Though I haven't talked much about it publically, I've been helping my friend Ink with relocalizing/retranslating Danganronpa Another 1 for a long while as part of a project we've started calling a DRA1 Remaster.
I've been away for a bit, but this is an art piece I've been working on for a very long time and which I drew for the title screen. It's pretty much a redraw of the original title screen made by Linuj. (see below for a full alt and the other title screens this game has had prior) I drew the new character art and made the new bg/other assets from scratch, with the exception of the logo, which was designed by weez/houndsofdenial)
Since things are getting closer and closer to completion, and there's been a bit more shown off/shared lately, it seemed like the right time to talk about it here. I might explain more about the project in a later post if people are interested, but if you haven't heard about it, the goal is to create a more complete and accurate English translation for the original release than is currently available. There are some other additions/goals as well (such as QoL changes, fixes, and so on) as well. When done, the game will be fully playable in English from ftes to fluff dialogue to CGs to trial minigames like Hangman's Gambit.
The project is still in progress right now, but if you're interested, check out Ink's Youtube channel. Though nothing playable has been publicly released yet, Ink has already started creating a playlist of everyone's retranslated FTEs over there. Who knows, you could find out something new about your favorite character thanks to errors/mistranslations being corrected.
I'll go into a little more detail about the piece + show the alts below the cut.
Danganronpa Another 1 has actually had multiple title screens up to this point.
The one most English-speaking fans are probably most familiar with is this one made by Zephrium. (Zeph was single-handedly responsible for the build most english-speaking fans got into the series with ofc)
It uses the HD sprites, and presumably all the other assets were edited or made by Zeph. It has a brighter tone and features Hope's Peak Academy in the background.
However, the game's original features art drawn by linuj specifically for the title screen. If you've never seen footage of/played the Korean release, you might not know about it.
It actually has a similar vibe to the one used in DR1/DR: Trigger Happy Havoc. That title screen uses black for the logo and has more of a blue hue, so it's a bit reversed which I find neat.
A long while back, when I was still daydreaming about doing translations myself somehow, I looked through a lot of the original images and sprites used in the Korean release and this title screen really stuck with me... After I connected with Ink and started helping out, I definitely still wanted to see an English version this title screen used in the remaster. After volunteering to work on the title screen and credits images, I felt a bit stumped by the title screen for a long time...
I guess when it's something you know will be the first impression people get when they open the game, it feels important to get it right.
I knew that going in, and to be frank, that's part of why I wanted to do the title haha. It felt and still does feel like a big contribution and it's still a little surreal knowing art I drew is gonna end up on the title screen of a game, especially DRA1...?
I think that feeling is part of why, when I was sitting in front of my computer, redoing and editing to make an English version of that original title screen, that something kinda clicked in my brain... What if I drew new art?
I don't think I would have had the confidence to try and take this on if I hadn't done that Yuki omake edit somewhat recently. (which. tbh in retrospect compared to this is a lot worse LOL and less accurate) (consider it a stepping stone haha) But it was definitely still a beast to take on for me because of how high my standards were for it and the fact that I was trying to replicate Linuj's art style, which I've not really done before.
But in the end, (and after sitting with it for a long time to make sure I didn't have any weird things or errors I hadn't noticed before finalizing lol) I ended up really proud of it...
I think I captured the style fairly well, and my confidence might have been boosted a bit at somehow managing to draw and finish this. (I couldn't resist making their hair 'fluffier' in a way that's closer to my own style though haha)
Anyways, I wanted to share my thoughts on this so I can look back on them later. If you've read all this, thanks! I know things have been a bit quieter than usual, I've been a bit overtaken with other things.
Hello dra Tumblr fandom... Come and interact with me /silly
Do you read dra/sdra2 fanfiction?
Yes, I read.
Yes, I read and write it.
No, I do not.
Voting ended onMay 25
Bonus: What are your favorite fics? (dra1/sdra2, ship/gen, whatever you'd like to yap about) If you're a writer, feel free to plug something you wrote that you're proud of.
