Now that season 1 of Dungeon Meshi is finished and people might be looking for something to read/watch; i thought it might be time that i recommend my other favorite manga/anime:
Hakumei & Mikochi
It's a slice of life manga that follows the title characters, as they occasionally journey from their woodland home to see other towns and meet the people there.
It has a lot of endearing recurring characters, but keeps bringing in new people and critters to meet.
What initally linked the two mangas for me was the gorgeous detailed artstyle the two have in common.
So i decided to make a list of other things they have in common/where they differ; so you can see if you might find it interesting!
What it has in common with dunmeshi:
✅ Gorgeous artstyle
✅ Adventures
✅ Two lesbians that would commit atrocities for each other
✅ Amazing Food
✅ Necromancy
What it doesn't have in common with dunmeshi:
❎ No big, overarching plot
❎ no horniness
❎ (almost) no fighting
❎ not every character is autistic
❎ no classic fantasy stuff (elaborate magic system etc)
Hakumei & Mikochi holds a very special place in my heart and is my go-to comfort manga. If you like the quieter, domestic parts of Dungeon Meshi, sharing meals and helping your friends; then it might be worth checking out Hakumei & Mikochi!
It also has a great anime adaptation by studio Lerche that covers a large chunk of the manga, so if you're an anime-only watcher; you should still give it a try!
As always, try to support the creators however you can. I won't lecture you on how to do that, I'm sure you have something that works for you.
I'm very lucky that i got to see the anime when it was still available to stream (isn't it cool that all the platforms got bought up by one freaking company and now a ton of anime are just straight up not available anymore); because otherwise i would've never found this gem of manga.
I really love it's cozy atmosphere and communal vibe and the intricate way Takuto Kashiki draws nature and food. I hope i could motivate you to give it a try!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
HAPPY PRIDE MONTH !!!! :)) The caracters are Mikochi and Hakumei ( from left to right ) from "Hakumei to Mikochi", a manga that I really appreciate created by Takuto Kashiki. Basically it's about their life as 9 centimeters humans. The manga also has non human characters :)) . Yes, I know that they are technically not lovers but I ship them because I think they should be ! Also, fun fact : the hats they're wearing are a traveler thing ! In this world, when a child start traveling they are gifted one of these hats -their designs are different depending on the region they started their travel in- by their parents ! They are precious and sometimes old people decorate them because it reminds them of their past ( they may not wear it as often, just on special days ) It is explained ( not litterally litterally but still! ) in the 79th chapter, in the 10th volume ;) . Anyways here's another drawing of them :
its probably a normal sign for the economy that all of my adulthood fantasies are like "imagine having your own kitchen living room and bathroom to decorate" "what if i could get on a train" "maybe one day i could purchase a sturdy pair of shoes" "i should save and invest in a single bicycle"
Sorry that I waited with this until the last day of pride month, but i was super busy. -.-
Just for fun, I wanted to take a crack at talking about my personal queer headcanon for Hakumei & Mikochi characters.
Unlike my other posts about the series, this isn't analysis; its just dumb fun. HakuMiko is a story that doesn't feature much romance anyway, plus Japan has a whole different culture when it comes to sexuality and gender.
Also, mild spoilers for Hakumei & Mikochi!
With that disclaimer out of the way: let's begin!
Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Lesbians
First off: the titular pair! This one is basically canon. Sure, they never express "romantic attraction" (which everyone defines differently), but ace lesbians are still lesbians. We're talking about two women, living alone together in the woods. Two women who are so inseparable that when one of them is solo, people ask "Where is your partner?". People regularly mistake them as a married couple in the series, usually believing Hakumei to be a man.
Which brings me to another point: Hakumei is just butch. Canonically. She learned a trade, likes her hair cut short and has a bunch of ""manly hobbies"". When Mikochi's sister comes to visit, she says "Hakumei reminds me of dad." This is an open and shut case.
Sen: Non-Binary finery
Sen is usually very reserved, has a completely unique clothing style and dresses more for function than for gender expression. Also, they seem to occupy a more "gender-neutral" space in their social circle. After Mikochi makes a dress for them, she immediately starts explicitly talking about putting Sen in more "boyish clothes". Again, canon.
I went with the nonbinary flag, since it kinda fits Sen's color scheme; but honestly nonbinary, agender or genderfluid fit the bill. In the end, only a person themselves can decide how to identify. But there definitly is a vibe.
Iwashi: Isn't weasel kinda the same as bear?
