genius writing - and writing worth nothing more than a facepalm. you will see brilliance, and constraint, and exhaustion, and depression.

you will see how Oda meanders in the swamp of manga market, one of the most tight, oppressive & exploiting creative markets that modern society has spat out.

you will see how a strongly anarchist, anti-capitalism story gets dragged through capitalism lenses and turned into a product... and how one of the results of this process is the live action itself.

and yes, all of this is also a manga that will make you laugh at poop and dick jokes. and at some point there's an ass, walking independently from the rest of the body, and communicating with farts. it's an important part of one of story's crucial arcs.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Helloooo love your meta posts esp wrt to language so much!! It really has elevated my appreciation for the series by A LOT lol so thank you!

I have a question regarding ch 98 that's been bugging me incessantly: in the official translatjon renji says "all i do is bark at the moon", however in fan translations (and anime) renji is seen to be referring to a star. I am unable to find the raws anywhere to ascertain the finality of this conundrum so I was wondering if you could clarify what exactly is the 'object' renji is referring to here and lend us your thoughts?

Thank you for reading! I started this reread because I knew that the potential to really revel in this kind of stuff was already there, but I am really enjoying jumping into it full-on and wondering about and learning about a lot of extremely random things as I go. I'm really enjoying it!

[Bleach 098]

The Short Version

In the Japanese, Renji says, 星に向かって吠えるばっか ― which could be translated as "I’m just barking at the stars." 

The word he uses is 星 (hoshi), star, not moon. My guess is that the Viz chose "moon" because it’s more idiomatic in English to howl at the moon, and the phrase conveys that sense of lone wolf yearning/misdirection--particularly given that he’s talking about Rukia, and Rukia already has some moon imagery associated with her.

The catch is, the concept of "howling at the moon" also exists in Japanese; for example, there’s a famous modern poet named Hagiwara Sakutarou who wrote a collection titled 月に吠える、or, well, "Howling at the Moon." (You’ll notice the same verb, but 月 (tsuki/moon) instead of 星 (hoshi/star). But that's not what Renji says. I’d argue that it’s worth considering the idea that Renji was making a choice in not using that idiom! 

The Very Long Version

Stars and Moons and Monkeys and Tigers and Snakes and Dogs and-- oh my!

Tomes have been written about celestial symbolism, in Bleach and otherwise. I’m not a big celestial symbolism person, because they’re such BIG symbols I feel like sometimes they can feel very locked in, if that makes sense? Like X = moon and moon = Y and therefore X = Y. And while I love an extended metaphor, my preference is for very unstable, borderline sloppy referents. Which isn’t to say that celestial symbolism can’t be unstable and sloppy, too, and that’s what I really like about this whole Renji section. Renji is the KING of "imagistically, there is a lot going on here, my man."

As far as folklore is concerned, reaching for the moon might call to mind the story of the monkey reaching for the moon’s reflection:

The branch the monkey’s hanging from breaks and he falls into the water. His folly lies in failing to distinguish between what is real and what is illusion.

One one hand, this is fitting for Renji, our resident howler monkey. I don’t know how much baboon we’ve actually seen at this point, but we’ll see Zabimaru’s nue form very shortly. But of course Zabimaru isn’t just a monkey—he also has the head of a snake. And we have this dog imagery, coming from both Renji’s affiliation with Inuzuri and other body parts in some versions of the nue. And later we’ll have TIGER in the mix, too!!

There’s SO much going on. If Renji were a Project Runway creation, Tim Gunn would probably invite his creator edit—maybe choose one motif, one metaphor, one guy who will scan well on the runway.

But Renji exists in excess, he IS all those things, both in terms of his chimerical zanpakutou spirit and in terms of everything we’ve seen of him thus far: tearing through Ishida and Ichigo; herding butterflies with Rikichi; stunting with Rukia in jail; delivering Rukia to prison; getting stunted on by Aizen in a supply closet; being friends with Hinamori; tearing through Ichigo a second time; and now, finally, giving it all up and begging Ichigo: Just save her.

Bone Metaphors

The reader hasn’t seen it yet, but Renji knows what form Zabimaru’s bankai takes. In addition to all those animals and their potential allegories, we also have bone. In Renji's earlier line, there’s an idiom that I wish were preserved:

In the Viz, he says, "I’ll always be a stray dog." In the Japanese, his line is 「骨の髄まで野良犬根性が染み付いてやがるんだ.」Which could be translated as "I am, indelibly, a stray dog to the marrow of my bones /contemptuously." Or, more succinctly:

"I’m a stray dog to the bone."

I love this line because it’s reaching toward Renji’s challenge to Byakuya, insinuating still more layers to Renji’s multitudes.