Yeah, it's no longer pride month, I know. But I still wanted to get around to this so here it is. This is a redraw of the one I did last year.
This time, I included a trans flag for Yuki as well, because I've gotten attached to the trans man headcanon for Yuki and Utsuro. Otherwise, it's same as before, ace flag for Tsurugi since I tend to hc him as an asexual guy with an interest in men, and a bi flag for Yuki.
Fun fact, the ace and trans flags apply to me as well. Also, I wanted to do this traditionally like last time, it's always a little weird posting stuff that's more messy, but I can tell I've improved since last year by redrawing this, so that's nice to see.
Anyways, that's all I've got in terms of DRA, gonna leave some of my own thoughts below the cut, since I imagine most folks are just here for the art haha.
But before you go, as I said last year, this goes out to everyone else who had a quiet pride. Also to my fellow disabled queer folks. I know times have been difficult lately, but we deserve to be here and take up space.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 |🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵 | 💜🖤🩶🤍
In all honesty, like last year, I felt pretty gloomy during and about pride. For the most part, I still honestly feel like I'm stuck on the outskirts. I haven't really been able to muster up the courage or well, frankly, social/medical/financial ability, to transition or be more honest about who I am.
I've been feeling pretty down about it all lately. Maybe it's because it's the period between pride month and disability month again, and the state of things where I live is just, an ongoing thing so there's that too...
I think doing little things like this is my way of trying to reclaim pride for myself? Not sure how to word it. Art and writing can be very powerful when it comes to things like this.
Reflecting on my time since last year's pride though, there have been some positive things. I've been able to spend time in online spaces with others like me, and having a little circle of other queer people (weirdos like me /aff) does help a lot. It made me feel comfortable enough to try using he/him pronouns alone instead of they/them/he/him and I think after some time I can say that fits better. 🧡
Anyways, maybe next year I can come back to this again. If you've read all this, thanks and hopefully something resonated with you. I try not to go into personal stuff too much on this blog, but well, I think it's important to be visible right now if that makes sense. And it helps to process and leave notes for myself haha.
Danganronpa Another Remaster: Full Prologue Preview
So.... I have some DRA Remaster news once again! I'm excited to share that the remaster is progressing well and that today, I have a completed preview to pass along!
This video is a showcase of the entire prologue. If you're curious about what the remaster is going to be like, please give it a look:
For more information and updates on the project, please check out Ink's twitter and youtube channel. I'm happy to help answer questions if I can as well.
From the perspective of someone whose been helping out behind the scenes on this for a long time, it's really something to see the project get closer and closer to being complete. I'm really proud of what we've done so far, and I hope you'll go and give Ink some support as he's been working really hard translating everything from scratch (and doing a billion other things!)
Been thinking about this moment during the first investigation...
another series spoilers ahead
Revisited this moment today and it really just has the same vibe as that one meme...
This kind of reaction is just one of many reasons I can't take the idea that the two Maedas are interchangeable seriously lol.
Like look me straight in the eye and tell me sumaeda wouldn't also be cying and/or throwing up in the bathroom right now. In what world would that Maeda ever stand here a few feet away from Kiyoka's dead body just after they've found her and tell Teruya to stop whining.
Obviously like, yeah, logically, it is in Teruya's best interest to find some way to go forward, and in danmaeda's defense, he does start this interaction by asking Teruya if he's okay, (and when he comes back later he makes Teruya feel a bit better while talking about the antique store stuff) but like... the way he says it lol... it kills me. Like dra1 yuki does scream and shout and does feel fear and grief for sure, but he also has cowards/cowardice as a dislike... Plus, he sometimes has an overly harsh or judgemental reaction to someone showing a very normal emotional response to the situation for a teenager to have lol. (And he seemingly struggles to fully empathize with the very anxious and homesick Otori during their first ftes) I have my own interpretations on that, and it's fun to build off or imagine the whole divine luck/utsuro of it all influencing things...
