@raventhekittycat
hi okay so I've been mulling this one over for the past day or two and I think I have the answer. not to be using hamburger to explain anything to an american but you're my detco mutual so I'm going to try and explain it in detco terms
There's a post going around recently about how if you've read detco and only detco, the first time hakuba shows up you're going to be totally flummoxed, because damn this guy is clearly important, he gets to be even cooler than Shinichi, he's got a half-page shot of him (in such a panel-dense series such as Detective Conan, no less!!) and he's got a fucking hawk. he's CLEARLY important. everything about the narrative is indicating that you need to PAY ATTENTION to hakuba and that he's the coolest guy and he's important!!!! and then he dies in the case lol (not for real. but still.)!! and you're like huh??? what was that. why did aoyama do that.
But with the context of magic kaito this totally makes sense. He's a beloved character that people have been waiting decades to see again. Of course Aoyama is going to hype him up!! It's his big moment after years of being locked in the backrooms!!!
Anyways reading birdmen for me was kind of like that. The author's previous series, Kekkaishi, was pretty one-dimensional at the beginning, and even after the main plot started picking up at around volume 6, it still felt quite understandable. I knew what she was trying to get at, and the spectacular job she did with the anthropocene and climate change metaphor towards the end of that series really made me interested in the rest of her works. That and the way she writes familial relationships is absolutely DEVASTATING. (I mean this with the highest of praise)
But when I read BIRDMEN for the first time, I was probably in... middle school, maybe? And I read it, sure, but I didn't get it. I could see what was literally happening on the page but the narrative choices were absolutely baffling at times. Why skip over the entire part of the plot where they figure out who the birdman that saved them was? She blatantly doesn't care about that. What does she care about then?? I knew I didn't get it, I knew there were parts of it that were important and I couldn't figure out why and THAT'S how it dug its pretty little claws into me. Even after I finished catching up it nagged at me a little bit, not often at all, but enough that every once in a while I go, huh, right, that was a thing, let me go read it again.
For the record this type of story haunting has happened to me twice. First time was the Heart of Thomas, second time was BIRDMEN. I think the thing is that these are both stories which are not what other people say they are and I think I came into both of these stories with a misconception, trying to look too hard for things that weren't important and therefore missing the things that were.
Because sure, BIRDMEN is about mental illness. Yeah, it's about an evil scientific organization growing mutants in a lab. Yeah, it's about what it means to leave your humanity behind. That's all technically correct, on a surface level, and the fandom at large likely agrees with these takes for the most part, but in my opinion none of that really delves into what the thematic messaging of the story is about.
There are cryptic conversations about authority and human extinction and peculiar outfit and ability choices. You can tell these choices weren't made to serve the purpose of "writing exciting shonen manga" because that was what she did for the most part in Kekkaishi and you can tell she wasn't putting her whole pussy into doing that here. So what was she doing? What's like. All of this. Waves my hands at this.
The short answer is that it's really about the interplay between capitalism (represented by humanity) and communism (represented by birdmen), and explores the role institutional white supremacy (EDEN) plays in enforcing capitalism. It is ALSO about queer liberation and the importance of community, but hey, that double-stacks conveniently with the communism metaphor.
But also take this opinion of mine with a grain of salt. As far as I know I'm the only one who really truly deeply believes that it is not only AN interpretation of the work, but one that was fully intended by the author.
So basically, I like it, because I think it says something true and beautiful that I also believe in, even if I didn't have the words for it the first time I read it. But I don't really think that's what people really look for in a media recommendation.
Do I like it? Yes, I love it. Will I recommend it to others? Yeah, sure. But do I think it's deeply flawed? Yeah, absolutely. It's flawed in the same ways as The Witch from Mercury— a rushed ending, too many threads that were opened and never tied together. The pacing and characterization is perfect in the beginning, and too rushed at the end. There are prerequisites you basically HAVE to read in order to understand the story (tempest for G-Witch and the communist manifesto for birdmen). I think a truly good story wouldn't have any of these things so if people don't like it I never blame them.
It's my personal experiences that make birdmen so profound to me. If you are not queer I just don't think Eishi coming out as a birdman to his mom will hit the same, just as an example. Sorry that I wasn't the kid you wanted me to be. I know you love me and you just want the best for me and that's why you're so controlling, because you think I can be saved by conforming to societal expectations. But I can't live like that. I can't be like that. And that's why I must go. etc.
Aesthetically I do love birdmen a lot. If I had to describe it in a few words it would probably be "chilling", "beautiful", and "powerful", which nicely coincides with the type of things I personally like to draw. It's also silly to a small degree but it's so serious and I know Tanabe can be way way way funnier (read kekkaishi for this. kekkaishi and hanazakari no kimitachi he were foundational to my sense of sequential art humor) so that's not really the standout trait of this series.
I can't let it go because I'm chewing this series like a bone. And it's taking me years but I am getting that sweet sweet marrow. By god. We are on year 3 of this shit and I am GOING to understand this series. and I'm going to make 3 video essays about it
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Episode 9
Rei is doing the positive version of "Living through your children." Which I believe is normally called "Being supportive of their interests?"
Essentially, making up for things or experiences you didn't or couldn't have as a child, and making sure your kids are treated better.
