Doujin Freaks! ~ main

[PROGRESS] Password Limited(5 images) WIP Pages from - Viy Sitante's Poipiku | Illustration&more Box [POIPIKU]

WIP Pages from the daiken/kendai digimuyo comic I've been working on for too long lol. Password is 大賢 in English, plus 1 and 8. ずっと描き続けてた大賢/賢大の同人誌からいくつかページを抜粋しました（笑）。パスワードは英語で大賢、プラス1と8。

Kill Your Gods - Griselda_Gimpel - The Silt Verses (Podcast) [Archive of Our Own]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

maiji: The legend of sporty eyes

[Screenshots of a chat between me and my friend who is an orange. Transcript follows.] me: what does スポーティ meanlike I know it's "sporty"but are there connotations beyond just what the english sporty means orange: Nope, as it says on the tinIt's used a lot to describe stuff I guess? Like sporty style refers to people who wear athletic clothing as a styleBut yeah it really is just sporty lol me: what are sporty eyeslol orange: what lol A hilarious conversation that took place mid-last month. Then we forgot about it. Then we came back to it this past week. I've been periodically running into fanart and comics of Claude C. Kenni from Star Ocean 2 with the phrase スポーティーな瞳 ("sporty eyes"). I can count the instances on one hand, but specific enough that I was like, ?? My Japanese isn't great (though it's much better than when I was a little kid), and I couldn't for the life of me understand the usage in context. Like, there was a vague sense of it being used for a particular reason, but it also seemed rather nonsensical, like something was missing. orange, whose Japanese is excellent, was also baffled. She was like, "Is it maybe a reference to something from the game??" and I was like, "Not that I'm aware of?? The only time I can remember anyone talking about Claude's eyes is the priest in Arlia's church and I'm 2000% sure he doesn't say they're sporty lmao". Then we moved on to other things. Anyways, I recently encountered another illustration with this, and orange had the brilliant idea of… looking it up, haha.Explanation on Nicovideo.jp | on PixivSo basically, it's a Japanese meme that came from a circa 2001 four-panel gag comic appearing in Vol 7 of the Star Ocean The Second Story gekijoh books. As it says on the cover, this is part of the Enix Supercomic Gekijoh series, essentially officially-sanctioned fancomic anthologies. Which I actually owned in my other life, I just couldn't read most of it when I was a kid. I actually remember this comic too! The creator, Sakamoto Taro, has a very distinctive inking style.The comic is titled "Sporty Eyes". The joke involves Noel and Bowman wanting to sneak peeks at Chisato and Rena changing, but Claude, instead of being unobtrusive, boldly/blatantly pops up from the bottom of the window to look. This references two things:  how on PS1, character portraits animate in from the bottom of the screen (which they amusingly brought back in SO2R, if you choose to make the status screens display the original PS1 art, possibly in part because of this meme); and  Claude's bio that appears in the instruction manual, which inexplicably closes with the following line that apparently also left Japanese fans scratching their heads:「サラサラとした金髪とスポーティな瞳が印象的。」Roughly, "He has silky blond hair and sporty eyes".  [Screenshot of a chat dialogue. Transcript follows.]me: hmmI'm gonna see what they did in the english ps1 manual translation lmaoI think we still have the gameholy crap not only do we have the game we still have the receiptpurchased from worlds biggest bookstore lmaoooo*I'm dying I completely forgot there were bios*which closed 10 years ago, RIP World's Biggest Bookstore Here's the relevant page in English.[Photo of the English PS1 game manual on top of an open PS1 game box with disc 1. The booklet is open to a page with the official PS1 portrait of Claude next to a panel of text. Transcript follows.] Introduction of Characters In this game, different characters may join your party depending on how the story develops. There are many characters other than those introduced here. Seek them out. Claude C. Kenni One of the main characters of this game, Claude is a newly commissioned Ensign of the Earth Federation, and the eldest son of the hero, Ronixis J. Kenni. Although Claude does have respect for his father, he is struggling to forge his own identity. He is noted for his frizzy blond hair and an impish gleam in his eyes. Sex: MaleAge: 19Birthday: January 23/Sign: AquariusHeight: 175 cm(5'9")/Weight: 68 kg(150lb.)Good at: Being late, troublemaking.Likes: Food (all kinds), computer games.Dislikes: The profession of Federation officer. [Screenshot of a chat conversation continued. Transcript follows.] me: it looks like his bio got cut off thoughall the other bios end with the characters favourite kind of guy or girlI do remember reading a translation of a japanese bio that I think had itサラサラとした金髪 became frizzy lol orange: That is the total opposite haha This was the original Japanese profile, which I looked up by using the quoted line. I had to wade through a lot of explanations of sporty eyes in order to find it. The bio: https://ameblo.jp/beki-0313/entry-11205371725.html The other details: http://toss.velvet.jp/media/change-system/triple/cr.htm このゲームの主人公で、地球連邦軍の新任少尉。英雄ロニキス･Ｊ･ケニーの長男*である。父を尊敬しているが、反面、英雄の息子として自分という存在がかすれてしまっていることに苦悩している。サラサラとした金髪とスポーティーな瞳が印象的。 得意なこと: 遅刻，サボリ，格闘術**好きなもの: 食べ物全般，コンピューターゲーム嫌いなもの: 連邦仕官という職業，勉強全般好きなタイプ: 活発で，明るくて，元気な子 Roughly (aiming for more literal translation, following Japanese word order where possible): This game's main character, Earth Federation forces' newly-appointed Ensign. Hero Ronixis J. Kenni's eldest [only/first-born] son. He respects his father but, on the flipside, as the hero's son his own existence is fading/blurring [being overshadowed] which distresses him. Smooth gold hair and sporty eyes is the impression [he has]. Good at: Being late, slacking, martial artsThings he likes: Food in general, computer gamesThings he dislikes: Being a Federation officer, studying in generalThe type [of partner] he likes: Lively, cheerful, energetic girls *The English translates "長男" as eldest son, which is technically correct, but in Japanese it doesn't necessarily indicate there are other children. On the actual screen where you choose Claude as your protagonist, he's described in both Japanese and English as the only son of Ronixis J. Kenni. You can see it here in this comparison of PS1, SE, and SO2R intro screens. The original Japanese text can be seen in the screenshot of the ameblo URL linked above, which says "一人息子" (only son). (As a point of interest—fans of SO1 may recall that Claude's mom, Ilia, is actually Ronixis' second wife; his first wife died of an illness well before the beginning of SO1.)**格闘術 is specifically hand-to-hand combat/unarmed martial arts, which reinforces the idea that Claude only started using swords after arriving on Expel.The end of the mystery (aside from who came up with "sporty eyes" and why it's in the bio like that. I have theories. lol).Also props to the translator several decades ago who probably struggled with how to render "sporty eyes"; you did your best. But a few things sure got left out, haha.

