Floating Catacombs

Thanks for sticking with me as I descend ever further into my weeb niches. Here’s a roundup post, in case you missed anything or are new to this blog.

1. Bandai Taketh Away

2. It’s the Tar Taking Over That Came Unexpected

3. Patlabor is On Lock

4. Compile Hagiography Through Reading the Hyperdimension Neptunia Wiki

5. Bro Your Taste….

6. annual music post?

7. Macross Zero Gets Me To Blog About Macross Here and It’s Honestly a Surprise How Little I’ve Done That Considering How Much I Like Macross as a Whole

8. Go Nagai was insane for this one

9. Trying to Talk about Touhou

10. GENSHIKEN POWER LEVELS

11. The Little Guys Who Live on My Desk

12. What Else Did You Expect But More Yuri About Adults

I hope you enjoyed reading, and see you next December!

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 12

It is my sworn duty to document the yuri genre as it continues to graduate from high school. Here’s the pickings from this year.

She Loves To Cook, She Loves to Eat

Two women who live by themselves in the same apartment complex slowly bond over making and eating food together. There’s a fundamental feminism at this manga’s core which says yes, we will be talking about periods and eating disorders and shitty families and institutional sexism instead of being trapped in our own coffins forever. That alone makes She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat a landmark work, but it’s also extremely relaxing and sweet. By some metrics it’s one of the most popular manga for women in Japan, and it warms my heart to know that it’s reaching the people who need to hear what it has to say.

Also, it received a live-action adaptation that aired on NHK during prime time. It’s definitely worth watching! While the manga will use a good third of its panels to depict Kasuga devouring a meal from bite to bite, the show instead places the camera on Nomoto watching Kasuga eat. It’s an interesting inversion, keeping us more locked into Nomoto’s perspective, and makes sense for the medium. There is no clear cultural box for what these two women are doing, something which they’re each keenly aware of. And yet, they continue to take care of one another, cutting through the fear and loneliness dinner by dinner. Watching through this with my girlfriend healed my relationship to food just a little, and I can’t wait for the second season to adapt some of the really juicy parts of the manga.

Cheerful Amnesia

A woman gets in a terrible accident and loses the last three years of her memories, much to the chagrin of her girlfriend during that time. This is a sex comedy with exactly one joke, and the bluntness with which it is applied won me over. I probably would’ve hated Arisa if I had tried reading this a year or two ago, but now that I’m familiar with High Femme Camp Antics I can understand what’s going on with her. It’s so stupid, and arguably not very good, and yet I had fun. Though it is genuinely great that the latter volumes shift the subject matter to the perils of coming out to your family and the heartbreak of planning a wedding in a country that won’t recognize your marriage, but keep the tone exactly as lighthearted.

Umineko-Sou days

I mostly picked this up because it appeared while I was searching for the Umineko manga on my reader app. It was fine.

Naoko Kodama’s true calling, though, is writing cheating manga. Her newest is “A Lying Bride’s Case for Same-Sex Marriage”, a manifesto of a title if I’ve ever heard one. There’s only one chapter so far, but the heteropessimism on display is so scorched-earth that it’s hard to fault the lesbian protagonist for any homewrecking that may occur down the line.

Kodama is on a fucking mission with this one

A Face You Shouldn’t Show

Thank god you can just publish fetish porn in Comic Yuri Hime now. I approve of this on an ideological level, if not always a personal interest one.

_

All of the manga on display here are chipping away at the purity complex endemic to yuri in their own ways, and that’s the real miracle. Here’s to newer, weirder lesbians, now and always. Merry Christmas.

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 11

Normally I take the 24th off, but I had a nice low-effort idea this year. Now that you’re trapped inside my post, I get to show you all the mecha girlies I keep in my work area to brighten my day. With any luck, this exercise will serve as a small window into my design taste. Pardon the dust.

