Art Thursday

Tuxedo Mask Doesn’t Know How to Wear a Tuxedo

Tuxedo Mask, the sometimes useless boyfriend of Sailor Moon, does not, strictly speaking, wear a tuxedo. As I learned recently while researching for a character’s costume in a story, Tuxedo Mask wears white tie, the most formal of formalwear in the West.

The rules of white tie, I have learned, are strict, so it is unsurprising that the most famous formally dressed man in the world of magical girls frequently breaks them. Oh, Tuxedo Mask, how many rules of men’s full dress have you violated in how many different versions? Continue reading “Tuxedo Mask Doesn’t Know How to Wear a Tuxedo”

History of Magical Girl Anime, Part 3

I continue to be impressed by SourcererZZ’s video series covering the history of magical girl anime. His presentation is professional and knowledgeable if perhaps dry.

Here he covers the bulk of the Studio Pierrot era, when the genre was still mostly tame, but could sometimes get a little sleazy.

Unfortunately, at this point in the video series, a version with accurate subtitles is apparently unavailable, and SourcererZZ’s English continues to be, at times, difficult to understand. On the plus side, if you turn on the closed captioning, it is, as always with YouTube videos, hilarious.

Why does YouTube even have automatic closed captioning when it always turns out like this?

Art

Featured image: “Magical Girl Lux” by vixyl.

Aaaaaahhhhht

Featured image: “Microbe Magical Girl” by Shattered-Earth.

JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Chapter 3

JAKE AND THE DYNAMO

CHAPTER 3: THE SECOND TEST

FIRST
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NEXT

Magical Girl Pretty Dynamo ran to the mouth of the alley as Jake hunkered behind the rubbish bins. Around her waist, above her poufy skirt, she wore a utility belt. From it, she pulled a blue rectangle with rounded corners, a gadget Jake at first assumed was a cell phone. Throwing it, she shouted, “Circuit Board!”

The rectangle hovered an inch above the ground and split in half. The two halves shot apart, leaving between them a sheet of what looked like blue-tinted glass full of shimmering gold circuitry. The two ends curled up to form a sort of narrow, futuristic snowboard.

Dynamo leapt onto the board, kicked against the ground, and shot into the air, leaving a trail of blue glitter behind her. Continue reading “JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Chapter 3”

The Fantasy Epic Reinterpreted as Eighties Rock

Somebody drew my attention to this the other day, and … well, it’s just too good not to post. For a certain definition of good.

There is a plot buried somewhere under all the rapid takes. I can’t for the life of me tell you what it is, but I saw a chainmail bikini, and that’s good enough for me. Who doesn’t love chainmail bikinis?

I mean besides the SFWA, which fires people for chainmail bikinis.

I’ve never before heard of this Chris Dane Owens, but with his huge eyes and his bleached blond hair, he looks like a hero out of a shoujo manga. Apparently, there may be a film based on his music video at some point. Let us hope it’s coherent.

For some reason, I’m reminded of this:

In a Dream

Featured image: Something in Japanese.

The premise of Jake and the Dynamo came to me in a dream.

I think I had been watching Shugo Chara!, the anime based on Peach-Pit’s classic magical girl manga, before I went to bed, so that was probably the impetus, but I had a dream about a high-schooler who got sent back to fifth grade because of an error on his transcript. There, a little girl picked on him, and he couldn’t do anything about it because she was just a kid.

When I woke up, I thought that was a really funny idea, but I couldn’t think of anything to do with it. I mulled it over for a few days and finally said, “Well, what if she’s a magical girl?”

Pretty Dynamo, complete with name, look, and a basic idea of her powers, popped immediately into my head.

So there you go.

JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Chapter 3 Tonight

I drafted chapter 14 yesterday and edited chapter 4 today. Tonight at midnight, Pretty Dynamo battles a giant monster.

Catch up here.

I Pity da Fool Who Don’t Celebrate Mother’s Day

Featured Image: “Magical Girl Meet Up” by anime-gal.

I think I can name every title referenced in that picture. From left to right, Shugo Chara!, Magic Knight Rayearth, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kill la Kill, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Princess Tutu. How’d I do?

Happy Mother’s Day. I should have a review up tomorrow, and then of course we’ll have another chapter of Jake and the Dynamo on Monday.

Now let’s hear from the wisdom of Mr. T: