This fic, (A)void by tafih ignites my love for Yuuji to a whole new level.
A platonic reader insert??? Focusing on Reader’s love for Yuuji while adopting every kid as time goes? Sign. Me. The. Fuck. Up.
Chapter 1 had me floored. The way Mirei (the reader) is introduced to the class, how Mirei noticed Yuuji, and slowly realising she really, really loves Yuuji is just—fuck. I love all these moments.
And after Yuuji ate Sukuna, the pain she felt knowing the distance that grew between them, I felt that too. My goodness, Mirei mirrored my feelings for Yuuji a bit too well it’s kinda scary.
Always contemplating whether I should adopt him or be his best friend instead. Or both.
Gosh, the things I would do for this boy.
Okay, now my thoughts during drawing :D
Reader-insert is always a tricky thing to draw. I always pictured them as either an OC or a grey androgynous character with “Y/N” on their face. So to draw this character, that can be relatable to any reader, is really tricky. I never really inserted myself into a reader-insert fic, always saw them as their own entity, so it’s hard to decide on their appearance.
Even with all the descriptions present in the fic, I still struggle. Also I have to look up Japanese teacher summer outfits with appropriate hairstyles, etc etc because I can’t fully trust anime as my point of reference lmao
(I also rarely watch slice-of-life animes so I don’t have much stored reference in my brain to begin with lol)
Also, short sleeves are so hard to draw, wtf? I don’t understand _:(´ཀ`」 ∠):_
It took me multiple tries to decide on poses and appearances, but I think the end result is alright! Could be better, but I’m satisfied for now.
And then Yuuji. Man, I honestly don’t know if this boy is ambidextrous, right-handed or left-handed. I tried looking into some images and he has used both so honestly Idk. I just want to say forgive me for any inaccuracies in this drawing, both from JJK's standpoint and Japanese culture in general orz
It’s hard to research only in the English language. I shouldn’t have stopped my Duolingo lessons years ago ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿
On another note, Ozawa is really cute! I didn’t expect I would have fun drawing her character. I thought it’d be Yuuji but no, it’s Ozawa! And also Wasuke. Currently I’m studying middle-aged male characters, so drawing him is just part of the practice!
On another, another, note, all of the drawn moments are my favourite ones in the first chapter. That chapter is my favourite so far, I honestly could read multiple chapters only with Mirei teaching in Yuuji’s school and interacting with the Itadoris. I love reading how Mirei slowly gets closer and closer to Yuuji and Wasuke so much.
I just—I could cry gushing about Yuuji and Mirei’s platonic relationship, it’s so cute, so heartwarming, got my soul buzzing in delight, just AAAAHHHHHH—
Aight, that’s it for now. I have reached a speechless state and no longer know what to say except incoherent screaming noises. See you next time!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Thank you again, @liridi! It was such a trip writing this chapter. I don’t know if I’ll write anymore because I want to see how you nurture your own canon but this is what I have for now :)
my friend just told me that there's a secret second dashboard that solely contains posts from people you've turned on post notifications for, and when i click the link in the messages it opens it within the tumblr app, so the tumblr app also has a secret second dashboard for post notification blogs, and the only way to access it is to open the link for it within the app.
My short film, Blossom Detective Holmes Pilot Episode is now available!
I want to expand this into a short mini-series. And the only way I can do it was going to Kickstarter. So, I just have launched the Kickstarter campaign. Please watch this pilot episode and if you like it or love it, and if you want to see this into a show, please support my campaign at Kickstarter - http://kck.st/2rU8MXB
Voltron + MCU Crossover -OR- When everyone is more concerned with Shiro’s/Kuro’s language than his reappearance.
So someone might have done this already but I wanted to sketch it out real quick. In my mind, Allura is Fury and Coran just wears her eyepatch for her. Hunk is the Hulk? Lance is Ironman, probs and Pidge is Amadeus Cho??? IDK.
An Image Meta-Analysis of the ‘Grandma Room’ in the Episode “Into the Wand”
So we all know that there is always a reason and an order to animation - and I think that the four queens emphasized in the “Grandma Room” all reflect an aspect of Star’s person and personality.
The basic thread of my theory is that Celena, Solaria, Eclipsa, and Moon - all were specifically emphasized in the episode to portray certain aspects of Star’s character as she goes through adolescence, leaving behind the key element, which personality represents the fifth point of the s/Star?
When Star first rides into the room in her memory-constructed “Grandma Room” on her father’s chair pulled by Lil’ Chauncy, the doors open to reveal two symbols in the door - a Spade and a Heart (Eclipsa and Star, peoples~).
Now, obviously, there’s a lot of card suits (hearts, spades, clubs, diamonds) imagery in the show and with the Mewni queens so I’ll go into that more.