GM Sniper II

I’m not a huge GM fan in general, but this variant is so cute. A lot of it comes from her head, which is very reminiscent of the AV-98 Ingram and even features its own cute antenna earpiece. I haven’t built any other early Universal Century kits, so I find the blockiness of the body and limbs extremely charming here.

Gundam Gremory

There’s ton to like with the Gremory. Her color scheme is one of the most unique I’ve ever seen on a Gundam, and using khaki for the legs as opposed to the usual white helps her really stand apart. The pink on her claws and chest fins and impish head really pops – she’s a nasty little femme, which is all the funnier considering that she’s piloted by a canonical butch lesbian from some IBO side manga. There’s a hood you can pull over her head, giving her something closer to a horned mono-eye look which I adore. And of course the heels and scythe and wings are as cunty as could be. She’s all business.

The 30MMs

and tomoyo!

30MM is Bandai’s line of original mecha model kits, focusing on simple builds and customization through cross-compatibility with other 30MM and Gunpla. They got me hook, line, and sinker with these. My first build here was a white Cielnova, and I adored her beefiness and radar dish. Then I learned that there’s a line called Spinatia which are decidedly feminine but with just the right amount of abstraction about it. I grabbed an Assassin and a few miscellaneous parts, and ultimately decided to mix the two kits together. Now I’ve got a gunslinging magical girl robot with JNCOs, and a lanky evil borzoi. I love them. Next year’s 30MM lineup includes a mecha horse that could be used to make taurs, and Armored Core VI kits. I’m going to be feasting.

Narrative Gundam C-Packs

This one was built by my girlfriend, who insists that Gundam Narrative is a good movie. I can’t argue with her because I haven’t seen it, but I do love the titular mecha. We call her “smoked salmon girlie” on account of her lined pink psycho frame. I used to have my very first build, a Strike Freedom Gundam, in this spot, but we swapped it out with the Narrative Gundam while retaining the wings. I do love those wings… just looking at the MG-EX Strike Freedom makes me drool and if I was ever going to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a large model, it would be that one.

Maya Amano Nendoroid

Sometimes god intervenes and they make a figure of your waifu 23 years after the fact.

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 10

For no particular reason, all the members of the Genshiken have had their abilities translated into specific parameters. It’s pretty obvious that A would be the strongest, but you might be thinking to yourself, “What on earth is all this B+ and C+ nonsense!?” Well, don’t worry, because I’m not going to explain anything here. Just consult the Servant Parameter Rules.

Overall, the ratings represent ‘otaku power expressed as deviance, taking combat potential into account’.

Spotted Flower spoilers follow. (everyone is bisexual now).

Sasahara Kanji: C+, B

Condition: Green

An “average” otaku in nearly all respects, though he has good taste and the ability to distance himself and speak objectively, even when under attack by girls. Can appreciate yaoi in some situations. As a manga editor, of course, his power increases, and his devotion to his waifu is commendable. The Gunpla Quiz gave him the Ball as his favorite mobile suit, and he’s also a Patwaber fan!

Still… Ahhh! Men who get in the way of Yuri are unforgivable!

Kousaka Makoto A-

BAYOEN! BAYOEN! BAYOEN! BAYOEN! BAYOEN!

Extremely high base stats, a very scary offense and near-perfect defense, that pretty-boy face, perfect crossdressing, and the ability to make it all look effortless. Capable of going at it for half an hour while also watching anime! He can pull girls for threesomes whenever he wants! (not Saki though). He’s a master of the Great Tanaka Rensa technique! That kind of power is truly fearsome… However, a kiss on the cheek from Sasahara was super effective.

Harunobu Madarame. C++/–

Sou Uke

A lot of pros, a lot of cons. However, it all balances out to an average C. This guy is the very picture of a normal otaku… or at least, he tries to be. Low base stats, excellent coverage and decent utility, but he suffers from four moveslot syndrome. Capable of entering a gay relationship, and even bottoming, although the circumstances were not particularly praiseworthy. Easily punishable, due to his excessive recovery frames.

…I can’t decide if cheating on his wife on the night she gave birth to their child is something that raises or lowers his power level.