Rei was clearly raised to be as quiet as possible and to take up the least amount of space as possible. It's clear that he himself doesn't mind noisy or bright people, even to his own surprise as demonstrated with both Kazuki and Miri.
The thing is Miri is loud. She's 4, that's actually very normal. But, not only does he passively accept their loudness, he tries to match it here. It's such a big step for him, it can't be easy for him, but he wants to help so so badly. It can't have been easy for him to raise his voice like that, but he did it.
He loves Miri so much it's amazing. Even his advice on running and the science behind it shows that he supports her and is trying to help even though it make look like he's doesn't care.
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I know the Merc is definitely faster than a fair number of midfield cars but George is pretty good at recovering positions and it gets forgotten about…
Imola ‘22 - P11 -> P4 (with the wrong front wing balance)
Miami ‘22 - P12 -> P5
Austria ‘22 - P19 -> P4 (with the wrong rear wing fitted)
Barcelona ‘23 - P12 -> P3
Canada ‘23 - P19 -> P8 (before being forced to retire)
He fucks up, he makes mistakes, but he works his arse off to rectify them and he’s not the terrible driver some people are suddenly insistent on claiming he is.
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I love your RW art month tiles. What art program do you use and how do you get those really clean textures and shapes?
I use PaintToolSai, both 1 and 2- but most of the drawing gets done in SAI1 since I couldn't get my brushes to import right for 2. Its an extremely bare bones program all things considered (Sai2 less so, it has a bit more tool-wise, but I only draw in it if i *have* too or for minor stuff) so its nothing really fancy being employed, everything geometric I do just by using a self made grid to measure out shapes like you would a piece of paper.
Literally its just a measured out grid of like... 50 by 50 px squares with cross sections? I just paste it as needed and draw the lines around it and since the measurements are consistent it just works.
my default pen is already "crunchy" so being perfectly matched isnt a huge deal, and you can general paste and rotate to make it look a little cleaner. Honestly I've used this same grid for forever (and it was off by like one pixel at one point lol) its just really useful for quick matching things for a program that doesn't have stuff built in for lining things up
As for the textures, those are all default to SAI (I think?). The brush I use lightly uses of fabri (which mostly just makes the edges of the brush grainier) and then I usually also put some various level of a layer texture overlay thats just one of SAI's default 'watercolor' textures. It mostly just adds a little bit of a noise/grain effect. Heres that on max
For ArtMonth itself I just draw out a tile canvas using the grid with all the layers broken up- then I just reuse it over and over as needed. There's probably smarter ways to do it, but eh it works
And yeah, theres just two borders. One for the bottom and one for the top, makes it easy to make something that goes 'in and out' of the tiles without having to think to much. Just snip as needed
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Combinding my interests like a nerd and made a HMS Over the Garden Wall au! I have the last like, 4 episodes planned out and im very tempted to written them out for a fic! It might take a bit but i can hopefully do it
(I am very tired so please ignore the sloppyness of it all)
More info on the idea below :}
They'd be fully human unlike there actual designs and be siblings or at least very close friends as well. So theyd use the more human names throughout the story
Heart/Juno- Mix of Wirt and Greg. Mainly has the optimism and goofiness like Greg but also the caution and fear like Wirt
Mind/Ciro- Also a mix of Wirt and Greg. Mainly is the seriousness and realistic outlook of Wirt but doesn't care much of the threats in the woods like Greg
Soul/Atlus- Mix of Wirt and Beatrice. Doesnt really care for any of the other people in the Unknown, but while also wanting to enjoy the adventure along the way.
Darrell is Greg's frog of course.
(also can totally sing like him as well)
(also think itd be REALLY fuckin funny if the singing voice he has is the Announcers voice)
Some things would stay the same like Potterfield, but im also thinkin about the Manor episode being about Jekyll and Hyde. But instead of the whole ghost not ghost romance thing, they think the manor has 2 owners when it turns out to be one person the whole time. I want to put in more things from CJs other stuff but cant think of anything atm. Maybe the Announcer is involved with the Tavern episode idk. Also debating whether to even include beatrice in it since the idea i have doesnt quite have her fit into it.
Either way you can tell i dont at the moment have much of an idea for episodes 2-6. However the ideas i have for 7-10 are more layed out and are quite different compared to the original that im v existed to write for. but im very very tired atm so i can start on that (and maybe post a summary/synopsis) later.
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Went to my first fgc local last night! Didn't register for bracket bc I'm traveling and couldn't fit my stick in my suitcase, and just did casual matches after the bracket was over. Got to feel like a cool senpai to a couple players who were discouraged by being in the "too strong to play with friends, not strong enough to play in tournament" zone, gave them some advice on defending their space, taking their turn back, and playing footsies without overextending which they seemed to appreciate ( ´◡‿ゝ◡`) I think I would have placed somewhere in the middle, which is heartening. Even when I was going 0-6 against a real monster Potemkin guy he and spectators were still like "oh fuck this axl chick is scary" which felt good! Also either I'm getting better or Axl got more subtle tweaks in this patch than was reported cause there were a lot of combo routes that felt way tighter than they did a few weeks ago.
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