Anime Closet Adventure Five!

(HOME)

"How did I even get here?"
Everyone blinks, and turns to X.
"What do you mean?" asks L.
Kurama says, "I'm fairly certain you walked, but knowing PheonixFox, that could very well be wrong."
"I remember being with Ai. And a gorilla." X scratched the back of his head, looking very confused.
"Who's Ai?" asked Kurama.
"Who cares, really?" Hao asked, sounding bored at his end of the room.
"Hao..." Al whined nervously.
"I don't get this place at all," Riku sighed. "I'm going to go check out the rooms."
"A-are you sure that's wise?" Higuchi asked.
Riku looked at him. "Why wouldn't it be? She said we can go where we want to."
"We--Hiei and I--found something...bizarre..."
"Oh?" asked Hao, curious. "What?"
Higuchi shook his head. "Not telling."
"Well, I'm not goin to sit here and just do nothing," Edward procalimed. "I'm bored. I wonder where those libraries are?"
"Let's go find them then, brother," said Alphonse.
Edward nodded. "I was planning to. The only way to know our around here is to find out. Come on."
Kurama perked up. "May I join you?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Oh! Me, too." X stood up and smiled.
"Fine with me. Let's go."
They all headed for the small hallway to the door, and Hao got up to go with them.
The hallway through the door was just as long as usual. "Which way?" asked Kurama.
"Let's go one at a time," suggested Alphonse. "We can try the one next door first..?"
Edward shrugs and goes to the next door over, tugging it open as Kurama closed the one to the closet.
They found themselves in a room, in a bedroom to be precise. The walls were painted navy blue, and the bedspread was of the same color. There was a computer on a desk in the corner, beside which stood a stack of books. There was a dresser and a bookcase, and a door to a bathroom.
Hao slid his hand over the wall and found the light switch, and a light bulb on the ceiling blinked on.
"Who's room is this?" Al wondered aloud. "Someone else lives here?"
"Then why do they get their own room!!" fumed Edward.
Kurama walked over to the desk and picked up one of the books. "They're all fantasy novels. Dragon Rider, Companions of the Night, Vampirates..."
X poked a picture. "Oh. Isn't this that girl we saw earlier?"
Glancing over his shoulder, Hao saw HiguchiGirl standing there making a peace sign between two adults. She was noticeably younger than her present age. "That's her, alright."
"So those are her parents," said Kurama. "I wonder why we haven't seen them."
"Wait a minute, guys," said Al. "Don't you think that can only mean one thing?"
"What?" they all asked in unison.
"That this is HER room."
They all stopped.
Oops.
Quickly they filed out, but not before Hao spotted a box on top of the dresser. He peeked inside quickly, expecting expensive jewelry as proof she was high born.
Inside, however, were a bunch of letters. Hoping no one would notice he did, especially not PheonixFox, he snagged the papers, stuffed them in one of his pockets, and shut the door on his way out.

(Ouran High School Host Club World)

Hearing the three knocks on the double doors of his Dark Magic Club, Nekozawa and his cat puppet went to the door. Could one have the members left behind something? He probably would have spotted it by now.
On the other side stood a girl that was clearly not from Ouran. "Mmm? Who are you?"
She smiled. "I'm PheonixFox! Nice to meet you!"
"What is it?" He suddenly smiled a slightly evil-looking smile. "Did you want a curse on someone?"
Shaking her head she replied, "Sorry, but no. Actually, I was wondering if you'd come with me. I have one other person so go find and fetch as well, if you would like to join me."
"Well, sure, why not? As long as we stay in limited light, that is."
"Of course! Let's go!"

(HOME)

A small while later, they finally found one of the libraries they were looking for.
And by the sheer size of it, Edward was pretty astounded to think that there were more than one.
Hao looked around, drinking it all in. "Well. She seems to like books. A lot."
"You aren't kidding," whistled Edward.
Kurama went up to the closet shelf and fingered the bindings. "This looks to be the mystery section." He pulled off a few to read their backs.
X came up to look at them from the side. "Books are boring," he said.
Ed grimaced. "Then why'd you come along?"
"I don't know. Not anymore, anyway."
"What does that mean!?" Ed demanded.
"Calm down, Ed. ^_^;" Kurama said.
Ed continued, "What's your deal, anyways! You can't seem to remember ANYTHING!"
X shrugged. "That's the whole reason why I was looking for my identity. Though how I'll do it now..."
"Your identity?" asked Kurama.
X smiled, shook his head, and gave Kurama a cryptic look. "What else do you think this place has?" he asked.