Mitsunori Kugayama C-

Level 27 Ranger

A pretty skilled artist, when he has to be. Usually he doesn’t have to be, so that’s fine. Manages to live a nice normal life without drama, and that counts for a lot – but he’s pretty conflict-averse.

Souichirou Tanaka. B

P-Bandai 1/100 MG Master Grade Ver. Ka

Capable of successfully synthesizing 2d and 3d by sewing cosplay, building gunpla, and even making custom figurines. Tanaka definitely understands the power of care and love. That’s not the kind of power you can take lightly.

The type to mostly just block attacks until he sees an opening.

Kasukabe Saki E

Blood Type: AB

An otaku-sounding name, but a low power level. Not actually very good at conflict, either. Still, she has been to Comiket Comifest! Don’t count her out.

Ohno Kanako D+, B

Wears a Three Star Uniform

Just wants to be a pretty cosplay mannequin with no internality – until Ogiue shows up, and then the gloves come off. You can really tell the devs put a lot of effort into that jiggling, huh. Don’t take her lightly though: she built seven Goufs.

Her victory line, “There’s no such thing as a girl who hates homos!!”, does feel really out of place after a round win against Hato though.

The Genshiken President ???

BLOOD TYPE: BLUE

A mystery to the last.

Angela Burton – C+

“Unlike your chest, mine gives people dreams and desires.”

You’d think that not being able to understand all those doujinshi she’s buying would make her a weak otaku – but in practice not speaking Japanese just makes her really good at dodging attacks. Extremely high attack power. Eventually becomes an enlightened being capable of appreciating both Yaoi and Yuri and, uh, demanding threesomes from her friends. Hm.

Suzanna Hopkins – B+

Pettan Pettan Tsurupettan

Today I’ll sneakily hide in the trees again and keep stalking Ogiue! I’ll wait and steal the precious thing!  The little girl who speaks in nothing but references is actually really blushing?! She sticks out her arms when she runs; is she going for the cute look?

This fanservice joke girl (evil spirit begone!) /

born into the nation of America (probably plays puyo puyo)/

was actually, canonically, (Kadabra, Alakazam)/

bisexual??????? (Mada Mada Ra, Mada Mada Ra, Mada Mada Rame, yeah!)/

Manabu Kuchiki – E

Stand Parameter: Development Potential E

The other kind of joke character. Like Sue, he’s a grappler, but he just doesn’t have enough options or ability to adjust to matchups. Gets points for liking traps, but loses them for one-note misogyny; gets  points for kissing Madarame but loses them for being boring. Starts a lot of conflict but easy and uninteresting to deal with; he always goes for the super so you just have to bait it out and then smash attack him.

If that wasn’t enough, I personally hate this guy because if not for him Hato and Madarame totally would have done That!!!!!  

Ogiue Chika D+, A

Genshiken Brigade Chief and Ultra Fujoshi Director

Incredible otaku power – enough to draw doujinshi of people she knows in real life and easily grasp the truth of Kifujin Kaminaga’s “Hato x Brother” madness. She does constantly try to kill herself and deny her heart but once she stops doing that she’s capable of producing incredible amounts of manga. Ends up with a boyfriend and a girlfriend but complains that sexually satisfying them both takes away from her drawing time. She’s bad at dealing with conflict but her pure ‘level of ability as an otaku’ is close to the top of the rankings.

This ranking is curtain fire shooting game.

Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please watch warmly until it is ready.

The border land was wrapped in Scarlet Magic. Girls believe that you solve this Genshiken Nidaime.

Yoshitake Rika C+++

Nen Type: Manipulator (Pseudo-Coercive).

A demon of chaos. Her power as a fujoshi is fairly standard, but she devotes herself wholeheartedly to causing problems and drama – and in this capacity she’s powerful enough to approach Hato. All her moves have random components… in serious play nobody uses her but among casual players she’s often considered broken.