Different Flavors of Disgust

Still thinking about Renji’s second act in this arc, I am also interested in his subsequent line. He says 厭になるぜ (iya ni naruze), or, in the Viz, "It makes me sick." But I was curious about the kanji 厭 (iya), because it’s more commonly written 嫌 (iya), which can be used as a negative interjection, or, pronounced differently, as the same word you’d use if you hated snails, or homework, or something―嫌い (kirai). Using the kanji 厭 is a less common spelling, though the meaning is similar. So I was like, well, what is the difference? According to this article, the kanji Renji uses is a lot more common in Chinese. If 嫌 is an expression of digust or hatred, 厭 suggests that you’ve specifically gotten tired of something (and are now disgusted with it). It’s the kanji you’d use to create the word for a pessimistic worldview, 厭世観 (enseikan). That is all to say, Renji has become sick and tired of it, and he’s about to change tack.

Failing Poetry 101

Coming back around to the original line, I really like Renji’s "I’m just barking at the stars" specifically because it doesn’t really reference any existing idiom, as might howling at the moon. "Barking at the moon" is an interesting middle ground, in that "barking" definitely feels more dog-like and howling more wolf-like; barking is less majestic, which fits with Renji’s description being derogatory of himself. Renji is not a poet in his use of loaded idioms but in his negation of them. And if Rukia can be described by moon imagery, she too contains multitudes and I think it's well within her power to be the stars, too.

Kira, as Renji’s most poetic friend, probably rolls partway into his grave whenever Renji says stuff like this, because it breaks poetic form. But I think he’s probably also kind of envious that Renji thinks this stuff up, because it’s fresh, new, off-kilter imagery, it is its own kind of poetry, and let's be real, the moon imagery market is fairly saturated. *frames moon with giant rebar hole in body*

So I’d say, "howling at the moon" conjures a certain kind of poetry, steeped in all the macro-folkloric meanings of the moon and dogs/wolves. "Barking at the moon" is kind of half-half. "Barking at the stars" is not a pre-existing idiom (or poem, or expected language), and conjures a completely different referent(s), the immediate of which is, of course, the volume’s own poem. Renji is out here Renji-ing it.

[Bleach Vol. 11 poem]

[mlembug]

"A story about a troubled boy and girl bumping each other at the intersection." by @pappapolpen

Original comic on Twitter

[authoratmidnight]

this scene from ch 257 lives rent free in my head.

Balam is just. the BEST teacher.

Look how fast he came running to protect his student 😭

[my-fancy-hat]

Most romance novels follows an scheme of what love should it goes, how people have to meet and follow a certain path and archetypes to correctly fall in or out of love, that what's makes this kind of stories predictable and boring to some people, but what about love that evolves? love that exists despite the desire for romance/selfishness? what about friendship? family? what if we choose to love ourselves too? to love the path we choose? I think that what Ao no Flag is majoritary about, romance as we know in a love triangle it's just the surface the tip of the iceberg of what this story is about, series of choices where we pray for them to make us happy, to make our loved ones happy, because we want to be brave about the things we love.

The four cour characters are put in one of the most troublesome and chaotic times of every person who had access to the system education can experience: final year of high-school, the deadline between childhood and adulthood, to accept reality on how it approaches us, the fear of rejection and failure of what we are of what we do. Many people incluided me had wished to have been more wise, more patient, more accepting yet strong about our chosen path, and that's what Ichinose, Touma and Futaba had to learn and eventually guided them toward their happy end. Not just that, but the experience many queer people had to endure avoiding the social suicide of showing to the world who we are, this ilustrated with Touma and Masumi's characters, and (subtly yet quite importantly) Ichinose. How can I exists in their world if I live like this? will my parents accept me? they will still think about me as someone successful and worth of their last name? will they disown me? hate me? will my best friend who I am in love with reject me in disgust? It's so easy and understandable to succumb to a hatred that you think you deserve, because at the time it was less painful to play along lying to your loved ones about this secret than "revealing the truth", they deserved to know yet you failed, and this loneliness is what you get. If this is how the enviorment wants you to feel, then isn't it expected that the individual would desire for freedom of it? that's what Touma wished for his future to be, not concrete answer more than to exists without regrets.

The desire for romance can be rightfully observed by its selfish nature, to own the right, the demand for them to love us back, but it can be the exercise to accept ourselves as well. Touma wanted to show Taichi his heart without fears, despite if he would love him back or not, in doing so, he would be walking toward the ideal happiness he dreamed of. To openly love is the call for the indifferent cruel world to see in us the desire for goodness, that in this place can exists kindness too.: Touma most than anything, wanted for Ichinose and (by extention) Futaba, to be happy, to share their 1000+ points of best friend power and make everyone happy. That is, the core of love, to wish the best for your dears, and see them smile.

But accepting and not to, can be actually be the same. Masumi had to constantly fight with herself, with the inavility to change what she can't, to live with the fabricated idea of what she is supposed to be and what she is supposed to do, and what other people would react about it. That's why that, even if I have my reservations about her ending, I find it really meta for Masumi end to end up in a het marriage, making us conclude that at some point she gave up on Futaba, but paradoxically, accepted herself and her reality by coming out as bi. Us readers expected and rotted for her to confess to her crush and end up in similar terms like Touma and Taichi did, but this ending make us putting the lesson she learned though her character arc into practice: what people may think or not about our decisions, is their problem, not ours. Life can be so treacky and unfair, but no matter the circunstances, we can still find and make our place. We deserve it.

