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Ace of Diamond! ⚾️

Interview with Noda Satoru for kotoba magazine

reposting anywhere is fine, but please credit me.

Q: While the setting of Hokkaido at the end of Meiji era does feel somewhat familiar, it was still abundant with novelty. It seems to me that the more new stuff you bring into a story, the easier it conflicts with the way people are used to reading manga. How do you find the balance?

Noda: Exploring what others have barely touched upon before has been my goal ever since I was but an aspiring mangaka. Things like baseball and soccer, magic, demons, superpowers, all the genres that have so many fingerprints on them already have never inspired a desire of competition in me.

Rather than fighting my way climbing on a huge mountain with countless rivals, I’d rather make my own little mountain, with what I, myself, find fun. My previous work was about ice hockey, this one was about Ainu as a key element. I have also considered it crucial to include human drama that anyone at all could relate to. Besides that, I was sure to include things that only I have seen and things that the people I’ve met across my life have shared with me, it was all done on purpose. This way, my original story is my own, something that only I would be capable of creating.

For example, take the scene with Ariko Rikimatsu’s father stubbornly showing his son how to carve a makiri. This was a real episode that Kaizawa Tooru-san, an Ainu artisan, has shared with me, and I depicted it as such. Perhaps Kaizawa-san’s father also wanted his son to continue their craft, but didn’t want to force him into it, or so I would like to assume.

Keep reading

cinnnabunnn

Hey jsyk it’s 2018 and if you’re still drawing characters with big lips like THIS, even if they’re pale/not black, it’s fucking racist. Stop doing it.

No excuses. “It’s a stylistic choice!” It’s a RACIST stylistic choice.

“Idk how else to draw big lips!” That’s because you relied on racist caricatures and are a bad artist. Teach yourself. Learn. If you’re not willing to do that, then you are a bad, racist artist.

“But it’s part of the character design!” Yeah, and it’s racist. If it’s your OC, then change it. If it’s not your OC, make the right choice and draw them with normal looking bigger lips instead of this racist monstrosity.

And if this post makes you uncomfortable because it’s calling you out for stuff you’ve done, good. Fix it. Own up to it. Grow.

If you see this and you’re first thought is to defend this: you are racist. You are part of the problem. Congrats. Now work on yourself and unlearn that.

mizgrownnonsense

Here’s how to do it right:

mizgrownnonsense

(some troll gave me shit about only providing overly “feminine” examples. I would have been happy to ignore them…but there are so many great examples on how to draw perfectly acceptable (not racist) full-lipped male characters, in the end, I couldn’t resist.)

mizgrownnonsense

Since this is making the rounds again, I’m reblogging the version with both sets of examples.

justaluzblog

I just realized something about Luz's stunts in the first episode. All those things she did at her old school- the guts at the play, the eyeball trick, the griffin with "real spider breathe", the snakes and fireworks- she didn't just do those things because she was weird. She did them to impress people. We already know Luz was a bullied and ostracized kid and she had social anxiety issues that made it hard to talk to people. So, she tried to get people to acknowledge her or befriend her by doing big things she thinks would seem cool. All those stunts were things she did in the hopes she might impress her classmates. Like "Hey, check this out I can make a griffin that really breathes spiders" or "You want to see a cool book report? Mine has props and fireworks!" She does those things to make others notice her or be interested in her. But because she goes over the top or things get out of hand she's just seen as acting weird which only Makes her more ostracized. And that only makes her try to go harder and bigger to impress people.

