the world is mine

[samuraitroopersfanzine]

More Ken Mizuki merch!

In celebration of Ken Mizuki and Kaim Tachibana's new Samurai Troopers art book being released on March 12, 2026, a pop-up shop and exhibition opened up at Shosen Book Tower. The event runs from March 25, 2026 – April 12, 2026.

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Here's an ad for the art book:

The art book is available to order now through Amazon Japan and other Japanese stores. Check the source link above and scroll to the bottom to find links to the stores. Alternatively, the book is already showing up on sites like Yahoo Japan Auctions and Mercari Japan.

And here are some pics taken by fans of the exhibition!

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I didn't post about this before because the pop up shop merch had appeared to be for visitors to Shosen Book Tower, but thankfully the items are available for preorder online! Image description provided after the image.

Starting at the top left: four different gold primagraphy (reproduction illustration prints that have gold foil on them), sold individually for 38,500 yen (~$242.40), and measuring 424mm x 348mm (~16.7in x 13.7in). I think it comes with an aluminum frame, matte board, and glass.

Top left illustration is a collage of five original samurai troopers' head wearing their helmets amidst cherry blossoms.

Top right illustration is of the five original troopers wearing their bomber jackets from the end of the tv series amongst cherry blossoms.

Bottom left illustration has all five original troopers wearing white kimono, and are posing with their weapons on a stage with a screen painted with a purple sky and clouds behind them.

Bottom right illustration shows all 5 troopers wearing traditional color-coded samurai armor and wielding traditional samurai weapons that correspond to their armors' weapons.

Top right: six different reproduction prints on canvas, sold individually for 27,500 yen (~$173.10), and measuring 530mm x 410mm (~20.9in x 16.2in).

Top left column illustration is of Seiji wearing a black undershirt with an open white collared shirt on top. He's tucking some of his hair behind his ear. There's a wooden fence or wall behind him.

Bottom left column features Touma wearing a black turtleneck with an open blue blazer. He's adjusting the blazer. Behind him is a large pot with flowers, a curtain, and an empty antique picture frame.

Middle column is an illustration of the four mashou and kayura. Each character is rendered as a close up of parts of their faces and bare upper shoulders.

Top of right column shows all 5 troopers wearing traditional color-coded samurai armor and wielding traditional samurai weapons that correspond to their armors' weapons.

Middle of right column shows all five original troopers wearing casual clothes as they stand relaxed with a blue sky behind them.

Bottom of right column appears to be a companion piece to the previously described illustration. The five troopers are wearing the same outfits, but this time their arrangement is different.

Next merch items, second row left, are four different portrait illustrations, sold individually for 2,750 yen (~$17.30), measuring 212mm x 158mm (~8.4in x 6.3in), and comes with a peach-colored matte frame.

Top row left illustration is of Touma wearing a black turtleneck. His left hand partially covers his face. There large white flowers and stems in the foreground.

Top row right image is a companion piece to the previously described one, but features Seiji also wearing a black long-sleeve shirt. He's holding five white lilies.

Bottom row left is a close up of Ryo's face. He's wearing a white collared shirt and is looking back as if we'd just caught up to him and tapped his shoulder.

Bottom row right features an overhead view of all five original troopers wearing heavy coats. There are red and green wreaths above them. They are looking up at the snow that's just started to fall.

(I apologize, but I don't think I can keep describing each image for each merch item. This post will get too long. orz )

The next merch item, second row right, are four acrylic prism panels with different illustrations printed on them, sold individually for 13,200 yen (~$83.10), and measuring 297mm x 210mm (~11.7in x 8.3in). There are two screw holes and screws included.

Next merch, third row left, are four clear files with different illustrations on the front and backs. They are sold individually for 550 yen (~$3.50) and measure 310mm x 220mm (~12.2in x 8.7in).

Next merch, third row right, is two cotton frill drawstring bags. One is blue and features an illustration of Touma while the other is a light green with an illustration of Seiji. They are sold individually for 1,650 yen (~$10.40) and measure 160mm x 100mm (~6.3in x 4in).

Fourth row left is two sets of five postcards. The sets feature different illustrations on each of the five postcards. A set of five costs 1,650 yen (~$10.40) and is sized A6. Image below shows one of the 5 sets.

Fourth row right is one set of ten postcards featuring illustrations of the new generation samurai troopers. Each postcard features one new trooper wearing school uniforms. Five of the illustrations are drawn by Ken Mizuki while the other five are drawn by Kaim Tachibana. A set of ten costs 3,300 yen (~$20.80) and is sized A6.

Bottom row left is five 57mm (~2.25in) can badge (button) designs, sold individually in a blind box for 550 yen (~$3.50) or as a complete set for 2,750 yen (~$17.30). They have an illustration featuring a close up of one of each of the original troopers.

Bottom row right is ten 57mm (~2.25in) can badge (button) designs, sold individually in a blind box for 550 yen (~$3.50) or as a complete set for 5,500 yen (~$34.70). They have an illustration featuring a close up of one of each of the new troopers. Five of the illustrations are drawn by Ken Mizuki while the other Five are drawn by Kaim Tachibana. Image below shows all ten can badge designs with Ken Mizuki's illustrations on the top row while Kaim Tachibana's are the bottom row.