Yoshitake Risa D

Noble Phantasm Rank C

It’s all fictional anyway but girl. what is wrong with you. Fails to appreciate Hato, but does get Hato to wear fetish clothing, so that’s a bonus. The gap between her appearance and her personality is moe.

Mirei Yajima D+, A-

Self-Proclaimed Uncute Girl Doing Uncute Things

Toiling away in the shonen mines, convinced that someday Naruto and Sasuke will kiss for real no you just don’t understand the depths of their relationship. A terrible artist, and she knows it. Grouchy and grumbly and insecure about her gender presentation, especially with Hato around.

But she’s a good writer, and a good editor, and she knows what she wants (Hato) and how to get it. My second favorite character honestly; I really love the way her complexes towards and around Hato play out. “He needs to have sex with a guy so we can draw better manga, which is the only way to make sure he stays with me!” Yajimacchi are you okay? (no she is not. She has way too much internality).

Kenjirou Hato. A++

Super High School Level Homewrecker

What is Hato’s otaku level? Let’s review: Hato is a crossdresser with a foundational crush on his older brother’s EX-level fujoshi girlfriend, going so far as to dress up as her, copy her drawing style well enough to end up with a wall circle spot at Comifest, and blush when she tells him “Hey. I’m getting married to your brother soon. It’d be really hot if you dressed up as me and fucked my husband-to-be, your brother, as revenge on me for taking him away from you.”

Hato has a naked floating tulpa girl of his fujoshi self floating around behind him who does things like make him smell his senpai’s bedsheets and shower in his room, hoping Madarame will walk in on him. Once he’s in deep enough with all of this, he gains a second naked floating tulpa girl of his fujoshi self who has the same eyes as his older brother’s girlfriend and is Evil. Hato then integrates both of them and keeps crossdressing after a conversation with Ogiue about what he really wants to be and what he wants to draw.

Hato is out of his fucking mind. I love him.

Hato’s conflict potential is also extremely high. Not only was he a judoka (who spent time in the locker room looking at other boys’ bodies and thinking about yaoi) he expertly plays all kinds of “ohhhh you should just give up on me” women games with Madarame’s pure maidenly heart.

And then Spotted Flower happens. Spotted Flower is a moiling toxic sexual swamp of barely-holding-together relationships and threesomes where your good old favorite Genshiken buddies are now bi (Kousaka, Sasahara, Sue, Ogiue, Angela, and Yajima, in addition to original series bisexuals Madarame and Hato) and cheating on each other. Everybody hates Spotted Flower and they’re so wrong.

By the time of Spotted Flower, Hato is living as a woman full time, with silicone implants.

Regrettably, I have no choice but to stan.

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 9

This is the year that something finally clicked. I went from getting a game over halfway through any given Touhou game to racking up Normal one-credit clears in Touhou 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 17. It’s a journey that’s required self-restraint so I don’t destroy my hands (see my Caves of Qud post), but I’ve gotten to a point where I can try out a new Touhou and largely intuit what that particular game is putting down without bashing my head against the first few stages for days. It’s a really nice sweet-spot to be in, even if it took years of on-and-off play since 2016 to achieve.

I’m not in a position to give hot bullet dodging tips or anything (you’ll have to turn to John Madden for that), but maybe I can share some scattered views on these games I’ve come to love.

A lot of advice given to new players boils down to either “don’t bomb too much, you’ll lose valuable practice” or “you can bomb, it’s fine”. But my biggest roadblock was actually sticking to one game for years instead of trying out a bunch in that time. Practicing the same spell cards over and over helps you progress much further through one game than your skills would otherwise allow, but I don’t think you’ll learn as much overall! Because even though all the games look very similar from the outside, Touhou is an exercise in constant experimentation between releases.