Oh I was waiting for someone to ask me on this (why didn't I talk about it before? Uh... hush /j)

So my thought before was just like pilot writing, I just kinda thought they wanted to make like a weird, misunderstood girl but due to maybe comedy reasons or the classic "first appearance flanderization" Disney usually uses, they just made her some war criminal

But you bringing it up, I can imagine those scenes being played out of context or something

Cause I mean analyzing Luz a lot, like I figured out some things from her "weirdness"

- Luz usually never does things without a reason. Yes she's weird, yes she's reckless, but it's usually because of her low self-esteem or protecting her friends or whatever (S1EP12, S1EP17 for example)

- Luz is usually never unapologetically that uh... violent. If something happens it'll usually hurt her before it hurts anyone else, and if something were to happen that would hurt someone she's usually the one try stopping it (S1EP6, S1EP7 for example, S1EP17 was an exception but she couldn't really grudgbey alone)

- Luz usually has a limit and is usually afraid of being too out there? Like especially with recent episodes, we see her being more self-conscious than she appears, and knows fully what everyone says about her, and because of that she so carefully plans not to be too weird to new people

And yes, all of them could be chalked up to character growth, but no one really taught her anything in particular to the violent part nor did she ever really do anything after episode 1 like that again (S1EP17 would be the closest thing, but she still had a very big reason behind it outside of just being "weird")

Which, you'd think they would considering how maybe problematic it is it would have an indepth lesson if it was just her being weird

So for me, it's either pilot writing, or some other reason was in play. Like ranging from trying to impress other people or maybe even dares or promises or toxic influences from other "friends", because she has shown to be even traumatized of being too weird (S2EP8, S2EP10) probably stemming from past rejection, meaning she knows what other people think of her back then, which you know wouldn't make sense with what we've seen in the first episode unless, as stated, messy first episode writing or a reason behind it

fishwiththumbs

Eda Clawthorne is awesome

and no, I`m not (only) talking about the new form

When season 1 ended I made a post on how it would be nice that the new lack of magic got used as a proxy for talking about chronic illness and disability, I even feared that the show would speedrun to get Eda`s magic back.

I'm just so happy with the way this plotline has been handled so far.

First of all, ableism is shown in how people see Eda now that she`s unable to do magic. Yes, of course now that she can't create a giant energy owl she`s less scary, however, they totally disregard her now.

This plays nicely with the themes surrounding how Luz feels responsible and how Eda and Lilith try to deal with this new situation.

I find it really great that they show how Eda falls into old habits as try to cast an spell while also triyng to figure it out new ways to do it. The show focuses on how using gliphs is a different way of casting magic and not a lesser way. When you deal with limitations of a progressive disabling illness, you often end up with your own ways of doing things that do not resemble the way abled people do the same things.

And showing that that's okay is massive on a kids show.

Another great thing that does not get so much screentime, but is important is the little breakdown that Lilith has in the first episode

No, I'm not saying this is nice because now Lilith gets a taste of what Eda has dealt over the last 30 years (thinking of disability as a punishment is not cool). It is because defining oneself by what we can do is common in this capitalists society and suddenly losing this ability can damage your self-image and your self-worth. Lilith's short arch comes to show this, and seeing how she (at least partially) overcomes this by asking for help it's just SO GOOD.

Coming back to Eda,

Showing how she deals with learning glyphs is nice, and she's shown to use this!

And here we have the new layers on this relationship as well. Now we know that Reine and Eda are exes and we also know that the curse played a big part on the breakup

This just shows how damaging unresolved issues with how to deal with something like this can be, she makes the assumption that she's hard to deal with and therefore doesn't let anyone in (this thinking stood with her for long, remember her joking in Agony of a Witch when Luz shows concern?).

And I know we can't actually talk to our illness and propose a truce, but accepting it and dealing with it is healthy, running from it is not (you can't outrun yourself).

There's a lot more to unpack, but for now, I'm just really happy that I got to see a main character that's disabled, queer, and old. I thought it would take really long until I saw something like this.

metalandmagi

Spring 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

We made it through the absolute bombshell that was the winter 2021 anime season. But for anyone who wants something new to check out, here’s a list of just some of the anime coming out this spring BASED ON FIRST IMPRESSIONS! There can’t possibly be as much to watch as there was last season…right?

