calendar_monthJune 2026calendar_monthMay 2026calendar_monthApril 2026calendar_monthMarch 2026calendar_monthFebruary 2026calendar_monthJanuary 2026calendar_monthJune 2025calendar_monthMarch 2025calendar_monthFebruary 2025calendar_monthJanuary 2025calendar_monthDecember 2024calendar_monthOctober 2024calendar_monthSeptember 2024calendar_monthJuly 2024calendar_monthMarch 2024
i couldn't choose which arc from the first half of the kodocha manga is my favorite, but the second half? it's the kazuyuki arc. easy.
but the arc from the second half of the kodocha manga that i think about the most is the mansion of water arc. and that says something, doesn't it?
the part i'm remembering tonight is how chapters 26, and 27 frame sana's emotional state.
in chapter 26 (technically the end of 25, but we see the impacts in 26), she's attacked, resulting in a broken leg. she urges her manager to downplay it's severity because she's determined to continue working as if the event never happened. this is what we're used to from sana! we've read 25 chapters of her persevering through situation after situation. we're directed to see this as unusual. that the normal, healthy, expected response would be for her to take a break. and are therefore directed to see sana smiling (a very genuine) smile as she works through it as a manifestation of her resolve.
and then going into chapter 27, she's able to contact her friends back home, and learns that akito (she hasn't put the words to it yet, but she loves him romantically) has started dating her best friend. and she just BREAKS.
i'm showing the anime adaptation here despite talking about the manga iteration because it's 1 to 1 with the manga panel, but has color!
and the contrast between her persevering with her broken leg (a broken leg she got through the traumatic experience of being attacked by three people!), to her composure breaking, being unable to work for days, when she hears this news is stark. it highlights sana's character beautifully, but also like.... isn't that just so real? no matter how strong of people we are, there's always something that can get us, and the way these two events were crafted to be one after the other highlight it in a way that feels like it gets to the root of that aspect of the human experience.
even though i came here to talk about chapters 26 and 27, while i'm here i may as well mention that the mansion of water arc also has my favorite comic page! only one chapter later, in chapter 28.
it's after sana has sorted out her feelings, she's started working again thanks to her emotional state stabilizing. her leg is still broken, having not received recent meaningful attention thanks to her insistence on keeping it a secret. she's working in a scene where she has to leave a real actual burning building, but when she stands to leave on her cue, she gets a pain in her leg and falls over.
she can't get up, so she lays there thinking of all the hardships in life, of how tired she is, and how if the fire just consumes her she won't have to deal with it all anymore.
the pain of an ember hitting her snaps her out of it, allowing her deep rooted beliefs about life overtake the exhaustion from the hardships she's recently endured.
the page before my favorite she says "i'm not as strong as everyone thinks i am..." she closes her eyes, having been able to struggle to her feet. "but..."
ignore tokyopop's "it's 2003" english translation lettering (english reprint please please please please please)!! i love this page!!! the manifestation of her deciding to keep trying! to persevere! the determination in her eyes! the way that this moment is given an entire page to breathe. the way that she's shown (remember, it's read right to left) to take a moment before she GETS that determination in her eyes.
i've considered getting this page as a tattoo, i love it so much!
let it also be known that (imo) the anime adaptation butchers this scene. the kodocha anime is (aside from a few horrible episodes, and the anime original arc which-shall-not-be-named) in my eyes a "two cakes" situation. but the way they adapt this moment? egregious.
sana's songs are such a fun edition to the series (and are almost always the reason kodocha breaks containment), i love them :D! but they need to be placed appropriately, and they add one right before she falls and can't get up... almost implying the fact she was singing dancing and goofing off to be the cause of her exasperating her injury.
the kodocha anime typically shifts between a silly tone, and a serious one very skillfully..... this isn't that.
at least the subsequent scene of sana leaving the burning building looks awesome animated. you win some, you lose some!
i wrote a journal the day before deltarune chapters 3 and 4 released, but i never followed up in any way. needless to say my socks were blown clean off like everyone else's, i could wax poetic for a long time about the experience of playing through it but for now i'll share one memorable part.