I'm sorry, I can't help picturing sumaeda here in this situation, and danmaeda seeing him crying and pulling the same damn thing lmao. (putting the whole same face and name identity crisis of it all aside for this hypothetical scenario lol)
A friend of mine recently pointed out some similarities between DRA1 Teruya and SDRA2 Yuki... and I gotta say, yeah, I see it, especially early on. But honestly, if anything, everyone else still keeping their cool in these two casts after the first murder are the weird ones for just being able to bottle it all up just like that. /hj It's is a pretty normal reaction to being put in this kind of situation I think. It's interesting though, thinking about SDRA2 Otori potentially seeing his past self in Maeda...
I've been able to recenter on it and make progress, so Ive putting most of my art energy into the fanzine piece lately. There's not been a lot of other art because of that but here's some stuff. I'm also working on some remaster stuff and fanfiction things so that's been keeping me busy. I would like to return to the dra pokemon au trainer cards I had. do some dra wof au things, and/or make a sequel to my maedas deep dive post since those are some things I've had on the backburner for a long time but we'll see.
first some whiteboard doodles while parallel drawing with a friend! (you know who you are thanks for hanging!)
edp scene: distractions... (one of these days I NEED to digitize some of the Canterlot party/masquerade designs.) (a dad comes to bail them out)
bugponysona (been wanting to do this for a while but attempts in the past have always fallen flat)
also a blender model I made to use for reference in the fanzine piece lol. This piece has been stretching some muscles that's for sure (past bug. was 6-9 characters in one piece.. what were we thinking /j)
I haven't posted about most of them besides EDP but I have like... A LOT of DRA crossover style aus. I kinda wanna do some posts talking about them, and maybe sharing some scraps for writing and art...?
I have several aus floating around and sketches, scraps, ideas, There's way too many for me to write a full on story or do a bunch of art for every single one like I've been doing with EDP. I think it'd be nice to share about them somehow even if I don't go as hard as I do with EDP haha. So! Here's a little list of some of the ones that have also been on my mind (this isn't all of them.. it's endless...) but that haven't appeared much (or at all) here or on AO3.
These ones involve the DRA characters within the universe, using the same systems/rules, or so on:
- Soul Eater
- How To Train Your Dragon
- Wings Of Fire (actually I've been meaning to do a fun series with this for ages but haven't gotten to it yet)
- Pokemon
- Steven Universe
- Attack on Titan (tbf this one has almost nothing so far lol)
- Ace Attorney (I dream of making a full fic and designs for this one...)
- Hellaverse (this one admittedly is only very vaguely hazbin/helluva based... It's from a long while back and I haven't thought about it for a while since I admittedly don't like these shows as much as I used to... but still!)
- Warriors
These ones involve putting the DRA characters into specific roles and/or merging swapping roles with the original cast of the work)
- Xenoblade 2 (I've actually posted a drawing or two for this one before)
- Heathers (this one is half baked... And don't ask me about kojuu and dead gay son /j )
- Promare (real ones remember that singular screenshot redraw I did lol)
If there's any in particular people are curious about or would like to see art/scraps for I may do a post for it in the future! It probably won't be soon as I have some other things I need and want to do first. Mainly some Halloween ideas, a celebratory post, and an ask I have yet to answer.
And I'm still writing looking glass ofc lol.
I realized recently that other people might be interested in seeing some of the random things I've come up with whether it's drawings, writing, or just ideas and rambles haha, even if I can't do a full story or multiple art pieces for them like EDP lol. Also this isn't even all of them... The ideas and rambles are endless I fear.
Once again, this is late pride month art haha. My spoon levels have been fluctuating a lot the last couple weeks, but I was finally able to get back to this one and finish it.
This Tsurugi and Yamato come from a story I wrote called The Yamato I Used to Be, which I wrote for Disabilty Pride month last year. That fic is a little personal to me, as it draws from some of my own experiences as a disabled person and explores disability grief. This is mostly on Yamato's side, and the changes he's experienced and how he feels about them, something he's processing alongside Tsurugi during a chess match.