As always, I will put an * by all the shows that are on Crunchyroll.

Here’s my list for the Winter 2021 season in case anyone wants to check that out.

2020 Anime Worth Watching

2019 Anime Worth Watching

New Shows!

*Backflip!! (Bakuten!!): A sports anime revolving around a boy who joins his high school rhythmics gymnastics team after being blown away by their performance during a competition. It’s got every sports anime trope under the sun, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as long as a show does it well. And boy does Backflip do it well. The main cast is just so dang charming, the animation is great, and I want to see this team succeed. Last season we had gay skateboarding, now we get gay backflips.

*Those Snow White Notes (Mashiro no Oto): A coming of age story about a shamisen player named Setsu Sawamura, who is trying to reignite his passion for the instrument after his grandfather (a renowned musician) died. When Sawamura moves to Tokyo, he finds his love for the shamisen growing after meeting a badass wannabe actress and her worthless boyfriend who happens to be in a band. The first episode packed an entire season’s worth of plot into 23 minutes, so I’m more curious than anything to see where the show goes from here. If nothing else, it has the most amazing shamisen music I’ve ever heard. It seems like it’s going to be a wild one.

Super Cub: Another coming of age anime, this time revolving around a high school girl who has her zest for life reinvigorated when she buys a Honda Super Cub motorcycle. This is not a “cute girls doing cute things” anime…at least not so far. The atmosphere is what makes this anime really stand out, especially the music/sound design and the use of color. The first episode reminded me more of Terror in Resonance than anything else. It’s engaging because it’s quiet. The only thing that puts a damper on it is the excessive use of 3D animation for the characters’ legs while they’re riding. I’d hope that a show about motorcycles and scooters would strive to make the act of riding…look better. I don’t know how I got so invested after one episode where the main character barely speaks, but here I am.

*To Your Eternity (Fumetsu no Anata e): I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this one. Let’s just call it the atmospheric, episodic story of a magical orb that can turn into different things. It’s probably best to go into this one knowing as little as possible, but let it be said that it had one of the most depressing first episodes I’ve ever seen. Overall, the music is amazing, the setting is mysterious, the story is pretty unique, and if it ends up being a “traveling around a fantastical world” type of anime like Kino’s Journey, it could be amazing.

The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudou): Based on the hit comedy manga, this story follows the married life of a busy career woman named Miku and her husband, the infamous ex yakuza member known as Immortal Dragon Tatsu. It’s made in the style of the manga, which is to say…it’s mostly still panels where the only movement is the characters’ mouths, so there’s not much…animation in this anime. It’s a technique a few comedy anime use which can be good and add to the humor in the right circumstances…or just seem lazy. The manga’s art is definitely better, but the voice acting (in Japanese and English) is God tier. And if the style of the anime isn’t for you, the manga is amazing!

*Tokyo Revengers: An action/drama about Takemichi Hanagaki, a pathetic loser who finds out that his old middle school girlfriend was killed by a Tokyo gang. Without warning, Takemichi finds himself 12 years in the past, with the task of saving his girlfriend. Which means having to infiltrate the gang and hopefully become important enough to save her somehow. So yes, like Erased but with more shonen elements. I’m super interested to see where the plot is going, because our protagonist is kind of a cry baby, but at least he’s appropriately horrified at his cringe worthy middle school delinquent personality. We can all relate.

*Let’s Make A Mug Too (Yakunara Mug Cup Mo): Cute girls making pottery. There’s a little more backstory to our main character than that, but that’s all anyone needs to know for now. I always appreciate slice of life shows where the girls aren’t just blobs of moe, (like Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater…another underrated show nobody watched). If you’re looking for a laid back slice of life with a surprising amount of heart to it, this is the show for you. And it’s only a half length show, so the episodes go by very quickly.