A friend or a lover, what is the difference if you just want to share our happiness with them?

That's how you humanize your characters, by expossing through them the good, the bad and the absurd, to tell a story in each how the circunstances molds them, but to oppose what damage us is quite a brave thing to do, even if it's our own mind, and that's what Futaba character speaks to me. The desire for wanting to change, to (once again) accept and not-to-accept. She's a weakling, clumsy girl loaded on self-hatred for her unability to live just as the others do. The fear of have reached your maximum potential and there's nothing else for you to do about it, that you born to live like this for the rest of your life. But she sees in Touma an example of hard work and due to her admiration (mistaked at first for a crush), wants to prove herself that life can be something else. To break our self-stablished limits and see what's beyond, to surpass your limits and try to understand what scares you. To be confident enough to think you have the right to live too. Failure reafims the truth that you are better off muted; what bother trying if it will end up in misery anyways? but the beauty of humankind is the unbeatable hope that things will change, to not give up, and without noticing, we'll feel blessed for have born in this time, in this place.

This as a result inspires Taichi's way of viewing life without him realizing too, just as how Touma's pure-lover heart expeled his sincere feelings ever since they started talking again, to the point to even sacrifice his leg and career for Ichinose: How can I exists and make it up for such people like you? what can I do? It's easy to fill your heart with resentment for the things you couldn't live, to feel prideful as consolation for a lonely life you didn't choose, as the left overs. But what we think makes what we are, if you keep on your days thinking you exists for the things you believe you deserve, to live in the imaginary unbreakable rules you made for yourself, then nothing will change. Touma, Futaba and Masumi changed Taichi's life forever, in the driving force of his spirit to pursue a better version of himself, to live driven by the desire for freedom, for love, and not care of what other people may see this choices.

That's why I think the final chapter is such a piece of art that makes the pay off so satisfying. What tortured him when Touma confessed wasn't that his best friend was gay, or that he lied to him about the nature of their friendship (he didn't): it was the though of losing him, so he chose both options at the end (if the analogy can't be more in the face). But as Yorkie said, it part of the course of life to most likely break up with your first gf, more less if they go to different universities, so them going their separate ways wasn't a surprise, but what made me happy about it that they still ended up in good terms and respected each other deeply for what they lived together. The surprise though comes from the actual realize of which POV we're following at the end, that reveals that Taichi had become Touma's husband. This is where I think Ichinose teach to the audience the lesson he learned from his former classmates, where he reaches for Touma above the lines that divides panels, to reach his husband's hand, the hand he shouldn't hold, and walk together toward home: he surpassed his own limits, his barriers and knew where his happiness lied.

A lot of queer people had *the realization* in their 20s (me included as nb), finally giving an explanation of all our past behaviour. I know before-hand most people got shocked for Ichinose to get reveal as bisexual, but isn't the story already gave us an idea this would happen eventually? when Futaba and Ichinose confess to each other, it's Touma's (and Masumi's) heartbreak that it's on spotlight overlaying their conversation, how Taichi and Touma hand-holding is such a central element for the story telling (literally it ends with them holding hands), and much more? Even Futaba suspected it before himself realized years later.

(it happened twice that when Taichi thinks about Touma what crosses his mind is his well-build chest/cleavage area like, ok)

But what makes the different between friendship and love? can a boy and a girl be friends? can a gay boy have male friends? can I be friends of someone I love and viseversa? can I forgive and maitain what we have? The only certainty I have right now, in this moment, is that I love you so much. I'm so happy to have meet you.

This got too long so to grap my final thoughs and make myself more loose right at the end, I'm so happy for have read this story FULL BLIND OMG I was so conviced that no one would end up together lol the only thing I knew of it is that it talked about queer drama and, textually: "had the ending it deserves". It genuinely made my perspective on some things change for the better. I actually loved so much how this story handles with such maturity a pretty much easy-target for comedy and bitter angst (bury your gays) the premise of "bff is gay and in love with the main character since they were kids". Not only that, but not picking sides of "who deserves who" taking leads between Touma vs Futaba, is quite refreshing for the genre: it humanize and treats fairly each member of the cast, giving proper space for them to explain themselves (worth mentioning Mami I loved her character so much you have no idea). Most of the drama in romance comes from missunderstandings or the lack of dialogue, when everything can be solved if the characters can actually sit and talk their feelings and thoughts out! and Ao no Flag is a masterclass on this manner. The explanation, exposition and introspection of every character struggle, the script, monologues, are so compelling and to the bone, I can't choose which interaction of the cast is my favorite. The pay-off is spectacular because we can actually follow each person train of thoughts and choices in which these end up in, with the faith that this path will make themselves and his loved ones happy, because even if we aren't certain about anything we do, we'll still find meaning in the absudity of destiny (or the lack of it?).