Hello, and welcome to my personal World!

Here's where I'll share some personal notes, fun/random stuff, and my original writing. Enjoy!!

Featured Fiction:
Dreamer | Eternal Rain | Pet Projects | Search for the Sky | So Distant | Unraveled

Role Plays:
dis-colour | Prismatic Haven

Original Character Profiles & References:
OC Library | Character Refs

Just for Fun
Ask Us! | 30 Days of Art Event | DA 30-Day Drawing Challenge

You can also find me on DeviantArt and Unvale.

How Slapstick Comedy Sabotaged Your Lie in April

Your Lie in April could have been an A+, five-star anime. I’ve highly rated and recommended it in the past. But when I re-watched the series, I found myself skipping over several segments. Your Lie is uneven, with one excellent thread and one that fell short because of definite, glaring issues.

The excellent thread is the main plot: Kousei, a musical prodigy who leaves the concert scene after his mother’s death, returns to the stage to face the piano and all the baggage that it carries, through which he comes to terms with his mixed feelings toward his mom and finds closure and connection. The psychology of it and the portrayal of his trauma was very raw and immersive, and the emotional payoff of this thread endears the series to me despite its flaws.

The secondary plot thread is a love triangle between Kousei, his childhood friend, Tsubaki, and a violinist named Kaori who pushes him back into the music world. This thread falls flat for several reasons, which boil down to one key problem: the series’ poor sense of humor.

To be honest, Your Lie’s slapstick comedy almost stopped me from watching the series when I first picked it up. “But Kita,” you might say, “you’re absolutely fine with the slapstick humor in other series.” True, slapstick can be absolutely hilarious when it’s used correctly. But it can also hurt a series when it’s overdone and/or doesn’t suit the context. (Looking at you, original Rurouni Kenshin anime.)

The reason it doesn’t work in this particular series is that Kousei was abused. When you’re dealing with a sensitive topic like this, it’s in bad taste to choose slapstick as your mode of comic relief, especially when the one being smacked and hit in the head with softballs (to the point of bleeding that oddly-realistically doesn’t go away the instant after the comedy moment is over) is the abuse victim. This DOUBLY fails when the potential love interests are the most frequent offenders. How can I get invested in the romance plot when I don’t believe that either of the girls treats him right? In this case, my disinterest in the romance aspect worked for me since it softened the blow of the tragic ending. But I don’t think that’s what the author was going for.

What do you think? Have you seen other series that were sabotaged by their humor? Feel free to share in the comments.

Up for an OC Art Trade? (CLOSED)

Perhaps inspired by seeing art fight pieces, I've been feeling like doing some art trades; so, I'd like to offer them for the month of September. ^-^

Please keep your requests family-friendly, and please note that I will not draw any romantic pairings.

I'll start by opening two slots and may expand depending on my schedule and if there's enough interest. If you'd like to participate in a trade, comment with references of your OC(s) or fan character(s)!

1. Kazamas Keyblade
2. toyotami kun - Tobi - FINISHED!

EDIT: Requests will be opened until Saturday (Sep 14th), and I'll choose two to draw from the comments/references submitted.

Profiles and Writing Stuff

Hey, guys! Hope everybody's doing well as we (already) approach the end of the year. ^-^

An artist I watch on YouTube had one of her videos sponsored by a new site called Unvale that exclusively focuses on original characters. I started poking around there in early October, I think, and I'm strongly considering making it the central hub for my character profiles and reference sheets. So, don't be surprised if I start cleaning the OC Library posts and reference sheets out of here. I'll still post writing updates and memes and character development stuff here, but most of the information-based stuff will move to Unvale. Any trade/request/challenge references will be coming from Unvale, too, once I move more of my OC profiles there. (Same for DA commissions and stuff.)

I added the link to my Unvale account in the Writer/Anime Fan world intro if anybody else with lots of OCs to keep track of wants to check it out.

Have a good weekend!

Character Reference: Michi

Character Reference: Joel