I've just finished reading "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" (Wayfarers Series, Becky Chambers) - which sat on my to-read list for far too long and which I loved! Its been a bit since I've last read through a book in one go, completely forgetting time - So here's a little sketch of Sissix & Ashby. :)
[ID: a digital half-body drawing of Ashby and Sissix from the book The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet. Ashby is a brown human man with short, curly, dark hair shaved into an undercut. He has thick eyebrows and a scraggly beard and smiles down at a data pad. He's dressed in blue and white and holds a steaming cup. Sissix is a reptilian alien with green scales, claws painted with swirls and colorful feathers on her head. She has one claw on Ashby's shoulder as she peeks over his shoulder with a smile to look down at his data pad. End ID]
Usually in Project Sekai, I don’t really have any people I ship as a polycule,..well except Nightchord25. And there’s good reason for that too because there bonds with each other is just so…mwah. But anyways, why are they found family you may ask? Well they’re 4 mentally ill teenagers so plenty hurt and comfort there. There’s Kanade Yoisaki a girl who’s mom died at a young age and father is in the hospital because of stress. Kanade blames herself for her father’s hospital trip and compensates for it developing a savior complex, becoming a hikikomori who creates music in an attempt to “save people.” Her lifestyle is quite unhealthy as she spends most of her time creating music neglecting food and sleep. Next, Mafuyu Asahina the lyricist and arranger who has a “good girl” facade but in reality is unhappy and empty as she lacks an identity due to her mother’s manipulative behavior causing her to be a people pleaser. She’s spent her whole life pleasing others that she’s forgotten her own self, that she wants to be when she grows up? Well her parents want her to become a doctor but she truly doesn’t know. Thirdly is Mizuki Akiyama, the video editor. Despite Mizuki’s cheerful and peppy demeanor which contrast the other characters, Mizuki is an incredibly lonely person and is ostracized at school. This is because Mizuki is heavily implied to be biologically male despite dressing in feminine clothes. There’s a lot of debate on Mizuki’s gender identity but one thing for sure is that because of Mizuki’s looks, the students around them think of Mizuki as weird and strange. Lastly but not least is Ena Shinonome, the artist, Ena’s a very blunt person with a bit of a tsundere personality. Despite her outgoing demeanor she is also surprise, surprise, depressed. Ena has a social media account to that’s quite popular but what really matters to her more is her art account which barely gets any followers. Ena is an aspiring artist, wanting to become professional. But she struggles with her lack of talent as well as her inferiority complex because of her dad brutally telling her that she can’t make it in the art world and that she has no talent for it. Which…while I get what he’s trying to say as he is also an artist,..that isn’t exactly the best thing for him to do.Now that I’ve introduced you the cast, what’s there relationship like? Kanade has a special bond with Mafuyu as when Kanade and the others discovered that Mafuyu’s happy mask was a hoax and in reality she’s lost all hope and is empty, Kanade vows to help her find her true self which at first by creating more songs. Mafuyu denies the help but eventually gives in. Throughout the story Kanade learns to understand Mafuyu more and aaahh we see Mafuyu start to crack a smile every once in a while because of Kanade’s music. Kanade has also helped Ena by giving her encouragement with her art as Kanade genuinely likes Ena’s art and Kanade is the only person who Ena never bickers with. Mizuki has also helped out Kanade alot with them pushing Kanade out of her shell and making her go to places more. Mizuki finds comfort in n25 as they’re Mizuki’s only friends which why it hurts them so much as they fear that they will leave Mizuki if they found out their secret. In this way, Mafuyu and Mizuki foil eachother with Mafuyu being her true self with Nightchord meanwhile Mizuki hides their secret from Nightchord cuz of their fear of possible backlash. Both of them out on a facade one way or another. Ena ended up sensing that Mizuki was hiding something and in the end tells Mizuki that she’ll be waiting as long as Mizuki wants to tell their secret one day which makes Mizuki feel even more guilty. Now Ena’s relationship with the Mafuyu. At first Ena doesn’t understand Mafuyu. She doesn’t understand why she’d wanna disappear when Mafuyu is so talented which is something that she wants. While they definitely didn’t get along in the beginning slowly but surely they started understanding n being friends<33. There’s probably more I missed but I’m sooo tired lmfao
POISON IVY has been changed from a solicited 12-issue series to an ongoing beginning June 2023 with issue #13
The series will maintain the same creative team with G. Willow Wilson and Marcio Takara, Jessica Fong on covers, Arif Prianto on colors, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou on letters. For fans who want to catch up, Poison Ivy Vol. 1: The Virtuous Cycle will collect issues #1-6, and it arrives in stores on May 16, 2023.