(i'm gonna be discussing spoilers for deltarune, up to the very end of chapter 4. so here's your spoiler warning)
deltarune saying it will only have one ending has been a big point of discussion. the dream that inspired the game, what that means for the weird route, etc. it's on my mind while i'm playing through chapters 3 and 4, so when chapter 4 is exploring the prophecy in the way it does, it feels like it goes hand in hand with that external piece of information. yes only whats in the game is considered canon, but i found the chapter 4 egg room on my own because of the spamton sweepstakes. these things can still effect one another.
so anyways, i get to the titan fight. importantly before the chapters released i had so avidly put in safeguards to ensure i wouldn't be spoiled that i had 0 spoiler going into it.
and suddenly, as i'm losing against the titan time after time, and as susie is talking about how this can't be the end, they're a part of this prophecy! they have lives ahead of them!
i got really scared imagining a possible direction the story was heading.
i pictured that... oh my god. what if it's like really avant-garde. this was the paid release, what if there aren't any more chapters?
what if this is the end? what if this is the one ending? and that the supposed existence of chapters beyond 4 were just a way to mirror how the in game characters feel. to the characters, they were lead to believe the prophecy means they have this whole journey ahead of them... and yet it's cut short. and to us, the players we were lead to believe the game would be much longer than this... and yet it's cut short.
i got so scared of this creepypasta version of the ending i imagined that my ability play the game well plummeted. i kept losing against the titan. i realized i wouldn't be able to finish the game like this, so i had to look up and read the plot synopsis on wikipedia, spoiling myself, so i could be reassured that wasn't what was going to happen.
and it's funny right? that ending would be very shallow, it'd have left so many threads hanging. but it felt like such a real possibility to me in that moment, and it instilled such a real fear in me lol
the project i've been focused on for the last few months (rebuilding my website) has had the soft deadline of april 16, because i wanted it's weight to be off my shoulders while i booted up tomodachi life living the dream for the first time
and thankfully i was able to fulfill that! it went live yesterday (there's still work to be done, outlining what's new, and patching oversights, but it's nothing compared to finishing the whole thing!) so i'm really excited to enjoy the game to it's fullest tomorrow!
i feel so spoiled to have most the things i hoped would be in the game... be in the game!
gay relationships? yes! (in spades with the option to be aroace, nb, pronoun options, specify whether characters dress feminine or masculine to scripted events... we're literally so living the dream)
a way to introduce miis to eachother? yes!
way to make miis related to eachother? yes!
more specifically manage how a mii acts? yes, little quirks!
very reasonably something i wished for wouldn't come true, and that's the miitopia customization being in the game. though, the customization is still awesome. i especially love the hair and ear options (as funny as the latter sounds), it is different from miitopia... but i can't say i miss too much. i suppose i miss the way you could link certain decorations to features, for example linking something to the eye so when a mii blinks, it responds appropriately. but the facepaint system is hard to complain about. if i had to complain it'd only be.... could they please add heterochromia? otherwise i'm so content.
i was caught off guard by the demo dropping. it happened to release on a day i had suffered from unusually horrible insomnia, so when i logged into discord, all sleep deprived and out of it... and was immediately greeted by messages from my friends of their guys in tomodachi life i was like why did mario himself give my friends the game early??? (i quickly realized what happened, lol)
i played through the demo in that sleep deprived state, in the end i'm thankful it released that day because it gave me something pleasant to do. most my screenshots are of delia because the expression i gave her cracked me up
when i showed the screenshots to my best friend Lexi, she jokingly said delia looks like she "witnessed a murder in cold blood from start to finish" and i smile every time i remember that, what a compliment! this is true of delia's soul, the essence of her being. <3
i spent some time trying to make their miis look more like how i draw them, 'witnessed a murder' delia will always be in my heart (and hopefully that energy shines through regardless) but if i can try to make her look more similar to how i draw her, then i'd like that!
i'm sure they'll change as i play the game more, but they look enough like themselves that i feel i'm starting the game off on the right foot! i'm chomping at the bit to add all my other characters. if i were buying the digital game i'd be able to get it in only a few short hours, but unless i cave last second, the plan is to wait until tomorrow and buy a physical copy. eek! so exciting. we're so lucky to have this game exist.
one of my favorite miku module's is her "vintage dress" look, because it simultaneously evokes a lot of the ideas as seen in her original design, while also bringing a lot new to the table!