Look, you might think I've put Iwashi in this category because he is a furry animal. Nothing could be further from my mind.
He is in this category because he is a "man's man" who works construction, doesn't really show interest in women and hangs out with the burly guys at the carpenter's union.
Need i say more?
Jada: Lives in a literal cracked egg
The so called "egg beautician" has trans vibes all over her. Jada is a laid back beautician, who (i can not stress this enough) lives in a giant cracked egg!
Far from me to transvestigate anybody, I'm just saying... the vibe checks out. Plus, her japanese VA has an awesome distinct voice, which just adds to her character.
Higaki & Ukai: Old man yaoi
I don't know if it's sexual and given their indeterminate age gap, probably better if its not, however: what these two got going on is gay as hell. They are old friends who literally built an anarchist commune together. That's like the based version of a bed and breakfast in Vermont.
Also I think 90% of what Higaki thinks and talks about in the manga is Ukai. Bro is yearning.
Laika & Conju: I dunno what it is, but its sapphic!
Laika is a very minor character in the grand scheme of things, only appearing in 2 chapters within the first 5 volumes (i think). The only thing she is ever shown doing is fuss over Conju in some way.
Chapter 28 sees Laika first making breakfast for Conju (because she keeps forgetting) and then trying to catch her singing performance all day, only to be visibly sad whenever she narrowly misses hearing Conju sing.
The chapter ends with Conju singing the new song just for her, with Laika looking on wistfully, her cheeks flushed. Like... Laika is definitely waaaay past a crush, in full on "love" territory.
But what makes me say "I dunno what it is", is that I have no idea what Conju is doing. In the series she is portrayed as chaotic, but surprisingly insightful when people least expect it; so it's impossible to know whether she is toying a bit with Laika or if she's completely oblivious.
My headcanon? Laika: utter and complete lesbian. Conju? Bisexual chaos gremlin. 50% flirting in her own wild way, 50% being an actual ditz.
If nothing else, give chapter 28 a read for pride month, it's adorable!
This marks the end of this silly little post! I hope you had fun reading and as always: if you have the chance, please check out Hakumei & Mikochi! It's my favorite manga of all time and I can't recommend it enough!
In conclusion, HakuMiko is a story about taking time for the finer things in life and spending that time with your favorite people! So as pride month draws to a close, take this as an invitation to spend some time with your polycule, your lesbian hiking troupe, your favorite squad of burly guys or whoever!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Just finished reading "Convenience store woman" by Sayaka Murata. Quite the interesting little book. I think some parts of the book will stick with me for a while, because it ponders conformity in quite a unique way.
Overall it made me uneasy at times and is certainly a fresh take, even though i have to say if it was twice as long i would've been upset with how the story unfolded.
With it being the length it is though, I would certainly recommen giving it a read.
Side note: the german title "Die Ladenhüterin" is absolutely perfect because it is a term for an item that remains in the store longer than expected, while also literally translating to "the store's guardian/keeper". Perfect, no notes.
im glad that my extended family seem to be vaguely aware that im nonbinary but it makes christmas funny because most of my aunts have a very simply formula of "the girls get perfume and the boys get cologne" . and they seem to have realised they cant really do that for me, but havent come up with a consistent genderless solution yet. so each year is a delightful surprise. plain unbranded soap. those gloves with touch screen fingerpads. one year i got TWO different puzzle books. its a fascinating look into the minds of cis people and i appreciate it so much.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Let’s talk about how Ranma is trans, and not as a metaphor.
Yesterday, I had a quick, joking exchange with a friend, riffing off the general premise that the protagonist of the classic manga series Ranma ½ is a trans girl.Today I woke up to a slew of hateful, low-effort comments (the C-word is always a weird one to throw at a trans woman), largely objecting to this premise, so, I’m going to sit down now and show my work.
I was actually going to do this either way, honestly. Reading Ranma ½ and indignantly shouting “in what sense is this a ‘curse!?’“ is a pretty significant touchstone for damn near every trans girl born after 1970 or so.
when two musicians sing into the same microphone and lean in very close to each other… like omg are you guys gonna kiss now to relieve the homoerotic tension?😳
Okay, but this is really important: Bruce Springsteen occupied this really weird place in music history. His songs were all from this pessimistic, nihilistic view of an America that had let him down:
Just like the anti-Vietnam War protest songs that we associate with the 1960s, or the early nihilism that spawned punk music in the 1970s. But he didn’t *sound* like a punk anarchist; he sounded like a country rock singer. When he released Born in the U.S.A. people completely misinterpreted (or possibly ignored) the lyrics in favor of the tone of the music.
