Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

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Yeah, another comic about SHAFT, but not about Vampire Bund! That said, the next comic will be about Vampire Bund again due to recent events. After that I’ll try to think of something new, I promise!

For those not in-the-know, Bakemonogatari changes its opening per story arc, and the opening SHAFT has come up with for the final arc–Tsubasa Cat–features what looks like either a man or a very dumpy woman dressed as Hanekawa Tsubasa photographed against various locations around Tokyo. Of course the imagery is in black and white, and has a neat little grain filter over it. The opening can be viewed here in very questionable quality, but if you haven’t watched Bakemonogatari at all yet, you should! It’s a pretty sweet show if you like good design work and witty script writing. I should really write something substantial about the show at some point.

I know I said I’d try to squeeze out three blog entries a week, and since then I’ve only produced one. I did put forth that it was an impossible proposition, but if time allows I’m going to try and put something else out tonight. There are a lot of things I want to blabber on about, it’s simply a case of finding the time and words to do so.

Anyway, until next week!

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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another comic about SHAFT and Shinbo. Next week is probably going to be about them, too. What can I say, they make great cartoons, but they’re also hokey enough that I can make fun of them. But speaking of noise filters, the more acute of you may notice that I have been applying it to the past couple of comics. I’m doing this because I think it gives the art some texture. It looks good on my screen, but I’m not sure how it looks on others. It’ll probably come and go according to my mood.

Also, I realize I’ve been rather quiet on my blog lately. I don’t like apologizing for not posting, as I feel one should post on their blog at their leisure, but there’s things I want to talk about and it’s simply a matter of me sitting down and typing them up. This is impossible, but I’m going to try and shoot for three Actual Entries (ie, not art or comic rants) a week. I also have some more podcasts to get out, but Audacity being the influriating program that it is has caused me to make negative progress.

Oh, and just so’s you know Mistakes of Youth will be at Anime Boston at the beginning of April. NOT ONLY THAT, but if you read my Twitter (don’t read my Twitter) you would know that I have a panel there. It’s going to be called The Life and Times of Akiyuki Shinbo. It’s on at 7pm on Friday in panel 309. That time and place my change, so Watch This Space for any changes!

Anyway, hopefully I can drop some more interesting words on you guys soon. Later!

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I find that amongst some anime fans, there are those that think like computers. For instance, when an adaptation of a popular manga takes one step away from the original story, fans label it a failure because the outcome doesn’t fall within their narrow set of expectations. Perhaps if they were to realize that these changes actually make the story better, they would simply break down.

That said, this comic is primarily about the initial reaction to the first and second episodes of the show which were overwhelmingly negative (for a variety of reasons, not just inaccuracy) but that seems to have cooled down now. To be honest, I’m actually still not sure how some of the added plot elements work together–such as the new girl, and Akira’s loss of memory. I think his loss of memory is addressed in episode 7, but I’ve only seen it raw thus far so I can’t be certain. There’s also some other issues with the show that I want to address, but not now. It’s good, but I think that more so than any SHAFT show in recent years–even Bakemonogatari–this show probably needs to be watched on home video.

Oh, there’s some new podcasts about Comiket. They’re kind of bad, but if anything I hope they help bring you into that moment that was Comiket 76.

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This is one of those comics that got worse and worse as I continued drawing it. The sketches looked fine, but as I continued on things just become more dire. The end product isn’t too bad, but I’m not happy with it. But that’s the usual story, isn’t it?

I actually really hope we do get some Dullahan porn out of Durarararararara!!, but considering the overwhelming amount of images featuring Anri with a penis in between her giant tits, I highly doubt we’ll see Selty getting fucked in all of her headless glory. I hope someone does it, though. And I hope they do it seriously. Like, not as a joke.

Anyway, until next week.

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After running this comic by a few people last night, my hypothesis that I’m the only one who finds this comic funny was proven to be correct. It’s not terribly funny unless you find Shinbo getting on Yamakan’s case for storyboarding an episode of Chu-Bra funny, and I find that hilarious. I also think it’s funny for my cartoon avatar to pop out of the corner of the frame in his continuous journey to stalk Mr. Shinbo.

While I’m on the subject–and since I don’t think it really deserves a focused blog entry–Chu-Bra is somewhat disappointing. It is a little interesting how it’s taken a less fanservice driven route (don’t get me wrong, it still has a lot of panty-shots) and has instead decided to focus on the embarrassment that young girls feel about wearing underwear, as well as the mechanics of underwear. It’s interesting to make a show about these things in theory, but in practice it kind of falls flat, especially when I don’t find the characters to be that enchanting. So long story short, the show should be more about fanservice. I may stick around for Yamakan’s episode, but I’ll probably drop it.

That’s it! There may or may not be a comic next week. I haven’t sketched anything yet so I don’t know!

(Get it? He said “wah!”)

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You know, I’m not even going to say anything about what’s going on this fucking comic strip. I mean, it can easily just stand on its own without any explanation or commentary. But before anyone gets the wrong I idea, I did very much enjoy the first episode of SHAFT’s Dance In The Vampire Bund anime, and enjoyed the second episode even more. I’ll expand upon why I like them in a post that will hopefully materialize later on.

I’m quite happy with how the artwork turned out on this one, save for Rets’ dirty pose in the last panel, along with the fact that the background perspective may not make too much sense. If anyone who knows how to draw (Why would you be subjecting yourself to my crap if you knew how to draw?) has any tips or crits, drop ‘em here. Crits are welcome for every comic, actually. That’s how you get better, after all.

Next week’s comic isn’t sketched, but with hope I can get something out. I think we’re due for another Life and Times of Akiyuki Shinbo…

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They’re talking about Umineko, just so’s ya know. Maria’s plight seems to have struck a chord in Rets, but he didn’t realize that her situation was meant to be tragic. You can’t blame the guy–he’s picking up all those little fragments of happiness that other people ignore. Or whatever.

For the first comic MADE in the decade, this looks lame too. Oh well! The next one is sketched out and it looks kind of better. Should be funnier, too!

Not much to say here (is there ever anything to say these days?) but I’ve been blogging up a storm on the blog. Pretty sure I updated like 10 times this week, and I plan on updating again today! So check that shit out!