Next, the scene moves to the skylight slowly opening up into the shape of a star,
Shedding light first on a suitor displaying the neck of a goose for Celena,
Solaria slaying a monster,
And the half-lidded eyes of our favorite frozen Queen Eclipsa.
These three are the queens that represent the most outward characteristics of Star (again, I’ll go into further detail) but they are also the queens we didn’t know anything about (if release dates coincide with a canon timeline of events). The shot of the suitors represents Star’s romantic prowess - Tom, Oscar, the two-headed demon who worked for Ludo (refer to “Fortune Cookies”). According to the Guide to Mastering Every Dimension, Celena was is a very beautiful, sought-after queen - just like Star.
The shot of Solaria parallels to Star excelling at fighting monsters - the show is called Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
And like Eclipsa, she has an affinity for dark magic (her wand turns green MANY times and I did not want to go back through and screenshot all of those times so please believe me! But if you don’t, the episode “Baby” shows this which leads me to think that is what tipped Baby off to the Eclipsa parallel).
Back to big-picture, the next shot shows Star turning her attention to the burger juice on the Wall-Rug of Celena the Shy (and I cannot believe I am devoting all of this time to writing a meta-analysis on a children’s television but here we are).
Welcome.
Celena the Shy (Great-Great-Grandma)
Her inscription reads:
What hides behind the golden fan
the hand does sweetly hold
a trove of cosmic secrets
that never will be told
Celena manifests the element of secrecy and insecurity in Star. For a character that very boldly acts as the Yang of the Yin-Yang balance, Star still holds many many things secret. This is then juxtaposed against Star’s inquisitive side (“Don’t be shy, you can tell me.”) but obviously still points to the fact that Star has a Secrets Closet (“…that’s full of secrets”). As an adolescent, Star is figuring out who she is as a person - but there are things, many many things about her that she is insecure about - her future as Queen, being a magic-user, her crush on Marco, her abilities as a magic-use, etc. She does not know how to effectively deal with this issues, hence the closet. And her go-to behavior is to “Avoid [the] problem until it goes away” (from ep “Face the Music”). This makes up a huge portion of Star’s character, constituting one of the five points.
Now for the image-based characteristics of the tapestry.
The flowers, I’m thinking, represent the romanticism of Celena, again, being known for her multiple suitors (including a girl~~ so impressed with this show, dudes).
Primarily, her golden fan which is very purple for a gold fan -__- has moon imagery. I’m sure most of you know about Star and the Butterflies being associated with night symbols while Marco Diaz represents the day.
Then, there’s one hidden eye and the other gazing at Glossaryk in fear of being caught(?), in camaraderie of a shared skeleton in the closet(?) - who knows. The inscription even states that she hides a trove of cosmic secrets.
Also, she dons gloves and a cape all to conceal her beauty and her knowledge - which again refers to the traits of secrecy and concealing, and of popularity that Star inherits from her Great-Great-Grandma. There is only so much that Star is willing to share which conflicts with her upbeat desire to over-confide but that’s what is making this show SO DAMN GOOD, you guys, because that’s what adolescence is - finding the balance between your extremes. For Star, she has FIVE.
And the second is her aggression.
Solaria the Monster Carver
Inscription:
A castle stormed is a hero born, with might
as strong as steel. Kneels
the void before
her and the crushing
force she wields
Now THIS is interesting - well…as an English major…I couldn’t help it. Anyways, in the Guide, the inscription is indented by rhyme scheme as are the others - but HERE, in the show, where they had to DRAW IT, on the pedestal - IT IS DIFFERENT. This was specifically formatted differently, not by the rhymes, but by the impact of the content. What struck me here was the unique punctuation of her inscription. “The void before” is separated, accentuated, set apart with her insignia, the lightning bolts - I’m surprised they didn’t just straight-up highlight it. Each of the queens has to deal with a destiny of cosmic proportions - Celena and her secrets, Solaria and the void, Moon and the Toffee, etc. The Queens of Mewni all were mentored by Glossaryk - the thing that always belonged in the tapestries, the one eternal constant, representing the deep intertwining the queens had with grandiose cosmic fates. I bet you, Solaria was the one who brought down the Temple of Monsters, which will - hopefully- parallel to institutions Star might destroy in Season 3 (fingers crossed).
Now imagery,
Solaria is defined by lightning bolts and hearts - power and passion. Her eyes closed but her mouth is open, symbolizing aggression without foresight. Solaria is - quite obviously- representing Star’s belligerent aggression, her battle-readiness, her ease with fighting monsters. Again, the show is called Star vs. the Forces of Evil. But we know that Star inherited both the good and the bad from this battle-worn grandmother. Star easily jumps into things without thinking it through. Another tension between the extremes as Star tries to balance out and grow as a person.