(Hana Kimi World)

"Kayashima~!" called PheonixFox. "Kayashima~? Where are you~?"
"=_=; You do realize, PheonixFox, that nobody is here, correct?" asked Nekozawa.
"Yup. But Kayashima has his way of knowing these things. Kayashima~!"
"You can stop that now."
The both turned around to find a purple/black-haired youth behind them.
Nekozawa radiated dark-aura joy. "Wow, PheonixFox, you were right~!"
"Kayashima! We've got someplace to be and I'm taking you with me!" sang PheonixFox.
"What for?"
"You get to find out when you get there!"
Kayashima frowned.
"Oh c'mon, please?"
He shrugged. "I don't see the harm in it."
"Good! Now let's head to my place! That's where it all unfolds~!"

Anime Closet Adventure Four!

(Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro World)

"X. I'm home."
There was silence.
"X?"
"Hold on!"
Ai stood motionless, waiting, and suddenly the wall nearby burst in, and through the hole came a very large gorilla, X riding on top of it. "Have a look at this, Ai! Gorilla!"
"-_- What about the many boxes of frogs we've ordered?"
"Oh, I've grown sick of them already. I'm ready to try gorilla liver!"
Ai sighed, looking over at the mountain of boxes full of frogs. This wasn't good. Maybe she could sell them to a school for disection.
When she looked back, she found the gorilla back in its cage, as seen through the hole in the wall, and X was missing.
"X?"

(HOME)

Edward and Alphonse arrived, in a mysteriously unknown fashion, to a very large building, painted with crazy colors and patterns. There were pentagrams, binding and curse circles, stars, planets, clocks, cartoon-based ghosts, and many other things besides like playing cards, rockets, and cotton candy.
"What an interesting place," Alphonse noted nervously.
Edward just nodded numbly, overwhelmed by all of the paintings.
"Hmm? Hello. Who might you be?"
Both Elrics turned to see a young man with long, black-brown hair walking up to them, a leisurely grin on his face. Over his shoulders he wore a tan scarf that seemed to act double as a shoulder cape.
"I-I'm Alphonse," said Al. "You can just call me Al!"
"I'm Edward Elric, his brother. ELDER brother, to be precise."
The boy smiled. "I see that. I'm Hao Asakura. Are you here for the same reason I am?"
"I dunno, that DEPENDS," Edward said. "What are YOU here for?"
Hao held up a folded piece of paper. "I got a letter."
"So did we!" Al said. "We don't really know what's going on though..."
"And nobody knows who our host is?" he asked politely, cocking his head and still smiling like he was in a daze.
Ed and Al both shook their heads. "It's a mystery to us."
"Ah, hello, honored guests."
Approaching them now was a tall man, in black robes hemmed in red. Lucifer. Behind him walked a very confused and very curious X.
"And who are you?" Hao asked. "Our host?" He looked around Lucifer to the boy behind him, studying him curiously.
"I am Lucifer. The host is away at this time, so I will be leading you inside."
Hao frowned. "I would really rather meet the one who sent the invitation."
"I'm deeply sorry." To prove it, he bowed politely. Straightening, he took X's hand. "She will be with you shortly, or so I believe. This way, please." He led X to the door, then momentarily let go of his hand to open both of the doors. He waited for them to enter before closing them again.