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Here's the link to the official Shosen Book Tower page (there's a Zen Market pop up that appears at the bottom for international shoppers).

Phew. I'm going to pause here. There's more merch to mention, but I need a breather (and don't want this post to go on forever 😅 ).

[capsyst]

I love animation history and one of the things that always baffled me was how did animators draw the cars in 101 Dalmatians before the advent of computer graphics?

Any rigid solid object is extremely challenging for 2D artists to animate because if one stray line isn’t kept perfectly in check, the object will seem to wobble and shift unnaturally.

Even as early as the mid 80’s Disney was using a technique where they would animate a 3D object and then apply a 2D filter to it. This practice could be applied to any solid object a character interacts with: from lanterns a character is holding, to a book (like in Atlantis), or in the most extreme cases Cybernetic parts (like in Treasure Planet).

But 101 Dalmatians was made WAY before the advent of this technology. So how did they do the Cruella car chase sequence at the end of the film?

The answer is so simple I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner:

They just BUILT the models and painted them white with black outlines 🤣

That was the trick. They’re not actually 2D animated, they’re stop motion. They were physical models painted white and filmed on a white background. The black outlines become the lineart lines and they just xeroxed the frame onto an animation cel and painted it like any other 2D animated frame.

That’s how they did it! Isn’t that amazing? It’s such a simple low tech solution but it looks so cool in the final product.

[harudakiwolf2020]

TO THE PERSON THAT COLORED THESE PANELS OF THE GIVEN DJ : THANK YOU VERY MUCH IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE FROM THE ANIME!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!......LOL

[saotome-michi]

Yesterday I had the sudden urge to do some research on the BL Industry and found this blog that links some data from Chill Chill, which is a big BL information site (they organize the Chill chill BL awards, which you might've heard of)

I wanted to do research, because I had several "feelings" that I wasn't sure were true or not. For example, I had a feeling that the BL manga market had almost doubled in size over the past decade and that there were much more "sweet, wholesome" works now than there were a decade ago, and certainly more than there were when I was a teenager.

エロなしBL増加しかし評価は？…どうなる？BLトレンド2025【商業BL編】 後編｜腐女子マーケティング研究所

昨今、一気に変化が激しくなったBL業界。 トレンドを一刻も早くつかむことがより重要になってきました。 商業BLコミックは年々刊行数が増加しており、市場の広がりがうかがえます。 今回は商業BLの直近10年の変化から最新トレンドまで見ていきたいと思います。 前編（実写BL編）はこ

This chart shows the number of BL works published each year. As you can see the number steadily increases from year to year, with the exception of 2020 because Covid. If we compare the numbers for 2014 and 2024, there's been an increase of 74%. So my feeling that the BL manga market had almost doubled in size isn't far off the mark.

That being said, the number of BL Light Novels and BLCDs released in 2024 was actually lower than in 2014. Possibly because of publishers working to transition to digital publishing and CDs becoming less popular, while smartphone games rise in popularity.

This chart shows the number of BL manga at certain "sexiness levels" published each year. If you look at the key, it goes from "no sex" (purple), "below average" (light green), "average" (light blue), "very sexy" (orange), to "hentai" levels of sexiness (pink) lol

The levels are determined based on what percentage of the pages contain sex scenes. The average is around 10%, very sexy is 15-30%, and hentai is over 30%.

There certainly has been a sharp rise in "no sex" BL manga from 2021, but overall it looks like the distribution hasn't changed a whole lot from 2014.

(If you're wondering why the hentai level is so low on the chart when you can find so much gay pwp smut online well it's because most of those weren't published through the more formal and traditional channels. They're usually posted or sold directly online through certain platforms/vendors that allow that kind of content, but you're not going to find them in bookstores or the mainstream online book vendors)

Finally this chart shows the "tone" of the BL manga works that have amassed over 1000 review points on Chill chill's website. You have "Sweet" (pink), "Sad/Painful" (purple), "Serious" (light green), "Warm/heartwarming" (light blue), "Comical/Surreal" (Orange). What muddles the data a little bit is that a manga can be tagged with multiple tones, like sweet and warm, or sad and serious. Also, since this only looks at the series that have amassed over 1000 review points, we're not getting a complete picture of what's been published each year. However, focusing on series with over 1000 review points does give us an idea of what tones are more popular.

It's interesting to see that Sad/Painful was consistently on top except for 2021-2022 where Sweet overtook it — I'm starting to wonder if the covid pandemic made people want sweet BL. But it looks like this trend has faded over the past few years.

So it looks like my feelings had some substance behind them. There's usually a 3 year gap between when a manga is published in Japan and when it gets translated into English, so it's possible that all the "sweet wholesome" BL I'm noticing right now is from that 2021-2022 boom.

[kayura452]

Okay, breathe……..

I have a few words…. That had better be Doumeki making Yashiro grip those sheets.

LET’S GOOOOOOOO!!!

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