If you didn't know, there is a disability pride flag, and I think it's very pretty. If you want to learn more, I've left some info below, along with some of my own headcanons/interpretations of the DRA cast when it comes to this topic.
I spent some time looking into the symbolism and the creator this month: The disability pride flag was created by Ann Magill, and was redesigned later thanks to community input; with the visual elements changed to better accommodate those with color-blindness and visually-triggered disabilities.
White: Invisible Disabilities and Undiagnosed Disabilities
Blue: Emotional and Psychiatric Disabilities (Mental Illnesses such as Depression, Anxiety, etc)
Green: Sensory Disabilities (Ex. blindness, deafness, or other sensory conditions)
(note, there's a lot of overlap between these colors. Cerebral palsy, for example, could fall under red and gold. Also, many of us have comorbidities, including myself-multiple colors apply to me.)
The faded black background represents grief for those victimized or lost to ableism-fueled violence/abuse, along with the rage and protest against mistreatment.
The multi-color design includes all six standard international flag colors, representing the widespread and global nature of the community. The colors, along with the diagonal band, represent light and creativity cutting through darkness; the barriers that isolate or separate us from the rest of society.
I know neither disability pride month or this flag are obscure, by any means, but I rarely see it in art; frankly, I hardly see disability pride art in fandom spaces in general. (Compared to LGBTQ+ pride month for example) Honestly, I've never drawn it myself, and I've been a little hesitant to be more well-proud-about it, haha. I think this is something that can happen a lot for me when it comes to interpretations and headcanons surrounding characters, too. It can be intimidating to share this kind of stuff!
On that note, if you've made it this far, (thanks!) and here's some of my own interpretations and headcanons for the DRA cast when it comes to this topic. Some of these have come up in fics, conversations, or art before, but not all probably. Not going to go through all of my reasonings today to avoid more rambling or spoilers, but maybe I'll go into it more if people are interested.
disclaimer: if you don't see them this way, that's completely understandable. Some of these have more clear evidence than others, and almost none of them are undeniable.
Tsurugi: PTSD or CPTSD, Autism, hemiplegia or hemiparesis. (I have seen probably the most different interpretations and headcanons for him. He's fascinating) On the autism side, I feel like a his rigid mindset as well as how he interacts with others would neatly be supported by him being autistic. Also, I like headcanoning him with RBF / not being the best at breaking eye contact/making expressions or using body language that don't come off as aggressive/angry even when he isn't. Worth noting that there's a lot of overlap between PTSD symptoms and Autistic traits.
Yamato: AuDHD (I find myself putting this guy in different positions ability/personality/circumstances wise depending on the story and enviornment tbh... But I like to incorporate his ch.5 self and give him things like communication issues, brain fog, poor memory, or other things I experience, depending on where he's at.)
Yuki: DID (I won't get into the rest, but it is clear that this guy experiences dissociation at the very least, this is something we can see happen multiple times during the story IMO) Sometimes I give him autistic traits too, to be totally honest. It's... not always on purpose- I think my autism slips into the characters I write sometimes. /hj
Kinji Uehara: Autism (particularly on the affect and socializing side. He seems to interact best with others one on one and enjoys thoughtful conversations; could seen as be highly empathetic and also possessing a flat affect.)
Haru being ADHD and Kakeru having Anxiety
(I blame my friends for making me think about these two HCs)
I'll be so real, I feel like so much of the DRA cast can easily be viewed as neurodivergent... they just, do not act very neurotypical IMO okay?
Anyways, that's enough rambling. I'm being brave and sharing my niche interpretations so be kind to me /silly (Also, feel free to share your own headcanons, thoughts, and ideas/theories if you'd like) Maybe if this goes well I'll do a proper post about it someday. Either way, I can say you'll probably notice some of these in my fics.