maiji: Star Ocean The Second Time (Second Story R)

[images: Comic with digital inks and rough painted colours, titled “Star Ocean The Second Time" by maiji. It is a short comic about Regis accusing Claude of being the Hero of Light, and Claude answering differently this time around. Full transcript below.]Regis, with Westa looking on nervously behind him: You can be none other than the Hero of Light, here to save our world!Claude, with Rena looking at him worriedly: I… You…You’re right!! I came to your planet to save your world!!I wasn’t sure what I was gonna need, so I brought everything I could think of just in case!!*panel exploding with random items including: advanced weapons, armor and accessories, musical instruments, fish, plants, minerals, food, potions, fanfics, a Masterwork Rod, a Ririca camera, 13,595,763 Fol, etc.*Westa: A full orchestra??Regis: I-is that a whale??Rena: …interdimensional pocket…?!Claude: *hefting the Father of the Deep Sea* I figured better safe than sorry right??The beginning of New Game+ The end.My first experience of Star Ocean 2 (PS1) was Claude’s story, then Rena’s. So it was really nostalgic and fun playing SO2R and doing the opposite - Rena, then Claude’s. And for the first time we have a New Game+ feature. From a narrative perspective, it actually feels hilariously appropriate with Claude’s story, to land on Expel out of nowhere with so much random crap and just blasting everything out of the water. Everything illustrated is selections from my actual inventory, which is not a particularly exceptional inventory in the SO2 experience, haha.