Politicians used his music to promote their ‘Murica Yes! brand, and he had to literally explain that that was not what he was about. He’s over here asking when we’re going to have jobs and heathcare, not stanning the politicians who weren’t helping the people.
It was also kind of a big deal that he had an integrated band, because even as late as the 1980s music was still kind of segregated and MTV was straight up racist. They refused to play and promote black artists and then claimed that were no black artists in the first place. Michael Jackson’s record company had to threaten a boycott of their white artists to get MTV to play his Thriller video.
Plus, the first black/white interracial kiss on TV was in 1968 (OG Star Trek). Also it took us until the 70s to get sympathetic gay characters on screen, and the 90s to get gay characters to kiss onscreen. And all of those firsts were met with outrage.
So keep that in mind when you see Bruce Springsteen not just playing with an interracial band, but engaging in an interracial, gay kiss on stage repeatedly.
Passages from American Popular Music by Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman
I used to think that Bruce and Clarence kissing onstage was exuberance, showmanship, and telling racist homophobes to fuck off. Like, they picked up a certain kind of audience and went “Racist homophobes? Not in our house!” And started the kissing then but then I actually looked it up and
It was a story where… we remade the city. We remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship and our love for one another wouldn’t have been such an exceptional thing. - Bruce Springsteen
It wasn’t about showmanship or rejecting bigots or anything it was just. Damn right that was one of the loves of his life and damn right he was going to kiss him onstage
It gets me a little that Bruce has had a divorce, that he’s been married twice, but he loved Clarence for the rest of Clarence’s life and will presumably love him the rest of his own
Clemons said in one interview. “Bruce and I looked at each other and didn’t say anything, we just knew. We knew we were the missing links in each other’s lives. He was what I’d been searching for.” In another version of the story, Clemons says “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and we fell in love.”
I’m having some emotions about it!
“He was elemental in my life,“ Springsteen adds, “and losing him was like losing the rain.”
Not just! I love you pure and deep and true but! I am going to love you like that in front of the whole damn world!
We have fewer narratives about taking risks and making statements for platonic love rather than romantic and supposedly it would be easier to downplay this onstage than romance and! They refused! They fucking refused! In front of hundreds of thousands of people, over the course of years! In the spotlight, in word and deed, I love you!
sometimes i forget aromanticism isnt normalized until im listening to family friends complain about how relationships suck and never last and i chime in with "yeah im kinda glad im not interested in romance." and suddenly all of them turn into "oh no EVERYONE needs romance its human nature. if you think you're not interested you just need to try again." . like okay i thought we were commiserating here. i was agreeing with yall. cmon.
straight people will spend all their time making relationships sound like a chore and normalize the concept of hating your wife but if you say "idk id rather be single" you're the weird one i guess.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
if youve ever heard of weird polycule drama u gotta understand its less 'poly people are bad partners' and more 'statistically if you have five girlfriends thats like 5x the likelyhood of one of your girlfriends doing something batshit" . like thats just basic math. rollin the dice. you hit the snake eyes buddy. sorry try again.
Statistically, what you're describing is actually the probability that at least one partner does something batshit. This can't be done by simply multiplying by the number of partners you have; if the probability is 10%, and you have 11 gfs, you'd get 110%, which doesn't make sense. What you need to do is use a cumulative binomial probability.
These are kind of annoying to calculate, so to avoid it, I'll use binomial manipulation wizardry to convert it to its equivalent: calculate the probability that all partners don't do something batshit, and take the complement
1 - (1-p)^N
where p is the probability of a single partner doing something batshit and N is the number of partners. Graphing different values for N and p (valid only for x≥2)
However, this assumes that the drama is generated independently from a single person alone. If the drama is interpersonal, then it is dependent on the number of interactions, which increases as the square of the number of partners.
For simplicity, let's assume all interactions have the same probability of causing drama. The probability of at least one interaction causing drama is equivalent to the complement of no interactions causing drama.
1 - (1-p)^(N(N-1)/2)
At a 10% chance of conflict arising between any two people, with five partners, the probability of drama increases eightfold to 80%
To account for both single person and interpersonal drama, you can combine the two, with different values for p1 and p2, but the change as a result of p1 is small compared to p2, especially for p1<10%