And then we have…
Eclipsa the Queen of Darkness
Inscription:
Eclipsa Queen of Mewni
to a Mewmen King was wed
but took a monster for her love
and away from Mewni fled
“Oooh, bad girl.”
People obviously caught onto Star’s parallels with Eclipsa with the very obvious “I haven’t seen anything like this since Queen Eclipsa” from episode “Baby” (S2E16A). So I won’t beat a dead goat-pig any further and I’ll go straight into the imagery in this tapestry.
Firstly, the Spades. According to the symbolism of the suits, spades represent winter, wisdom, transformation, and death - fairly fitting of this charismatic queen and her “Monster Love”.
However, with Eclipsa, I don’t think being the queen of evil is not the defining characteristic that is passed down to Star, it’s competence.
Wisdom, intelligence, and prudence are things are favorite Princess Star Butterfly is not really known for - but boy does she have the capacity for it. Her magical potential is boundless and competence is what she inherits from Eclipsa. This queen wrote a whole chapter on a subject that no other queen dared to touch.
Furthermore, we have the all-seeing eye which is a consistent symbol for knowledge on the tip of her parasol, which is Greek/Latin for “shield against the sun” (and I only just realized that’s what parasol meant and I took Latin in middle school you guys…I just..I can’t like I didn’t figure out that Netflix meant interNET and movie flicks…I STUDY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS MY JOB. Anyways.) This refers back to the night imagery of our Mewni queens. This parasol is studded with a glowing diamond - which refers to the intertwining use of suits symbols (that I’ll get into later).
(And can I just say, this tapestry is beautiful - like I saw it in the show and I was like, Damn…this is so well positioned with the symmetry of the whole thing, the demon lover and his arm…so good).
Eclipsa has half-lidded eyes which could represent condescension, scrutiny, mystery, etc - all of which have connotations of I know something and you do not - again, referring to that element of intelligence.
Star and Moon in corners again show a repetition of night imagery, which, I keep forgetting to mention, links to the reversing Yin-Yang balance of Star and Marco. And her four-eyed demon-lover with a ring on the middle finger - mirror parallels to Toffee which makes me and nearly everyone else think that Toffee is the offspring of Eclipsa and her monster love - which would make SO MUCH SENSE AND JUST BE SO POETIC IN TERMS OF NARRATIVE LIKE OMG OK.
Now, we get to…
Moon the Undaunted
Inscription:
The immortal
monster will long
be haunted by the
darkest spell of
Moon the Undaunted
Being Star’s mother, of course, Moon and Star share similarities but from the get go the show seems to push how different these two are. With diamonds on cheeks representing responsibility, values, femininity, judgment - everything a queen ought to uphold, isn’t it strange that her epithet is “the Undaunted”? Moon is a warrior herself but the imagery shows the rounded personality of this current queen of Mewni. Circles and the large full moon behind her profile of her fearless (syn. for undaunted) stance against Toffee (who has spades and diamonds on his skull shoulder caps - cough cough). She, like Star, is a warrior-princess but is fully aware of the responsibilities of her title. The castle of Mewni in the background symbolizes her values. To her, her duty as a queen comes first foremost, so the symbol of the kingdom would make sense in being sewn into the tapestry. Star inherited Moon’s fearlessness and courage but also the anxieties of the role of being a princess and future queen, including her part in the grand scheme of her vs. the Forces of Evil.
To recap, Star (1) attracts yet conceals (Celena), (2) is passionate yet aggressive and belligerent (Solaria), (3) has a prodigious affinity for magic both good and dark, (4) is undaunted but also anxious about her fate. Dichotomies and tensions EVERYWHERE. Each point represents a tension that is manifested in a previous queen...
But what is the fifth element/characteristic/person that would make the holistic five-pointed Star?
We have hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades in a deck of cards. But a 5th Dimension deck of cards uses another fifth suit - yes, yes, YES, a suit of stars.
And what is our sun if not a star?
That’s right, and you probably saw this coming, but the last point/element/person/character/whatever probably is…
Brian, the life coach.
(Sorry…couldn’t help it)
Yeaaaaahhh, it’s Marco, duh - but I think it is really what Marco represents in the narrative, which I will leave for Part II, where I’ll talk about the Yin-Yang symbolism, Marco’s destiny and his part in helping form Star’s person, Toffee, and the Suits symbolism of four-five elements coming into play later on.
Judy breaks the fourth wall a bit because I literally just scribbled that frame and moved on. A headcanon of mine is that Nick pretends he has high alcohol tolerance but he really really really does not.
The small picture of Mayor Swinton replaces one of someone very special and relevant (or, at least tries to be) and whoever figures it out who gets my nerd-stamp of approval.
So I might do one tomorrow night and that’ll be that for this weekend, at least. And my cheap tablet is falling apart- wah.