They soon arrived at the closet in one of the numerous hallways. Upon their entrance the four occupants all sat up and stared at the new group.
"May I present to you," Lucifer said regally, "Edward and Alphonse Elric, Hao Asakura, and Kaitou X."
Kurama, L, and Higuchi all nodded in greeting, while Hiei snubbed them with with a grunt, averting his head.
Hao quietly took offense.
"Lucifer? Where is PheonixFox?" Kurama asked politely.
"Not present at this moment--"
"Nevermind! I'm here! I'm here!"
Everyone in the doorway turned to see PheonixFox skipping down the hallway, dragging a silver-haired boy behind her, one with longer hair than X's. "I have Riku! From the Kingdom Hearts World! Isn't that wonderful?"
Lucifer took the time to clap for her, the noise muffled by his black gloves.
She bowed. "Everyone, this is Riku! Say hi, Riku!"
"Why should I? You just dragged me here without my consent!"
"At least you're not duct-taped," L, Kurama, Hiei and Higuchi all chorused simultaneously.
The new arrivals all looked at them quizically, but they were given no more details.
"Welcome to my happy home! Your happy home! Our happy home!"
" 'Our'?" asked Al.
"That means you don't know," said Kurama with a smile. "We're all living here."
Ed, Al, Hao, and Riku all froze. "What??"
"Congratz! You get a house that has everything! Banzai!" cheered PheonixFox. "Welcome, welcome, one and all! I am your host, PheonixFox! We--as in, Lucifer and I--want to wish you well during your stay here!"
Edward demanded, "But WHY?"
"Good question! Adventure!"
"What kind of explanation is that!?"
Hao sighed. "I'm out."
Everyone looked at him.
"Wait," said PheonixFox. "You're in."
"No, I'm out. Didn't you hear me?"
"You seem to be mistaken," said PheonixFox. "You're in. Look around you. Walls, no trees. In."
Hao looked iritated. "You know what I meant. I'm not staying here."
"Oh? Why not?"
"I have things to do."
"What kind of things?"
"Things. Important things."
"That's a LITTLE vague..."
"He's right, though," said Riku. "You can't keep us here."
"I'm not keeping you here. I'm letting you live here. This place has everything, from virtual reality rooms and libraries to training rooms, rooms with crystal balls and maps, dolls, train sets, magic mirrors, star charts, you name it!"
Ed perked up. "Library? Library, plural?"
PheonixFox nodded.
"Training...room..?" Hao asks, confused.
"Different kinds too! Spiritual, physical, mental...there's a games room, an excersize room, a weather room...yup, we've got lots of that stuff!"
"But how?" L asked, ever the realist.
"Doesn't matter! It's awesome, isn't it!" PheonixFox sang. "And trust me, there IS a reason why you're all here! It's just not to be discussed presently. Since it's important, and there are still a few people absent."
"STILL!?"
Higuchi groaned. "I can't believe this..."

Show, Don't Tell

A bad method in writing is to say constantly, "He/She/I was scared," or "He/She/I was hungry," or sad or angry or excited or whatever.

Here's something you can do once in a while. Take a phrase like what I've just mentioned. like, "I was scared." Elaborate. Tell all about you being scared, without using the word 'scared.' For example:

I was scared.

My legs were trembling with the effort to stand, my teeth chattering nonstop. My hands were clammy and covered in sweat, wringing themselves as I walked forward hesitatanly. The smallest noises made me jump, the wind on the back of my neck making me shiver.

--and so, you get the picture. It's just to practice showing something, without telling.

However, this really only works with feelings. Don't go off talking about long, wooden sticks with suction cups on the end. Just say plunger. No need to get fancy there.

A Little Something to Think About

Things I'd like to note:

To be certain is to be sure. To be a curtain, you hang in front of a window so nobody can peek in.
Their stupid. Their stupid what?
I before E except after C. Unless it's weird. Or your neighbor.
Lay down the bed and lie on top of it.
'Lot' is a noun. People seem to forget that a lot.
Can you use the bathroom? Then perhaps you may.
The farther you go, the further you are.
It's wrong to get its abbreviation wrong.
The past has passed.
It was better than that way back then.
You threw it through the window.
Contemplate on whether the weather is spelt that way.
Who's worried whose isn't right?
You're sure your getting it right?
Be sure that I accept nothing except proper word use.

Then again, I didn't even spell Phoenix properly when I made my name. Well, oh well.