*Higehiro: I’m not writing the full title, even if it does describe the plot. A “comedy” in which 26 year old salaryman Yoshida stumbles across a teenage girl who tries to seduce him into letting her stay the night with him. But since he understands the concept of basic human decency and also doesn’t want to go to prison, he takes her in and helps her get back on her feet after finding out she’s a runaway with no other options. I’m cautiously optimistic that this won’t turn into a creepy mess, because while there is fanservice, the plot seems like it’s going in the direction of teaching our resident runaway some self respect, instead of just shipping her with an adult man. I see a lot of potential here. I just hope there’s progressively less teenage sexualization as we go along.

*Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood: A fantasy period drama that follows a group of assassins in an alternate timeline of 1930s Japan who are trying to prevent the fall of the government by eliminating the Kuchinawa, a terrorist group that’s trying to take over the country. Our main character Sawa has pledged her life to avenging the death of her family, who was murdered by the Kuchinawa. Also there’s like magical energy powers that turn people into superhumans or something. Just trust me, it’s cool as fuck. I don’t know what this anime is selling to me exactly, but I’m buying it.

*86: A sci-fi drama, revolving around the people of the Republic of San Magnolia who are constantly being attacked by their neighboring country. To combat these attacks, the Republic created drones that are meant to be cannon fodder with no real casualties, since they aren’t piloted by people. But it’s an anime, so of course the big secret the government is keeping is that they’re actually piloted by a group of plucky young soldiers! I see a lot of potential in this. It could be just another ultimately disappointing sci-fi made by A-1 Pictures, but I like our protagonist Lena, and the squad itself shows a surprising amount of personality with just a few minutes of screentime so far.

Pretty Boy Detective Club (Bishounen Tanteidan): It’s Ouran High Middle School Host Detective Club…without the crossdressing (though I wouldn’t put it past them). All the boys are 100% extra and seem like airheads, but their hearts are in the right place. The gimmicks are funny, but there’s actually a surprising amount of heart behind it. So I’m here for it.

Shadows House: A supernatural mystery/slice of life about a noble family of shadow people who are each given living dolls to basically be their servants. Even though we never see the nobles’ faces, each doll is the mirror image of their master. And despite this being branded as a slice of life, there’s definitely something intriguing beneath the cute characters. It’s just the right amount of creepy while also managing a surprising amount of wholesomeness (I guess Cloverworks is pretty good at that). If you want something weird, but not overtly sinister or horrific, this show is super different from anything I’ve seen before.

Continuing Series

Moriarty the Patriot (season2): A Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery, this time focusing on Moriarty and his family attempting to take down the class system in London by surreptitiously murdering or covering up the murders of corrupt nobles. Or at least, that’s how it starts. After a few annoyingly repetitive episodes of this formula, the show starts to delve into Sherlock’s side of the story, and we see the two become embroiled in their sneaky rivalry, which is much more interesting to watch. If you missed it the first time, I’d recommend it now, especially since resident boss bitch Irene Adler is going to play a key part in this season.

*Fruits Basket (The Final Season): I won’t stop talking about this show until it gets the love and recognition it deserves. It got me through quarantine. It watered my crops (with my tears) and cleared my skin. And if you love complex but still morally dubious villains, this season is going to be a treat.

*My Hero Academia (season 5): There’s five seasons of this dang show. You know it’s good by now. And we’re getting more of the sneaky chicken man!

Honorable Mentions:

*It’s Too Sick to Call this Love (Koikimo): Now, we don’t have time to unpack all that. I genuinely have never felt so conflicted about an anime…ever. Just watch it and see if it’s your kind of thing if you like slice of life “romances”. Also something is very wrong with the sound mixing and recording quality so be warned.

Also, we’re getting a Shaman King remake and a new season of Hetalia in the year of our lord 2021.

Hopefully there’s something on here that piques your interest if you’re looking for something new. I’m still recovering from last season, so I can’t watch everything, like the Reincarnated as a Slime spin off and Don’t Tease me Nagatoro (for anyone who wants some quality trash).

See you next season!