maiji: a blind biwa player, a lady warrior, and a demon

[Set of 2 images. 1) Digital ink brush style illustration of three figures cascading down a page. On the left is a musician with a long flowing beard playing a biwa/Japanese lute, his eyes closed, with a hazy moon in the sky. To the right is a woman in Kamakura-era armour astride a horse. In the centre foreground is a man in Kamakura-era armor with shoulder-length hair tied back, holding a long sheathed sword in his left hand. He seems to be about to draw it. Superimposed over the illustration is the North Bound logo with the text: "a blind biwa player / a lady warrior / and a demon". 2) Same illustration without the logo and text.]Something I'm excited about with regards to finishing fight / flight is that now I can finally post a new batch of images to Pixiv! Not just fight / flight, but also other illustrations I finished over the period of time and/or forgot to previously post to the North Bound series there. I really wanted to do one last illustration of these three to close it off. I usually wait a day, several days before posting art/comics to other platforms. Partly to spread out the update spam, partly to try to increase visibility, but mostly because 9 times out of 10 if I post things too fast I almost immediately discover some silly mistakes and then I'm crying inside because I'm repeatedly editing, reposting, finding another mistake, repeat etc... and/or I can't edit a post on some platforms and have to delete it all and start over. So I try to pace myself a bit, giving myself a little distance and opportunity to be more aware and mindful. (Sometimes it works. Sometimes I'm like, who cares, no one will notice except me, and move on with my life.)It's always hard to assess your own work objectively. Projects like North Bound are particularly interesting because of the funny elasticity of time that you have with all the different pieces of it. That some ideas are so old and you're finally getting to them after all these months/years or other people are finally seeing them when you've already long moved on to something else. That different things are a varying stages of conception and sketching and refining and finishing, and so on. Webcomic creators are very familiar with the concept of "webcomic time". I think anyone who works in a field where there's a lag between the initial conceptualization of something and the actual publishing/launching it out into the world know what I mean. (Webcomic time maybe even more so because the barriers to entry for webcomics can be wonderfully low and webcomic creators often do SO MUCH in the production so lots of people get to commiserate in this funny space/feeling together.) To be honest I think I feel it with North Bound even more than I ever felt it with Now Recharging. The latter I worked on in a relatively regular fashion to hit specific posting schedules, while North Bound really is whenever I can squeeze in the time and motivation and also problem-solve narrative issues.)Looking back, Mirror Most Dark (completed 2017), I Heard A Cicada Cry (completed 2020), Survive (2021) and fight / flight (2024) form a four story set as "this is North Bound Hokushin's formative time before he meets Raizen". But what I really like is that they feel pretty self-contained - more like "this is an interesting little supernatural historical fiction-y series of stories". (Enough so that I actually woke up one night thinking, "Hey, this set of stories would actually make a pretty robust printed book! The 3 comic stories alone come to 108 pages! I wonder how many pages Mirror Most Dark would come to if I re-laid it out as a printed illustrated story... I'd have to redraw the illustrations in black and white to be able to print it more cost-effectively and match the style of the comic stories..." and then I was like no, you already have enough things to work on, and you don't need another box of books sitting in your closet for the next 10+ years.)Working on these helps me really appreciate the art and craft of storytelling and building out/fleshing out a character, and also pushes me to try so many things I otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to. Mirror Most Dark, the oldest work in this group, still holds up not too badly (though there are a lot of errors and issues, and many things I would change if I were attempting it today...), and some panels and sequences I've been very proud of throughout the stories. When I reread them I do always see little things I'd like to fix, but overall... I made them, I learned from them, they exist, and it was all a very worthwhile experience!