A Manga How-to Guide

So far, everything's been mostly about writing stories and such. Now it's time for some tips about manga! First of all, you can't really pull off a good manga until you learn to draw. I've looked at some different styles, and here are some thing I believe mangakas should practice drawing to get a better look to their pages.

Number 1: Profiles
Like it or not, people are NOT 2-D--unless they're stick figures, like the ones I draw on MSPaint. Practice drawing heads from different angles, especially from the side, as well as even from above or below. Actually, profiles can be drawn almost the same way that heads facing forward are, with what is pretty much just half of the chin plus the nose, stuck to the side of the face. The lips and eye can be tricky, of course, but try not to indent TOO far--it only makes the head look like a bean. Or maybe an eggplant. Your pick.

Number 2: Emotions
Unless the character is as emotionless as Raggy Anne the rag doll--or Sesshomaru from Inuyasha--you need to be able to convey a characters thoughts and feelings. Draw about a million heads, and then try different expressions on them. The shown expression can change with simply the cock of an eyebrow, the wrinkling of a brow, the height and arc and tilt of a mouth, the sparkle in their eye, the amount the eyes are open (like they could be squinting or winking), or even if their nose is wrinkled. Sweatdrops and popping veins help a little bit, but on their own they don't work so well. Sometimes, though, when a character is being evil-ish, or is incredibly sad or depressed or shocked or whatever, you can darken the top of their head, about all the way down to their nose. The mouth and any extras (the sweatdrops and such) will convey what the feelings is that isn't shown in their shadowed eyes. Also, sometimes artists use this so the reader feels that they can't properly show the emotion, because it's so intense.

Number 3: Hands
Normal human fingers, unfortunately, are not pointy. They are round, and split into 3 sections, except for the thumb, which has only two. While my dad put a very horrid technique in my head that'd I'd rather not remember and would definitely rather not share, another way is to try sketching circular segments to be the segments of your fingers, ataching them end to end, being careful that they're proportionate with that finger as well as the ones next to it. That way, they can bend at what will hopefully be a more natural angle, and won't look like claws. Otherwise, just practice--maybe even try to come up with your own style. If sharp fingers work for you, though, then by all means, stick to it (sometimes the effect actually makes it look better, but it depends on how the rest of the art is, usually).

Number 4: Proportions
A hand should not, I repeat, should NOT be smaller than an eye. Most body parts can be measured by other body parts. Did you know that if you had a third hand, you could just barely wrap your fingers, touching, around you neck. You're also about 10 times as high as the length of your feet, and your arm span, from fingertip to fingertip, is the same measurement as your height. Your middle finger and thumb can almost circumnavigate your wrist, as well. Keeping these in mind, try drawing two of each thing next to each other for practice. Trust me, I botch up proportions a lot, and it makes the characters look like they have a birth defect.

Number 5: Movement
Movement is harder to draw than it first looks. Study what other artists do, and/or try out your own ideas. Patches of smoke with speed lines running off of the page or panel work sometimes when there's meant to be a chibi or a Saturday-cartoon effect of a fast get-away, and arched lines can show the swiveling of a head or body. Experiment, and see what looks good. Also, a character's pose can also suggest movement. You can show them skidding to a hasty stop, or laughing their butt off, or springing for an attack, even without extra lines. This, at least for me, can be a little tricky, but that's why we practice.

Number 6: Speech Bubbles
'Speech Bubbles' includes thought bubbles and narrator notes and the like. A circle or oval is fairly easy, but then there's the fact that it also has to fit some writing in it, and has to point to the mouth of whomever is speaking. I usually draw a rough circle-oval shape and leave it blank until the page is finished, then add the stem and fill in what it says. With thought bubbles, it's a little more tricky. Actually, you can make thought bubbles just like speech bubbles, only instead of a stem you use increasingly decreasingly-sized bubbles leading to the thinking character's person. As for the cloud type, it has a malleable rim (since it's not a perfectly round circle) and so can be tricky for blancing it out to make it look good. So, draw a circle slightly smaller than how far you want the rim to be, then create arcs off of the curved sides all the way around until you reach that point again. The result should be a more or less neater appearance. Same thing goes with shouts, though with those you can even place them over or beneath whatever you want, including other speech bubbles. Just don't cover up TOO much. As for narrator boxes, those are easy--a square or rectangle is more easily drawn than a perfectly round circle or oval--but it only works if it's a square or rectangle and NOTHING ELSE. Just because all of it's sides are perpengicular to the two other sides it's attached to doesn't mean it works--it just looks odd. Make the rectangle big enough or put it somewhere else, but don't just add a growth off of the side if one written part goes too far to the side. It looks unprofessional. You can, howeer, attach boxes together at the corner or top an bottom or whatnot, as long as each has it's own complete thought that does run right into the other one it's connected to. It doesn't look neat that way, just a race for space.