ZUN is never content to rest on his laurels for too long, always going back to the drawing board and making minor adjustments to the Touhou formula that carry far-reaching implications. For example, Mountain of Faith may be one of the mechanically simpler games, but changing the bombing system from fixed quantities to bombs that lower the player’s shot power has a ton of knock-on effects! It makes bombing during the stages far more viable, and lets the player bomb through spell cards with confidence if they know they’re going to be regaining that power afterwards. This makes Mountain of Faith one of the breezier entries in the series, but only if the player is comfortable with bombing that much. The people who want to prove themselves by capturing as many spellcards as possible will continue to do that and face a moderate challenge. The next Touhou game, Subterranean Animism, uses an identical system, except bombing removes 25% more power from the player, and bosses drop fewer power items after each phase. These little tweaks flip the equation on its head entirely, as bombing even once will leave you noticeably weaker for the rest of the fight. You can’t bomb proactively anymore, but it’s still absolutely worth it when the alternative is dying. It makes these games feel extremely different from one another, and not being able to play them in the same way means you’ll have to gain some flexibility.

The method through which you earn extra lives is also in constant flux. ZUN’s thrown every idea at the wall, from score thresholds to collectible UFOs to grazing lots of bullets to just being able to buy them at the metaprogression store. The problem is that no matter the method, it’s going to be gamed by better players and underutilized by novices. That’s why I’ve gradually come around to Subterranean Animism’s system, even though it’s one of the most frustrating at first. It’s absolutely brutal for new players but rewards the right behavior – surviving by any means necessary. For every segment of a boss fight that you make it through without getting hit, regardless of whether or not you bombed, you’re rewarded with a fifth of an extra life. This snowballs both ways. If you’re getting hit a lot in early stages, you’re not going to be receiving any extra support at all, but if you can survive everything thrown at you, you’ll be rewarded with more extra life opportunities than in nearly any other Touhou. My winning run of Subterranean Animism had me get through the first four stages without dying and then break even on Stage 5, letting me face the final boss with eight lives. As mentioned earlier, SA is extremely stringent on bombs, forcing you to learn patterns to a painful degree, but my god did finally capturing all of Satori and Rin’s spells and fumbling through Utsuho’s feel good. After two years of practice, it’s definitely my favorite of the games, and the clear that I’m the most proud of.

top 10 spell card name btw

So switching between games is a great way to pick up general skills and it’s cool to watch ZUN’s gamedev iteration cycle, especially if you’re playing somewhat chronologically. The only challenge is having to learn to allow seven or so girls into your heart at a time. Touhou characters are like Pokemon in that whenever there’s another installment, all of the new ones feel kind of fake for a bit and the part of your brain that keeps track of all these creatures needs time to really integrate them. Maybe this is just a me problem. Eventually though, they are friends all the same. Also, you will learn to love the character portraits. Every era. Give it time.

The early Windows games have most of the classic characters and generally play on the easier side, so maybe start with one of those if you’re interested? Touhou 8 (Imperishable Night) is often recommended as a starting point, and is regarded as one of the easier installments, but the one-off gameplay systems are as numerous as they are ridiculous. Time of night, human/youkai meter, minions, alternate stages, Last Spells - it’s chaos. Also, any plot involving the moon is bound to be truly convoluted, even by Touhou standards. Play 7 or 10 instead (or be like me and start with 6 (definitely use the hitbox patch tho)).

JUST DON’T PLAY LEGACY OF LUNATIC KINGDOM BECAUSE YOU’LL FALL IN LOVE WITH THE MUSIC AND WANT TO KEEP GOING BACK BUT THE GAME WILL BE EXCEEDINGLY FRUSTRATING EVEN IF A LOT OF THE IDEAS ZUN IS TRYING OUT ARE REALLY COOL (i will not be clearing this one ever probably)

I’m glad ZUN is thoughtfully experimenting with trends from other genres such as metaprogression and checkpointing with infinite lives in his more recent games. The non-numbered side games in particular provide a space for him to further mess around. My personal favorites are 100th Black Market, which recontextualizes the roguelike shop from the previous game while acting as a great practice tool, and Fairy Wars, which is stupid fun.

In conclusion, Touhou demonstrates through its excellency that the ideal skill hierarchy for solo gamedev polymaths is music > gameplay > writing > art. See also: Toby Fox.