i'll go from top to bottom of things i love about it!
i love how the X shaped straps from her shirt evoke the tapered triangular shape of the top of her typical vest. it's not an exact match, but the eye draws an invisible line where the straps would be if they weren't in their criss cross shape (that happens to be the same shape as her original vest). and the bow at the center of her choker evokes her usual tie. even the laces at the center of her shirt, and the parallel contrast trim on either side continue this idea. it's like - this top and her usual are so dramatically different in terms of area they cover, but because of how it's been styled it evokes the other so effortlessly.
then her arm covers, they're asymmetrical here, with the one on her left arm more obviously being similar to her typical - but the one on her right arm obviously starts at the same point at the top of her arm even if it doesn't go as long. again it's bringing something new to the table while evoking her original design. i like the use of chains on her left arm as well, to me it it pairs well with the lyrics of romeo and cinderella (which is where this module is typically used)
then the skirt! the multiple layers are genius. they evoke the way that her vest overlaps her skirt in her original design, with the burgundy layer evoking the bottom of the vest, and the lighter pink evoking her original skirt.
again, same with the top; this is so different from her original look.... but the shapes calling back bridge that gap.
and then the shoes. in place of her usual OTK boots, she's got these overlapping ribbon heels. in terms of evoking her original design, same with the ribbon on her right arm - up top it starts in a similar place to her usual boots (a little lower but it reads nevertheless). and on it's own merit: i love how this ties together the ribbon straps of her top, and the ribbon on her right arm.
and again its like... think of all the things that are different here. such a defining element of miku's original design is how color wise she's just got gray, black, her trademark miku teal, and tiiiiiiiiiiiny hints of hotpink/red. but here the whole look is burgundy, red, pink.
if this wall of text describing this doesn't make sense, here's a silly draw over i did lol.
the bottom line is i love this look! it's so quintessentially miku while also doing it's own thing. it's so beautiful.
i also love the texturing they give it in some games (future tone for example) the ribbons being given this satin-y look (more striking red undertones), while the other dark parts are matte (almost velvet looking?) beautiful!
anyways! this is all pretty general character design stuff right? i like thinking about it though. i've been thinking of it a lot recently because i've been really into the artistry behind street fighter 6 (lol). all the characters getting new looks was done very well. straight up highly recommend looking up a "all street fighter 6 costumes" video on youtube even if you don't gaf about the franchise/game (but do care about character design/art) because of how well done it is.
for this silly journal though, i'll call out cammy cause i like how they were able to give her such a different look while still making her so identifiable. (and also i'm biased, when i was big into street fighter in highschool i mained her)
her hair is short now, but it's slicked back in the same way it was in her braids, she still has the little wispy bits up front, and the long jacket straps evoke the shape of her braids. the light lines of her pants create a similar V shape to her leotard before... her gloves being the same, her boots being the same shape but inverted. like there's obvious tools they utilized here to make this work. and it paid off! i'm a huge fan. character design is so awesome.
i've made up a lot of stories and characters in my life, and i have remnants from when i created and cared about them saved, even if that stopped at some later point - and this is true whether they originate from when i was 8, or 18.
except for one! when i was 12 and fell in love with shoujo (through works that have remained beloved to me like kodocha, but also things that fell to the wayside like special a), i started making up this story that i wish i remembered more about.
i don't think i ever wrote down the ideas, i just tried to draw how i imagined the characters to look, but became quickly (and extremely) frustrated in my own artistic limitations. which made me go: "oh, this is unrealistic for me to expect myself to be able to make this story if i can't draw them even once" and give up.
but now i wish i had written the details down! i haven't even been able to find those old attempts to draw the characters (maybe i threw them out? i didn't typically do that, but maybe i did in the intensity of my disappointment). all i remember is that the main couple was a timid goody-goody guy with round glasses, and a delinquent girl with a buzzcut.
i only remember those details because i was worried the guy was too obviously inspired by tsuyoshi sasaki, and the fact i couldn't DRAW a buzzcut (which was somehow story important to the girl, so i was unwilling to compromise and give her some other style) was one of the things that frustrated me.
i wish i could sit with my younger self, hear her explain the whole thing. try to capture them on the page, and teach her how approach it herself. but i feel like that's what everyone wishes they could do!