There are also some elements I feel should have some notice:

Layout
If you can't read your comic/manga properly unless there are arrows present between panels, you have a problem. A page should be set up so that the reader can tell almost without thinking what to read first, then second, then third. Tell on the side somewhere on the first page which way you're supposed to read the manga--left to right or right to left. And make sure YOU know which way, too. It can only get confusing if it seems to switch. Then again, if your layout's good, maybe one can tell which way to read simply by looking at it. Like with the first page of Alice 19th, start everything in the upper corner on the starting side and go from there, descending down below and then over, so you know that that's how it's going to be, since that's the way the first page led you.

Fillers
If you're one of those artists who loves to put in fillers, it's a rather bad idea to just slap them in at the very center of the story line. Put them in between scenes, or chapters--when a new chapter begins, you can put one both before and after the chapter title page. As a reader myself, I understand nothing is as irritating as having been rapt up in the storyline to suddenly have it cut into by a character or two in a certain pose and/or suit. A good picture, for sure, but really, I'm trying to READ. I get the same feeling when my brother tries to talk to me when I'm reading a book. It gets me irriatable in a very dangerous way...

Textures
Some people use photoshop or some such when they do their pictures. First off, this can very easily be overdone. Not EVERYTHING needs to have textures or patterns; if it's one solid color, KEEP IT one solid color. I don't know about you, but MY walls don't have Tie-Dye splotches of white on some other color, nor my shirts or pants, except for the ones that are, well, Tie-Dye. Sure, if it's just empty space behind the characters, go ahead, get funky, and no one can say no to a little wallpaper, but sometimes it doesn't really help. Not to mention that it makes everything distracting, plus sometimes it blends in. Sometimes, all I can really notice at first is a person's shirt and the wall behind them, since they contrast, and my eyes skip right over their pants. I always have to double-check, to make sure they actually have them.

Contests
First, only attempt a contest if a lot of people read your manga. Second, once again, don't start one smack dab in a chapter's center. You can use it as a transitional post,to go from one setting to another, or can announce it around the chapter title page. I don't think anyone will be interested in a contest as much if they have to remember it's there as they read on past it, trying to get back to the story so they don't forget what the page before had said.

Plot
You can't start drawing a character named XX (insert proper noun) who is an XX (insert profession) who XXs (insert verb) and can talk to XXs (insert noun). That's only a character. In a manga, that character needs to be put into a story to be of any use. Which also means the making of other characters for them to interact with, as well. What is their goal? Is there an antagonist? How do they end up getting involved? Answer these questions in your story by drawing it out!

So there it is, what I believe is what you should keep an eye on when making a manga, or at least in my opinion. Actually, I probably covered everything there IS when you're making a manga. Or close to it. Since, well, you should work on all of it, anyway. They are the elements that I believe influence the quality of a manga. Then again, I've seen a few that lack in more than half of these qualities that are fantastic to read, thanks to their artist's ideas or humor or story, and that's always something to think of, too--these elements are useless unless there's a good mind to use them. Either way, it's your choice to listen to me or not; hopefully you will at least try some of these techniques.

And hopefully you will see this all as constructive critism, and not a big insult. Because I don't want to be running form pitchfork-wielding mangaka after my life for critisizing their work.

Have a good day--and while you're at it, put that pitchfork down...thanks.

P.S. If you want to be a part of the Writers' Block writers and help other artists with their works, please contact me so you can be made a Guest Poster and a member of the site. We (I) would be grateful to have you!