12 Days of Aniblogging 2023, Day 8

I like to always have manga of dubious quality on tap for when I’m having trouble sleeping. Ideally, reading a few chapters will distract me, but I won’t want to stay up late shotgunning volumes. Devilman Lady was the ideal manga for this, and this is maybe the last time anyone will ever describe Devilman Lady as “ideal”.

An extremely brief introduction is in order. If Osamu Tezuka is the godfather of manga, then Go Nagai is manga’s weird horny uncle. He’s arguably just as influential, the two of them just moved in different circles, each reifying entire genres. Nagai is more or less responsible for magical girls, super robot, and ecchi, and also spent a lot of time in the sphere of supernatural and post-apocalyptic manga. These are fundamentally genres of extremity and ridiculousness, and Nagai dials every one of his works up to 11 by the end, one way or another. Devilman is probably his most famous work over here, and it’s a stone-cold classic for a reason. Nagai has kept revisiting it over the years, with side stories, alternate universes, manga cameos, and even entirely new series that function as stealth sequels such as Violence Jack. But his most notable attempt is Devilman Lady, which is far more than a simple gender-swap of the original.

Devilman Lady is about swimming deep in filth. It’s easily the most disgust-provoking manga I’ve read, with pretty much every content warning under the sun applicable. This is a truly rotten and conspiratorial world that Nagai is depicting. Societal decay manifests in countless forms, including rape, child abuse, homophobia, militarism, and hatred towards immigrants. Anything that could be potentially understood as fanservice is placed right next to or directly within the atrocities at hand, and it’s genuinely unclear how much Nagai intended that as commentary. His intentions throughout this whole manga are a bit of an enigma, but what’s clear that he is firing on all cylinders.

This is an extremely zeitgeisty 90’s work, with intelligent design debates, the mapping of the human genome, new age paranoia, religious zealotry, and anxiety over pollution all playing out on the pages. Where it breaks from many of its contemporaries is a decisive rejection of the end of history. This is the kind of thing you write when you’re still reeling from the subway sarin gas attacks and your country’s role in the Gulf War and subsequent militarization. It’s the perfect manga for capturing a time period when ten to twenty percent of Japan’s population were estimated to have belonged to a new religious movement.

The punchline to all of this is that he doesn’t know how to draw women.

By the back half of Devilman Lady, Nagai’s depictions of hellscapes and grotesque monsters reach near-Berserk levels of detail and technical competency. And yet his female protagonists are still drawn in a drastically simpler 70’s style, only now with giant spheres grafted to their chests. Either humans and the infernal are two completely different skillsets, or this was a deliberate artistic decision, and both are difficult to swallow. Either way, we just have to accept the juxtapositions.

one of my favorite pages to show people devoid of context

The finale is just nuts. Go Nagai makes textual the homoeroticism and gender deviance of the original Devilman manga, as the world burns in both nuclear warfare and demonic hellfire. The story starts accelerating at an unfathomable pace, the most inscrutable double mobius reacharound yaoiyuri occurs, and the universe resets once or twice. It makes the endings of Jojo Part 6 and 7 look tame by comparison. There is no way to parse this like a normal manga with a plot and narrative. It is raw id.

This has been a year where I’ve tried to deliberately broaden my comfort zone by engaging with more potentially upsetting works if I think they’ll have something interesting to say. This was like jumping into the deep end. Devilman Lady may very well be Go Nagai’s magnum opus. It’s not nearly as tight as the original manga, but it’s a glorious mess, just as radical to its own time as Devilman must have been in the 70s. It made for spectacular insomnia reading. And there’s no way in hell I can ever recommend it.

At age 19, Nagai went through a bout of diarrhea so bad that he convinced himself it was colon cancer, and that he was at death’s door. He vowed to leave something behind for the world to remember him by, and began laboring away on manga. And for the last 60 years of his career, he’s written and drawn with the fervor of a man who’s about to shit himself to death. Maybe that’s the real secret.