Swords and Eclairs

When I chat with the Japanese junior high school students I work with, I often like to ask about their dreams. Most of the time, they can't remember any dreams but yesterday a girl told me she dreamed of eating great quantities of eclairs. This particular student is always fun to talk to because comes off as genuine as an old comic strip character. I asked if she had a favourite pastry shop in town (there are many in Japan) but she said she can't shop at them because she's allergic to eggs. No wonder she was dreaming of eclairs.

Here are some of my recent doodles from the art club. As you can see, I've been in the mood to draw Nesuko lately. It's kind of nice living in a country where the comic industry isn't dead.

X Sonnet #1816

A line of hams await the casting brunch.
A glaze of ink adorns the creamy script.
Together, crews assemble fast a lunch.
The foam of lonesome black was full and tipped.
A nightly glow distorts the damaged main.
Armadas drift abeam of scuttled hulks.
Gelat'nous moons would melt to quickly wane.
The slinker cracks a jar then slyly skulks.
The blinking bat forgets to sleep in June.
As timing's right for flight, the sirens wake.
Aloft on leather wings, the creature loomed.
Presented late, the feature pushed a take.
As dusty sets amass a bloody dream,
The crew devoured steamy pastry cream.

Z versus S

There's plenty of sex and violence in the new season of Kimetsu no Yaiba, aka Demon Slayer. This show that's beloved across Japan by people from ages three to seventy. Good for them. And Japan's crime rate is astronomically lower than countries now trying to clamp down on this kind of thing.

The latest arc, "The Entertainment District", features the trio of demon fighting boys, Tanjiro (Natsuki Hanae), Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), and Zenitsu (Hiro Shimono), teaming up with a master slayer named Uzui (Katsuyuki Konishi) to investigate a red light district in Tokyo. The three boys dress as geisha to infiltrate three different geisha houses where Uzui's three female ninja assistants disappeared. Soon they discover a demon woman who uses her obi sash to dismember people. In the latest episode, Tanjiro's sister, Nezuko (Akari Kito), furthers her transformation into a demon in order to savage the villain.

In the process, Nezuko herself loses several limbs only to regrow them, multiple times. Not for the first time, only now more vividly, I'm reminded of my own Nesuko from Boschen and Nesuko.

Like Nesuko, Nezuko tries to resist a natural bloodlust, she can regrow her limbs, and she doesn't wear panties. She does part her hair on the opposite side, though.

I guess the similarities are likely all a coincidence. Nesuko certainly talks a lot more than Nezuko who remains mute most of the time. Still, I'm reminded of the minor character from Panty and Stocking with Garter Belt that was clearly modelled on Gir from Invader Zim and wonder if this is another example of a Japanese artist drawing inspiration from a casual perusal of American media. I guess it's flattering, if so. But it makes it all the stranger now that I work with kids who love this show and, as I share in their enthusiasm, I can never say to them, "Hey, I made a Nesuko, too, decades before this one . . ."

Kimetsu no Yaiba is available on Netflix in Japan and Boschen and Nesuko is available on my website, Anelnoath, worldwide.

Twitter Sonnet #1514

With tighter trousers, legs approach the bench.
The time arrived when crystal formed a flame.
A metal neck consumes the fleshy wrench.
We all remembered late the lodging's name.
A muffler wet was like a scarf for tongues.
We hid the treasure deep below the pad.
The cheapest house contained the wooden lungs.
No shedding wig could hide from us the mad.
The ruler broke for words with nothing in.
The music held a solid rule above.
The package broke the bread's recycling bin.
The spotless alley's filled with hearts of love.
Another demon dances strange with blood.
Another rabbit runs from Elmer Fudd.

Moving Pictures

I don't remember if I ever posted this. It's a big, about three and a half feet wide, colour pencil illustration of my characters Boschen and Nesuko I did in high school at one point, in 1995 or '96. I used to love using colour pencil on black paper. For those familiar with the comic, The Adventures of Boschen and Nesuko, which I began around nine years later, obviously the characters went through some pretty extensive design changes. I grew out of liking guns and grew to prefer swords and Nesuko's preferences adjusted accordingly. I also developed a dislike for denim.

I'm in the process of moving out of my apartment and into a room at my sister and brother-in-law's place, which is why I've been going through artwork I haven't gone through in years. I'm having to get rid of a lot of things. I still have a lot to do in between my morning and night jobs so I might have even less time for blog posts over the next few days. Hopefully I'll have more time for sleep.