#takekuma

Here’s a older tweet thread by Takekuma Kentarou that I did a quick translation of while taking on discord that might be relevant to some people.

The thread is here: https://twitter.com/kentaro666/status/900527741564469248

I’ll include the relevant pictures in the translation as well. You can click on them for more information.

They say that statistics can lie, but take a look at this graph. These are a compilation of sales of manga publications for the last 20 years. From ‘97 to now, you can see that the magazine sales have been on a decline, but the tank sales have pretty much stayed the same. There are people who'll say "That means that tanks aren't in recession."

But look at this table. I couldn't find the most up to date data, but this table has the number of manga tanks issued from ‘95 to ‘09 by the publication research institute. During those 15 years, the amount of new tanks issued has gone up 80%. Even though the amount of tanks issued has gone up 80%, the sales have stayed the same. In other words, the rate of decline for manga magazines as well as tanks has not decreased. They're not selling.

There's also this graph by Impress [maybe https://book.impress.co.jp/.] It's the sales through digital publishing. The surprising thing about this is that through the last years digital comics has been growing and compensating for the fall of paper publishing. If you include digital publishing, then the demand for manga is actually increasing. However, is manga really selling? Even if people are making profits, the question is whether or not any of it's going back to the creators. The only creator that I know of that’s making any money from digital publishing is Suzuki Miso-san, and that's because they got the rights from their publisher and they're publishing it themselves.

oh god kuma please speak to me

1. What drew your character to their LI and vice versa?

honestly for kuma i think it was just cause he’s super fun and easy to get along with. he’s someone thats very no strings attached, she isnt afraid hes going to tie her down (oh but if he wants to in that way he can-) and she likes how free he seems to be. she just doesnt appreciate his... worse vices. i feel she has a certain anxiety in her that she doesnt think about since she was around for the car wreck he got into. kuma very much easily vibes with him and it sorta becomes a friends w/ benefits thing for a while cause of it lmfao

jade im not so sure im just gonna joke its cause shes hot as fu-

6. Who is the big spoon?

THEY BATTLE FOR THIS. I CAN LITERALLY SEE THESE TWO TRYING TO FIGHT FOR IT. like it becomes a tickle fight and they might end up falling off the bed and theyre just fucking LOSING it laughing at each other

...

most times jade just waits till kuma’s tired out so he wins lmfao

9. How open are they with their feelings?

.......................they’re both so fuckin closed off holy shitttttt.

okay but kuma isn’t good at even realizing her own feelings. she’s super emotionally stunted from being held captive for a lot of her life and her feelings come out weird. she isn’t great at opening up but she tries to listen. meanwhile jade... is a jackass. kuma isnt the type to force things out, but if she feels theres somethign that NEEDS to be said, shes good at drawing the line and keeping him from deflecting. if he gets mad and fights w/ her, she doesnt really back down either. kuma’s pretty much like a wall but if she really needs to know how he feels about something, shes going to find out

jade probably tries to get that out of her, feelings and all, but kuma just tells him that she really isnt... sure how to approach those things. he probably tries to help her with it honestly, after she wholeheartedly explains - she was raised in such a way that she cant. (jade cant rly know she was held captive by a yakuza family but it plays off like she had shitty parents anyway, so)

16. Jealous at all?

kuma doesnt get jealous really. like shes confident in the fact jade likes her, and she doesnt want to make him feel he HAS to just like her. she also jsut doesnt see the point? she knows who she is and she knows what she can provide him. shell feel weird about how shes not good at like, talking about feelings or accessing them, but shell do what she can to try and that means something to her, rather than fretting about it. im not so sure abt jade but-

17. Their ways of expressing their love.

kuma is... subtle. she likes to stare at him and lie with him, she likes holding his face. sometimes kissing it but she just likes to keep her hands on him. kuma likes rubbing his beard or touching his hair. i feel shes helped him a lot during some BAD hangovers or drinking binges, holding his hair back if he has to barf, making him food in the morning to help with his hangover. unseasoned eggs and some gatorade. she also finds a lot of importance in food and connections and likes to learn new recipes to try and wow him maybe. she is just uncharacteristically soft but she tries to learn to be that way because of how she was raised. jade and anna are very good ways for her to try, but especially when she gets closer to jade like that

jade im not sure, but he seems so cuddly and sweet and i know his biggest way is doting and trying to help, even if he can be too pushy. he probably likes getting candid photos of her though and that is so fucking warm to me

18. Is their any way they disappoint each other?

kuma wont lie but his drinking does disappoint her. she knows how important he is to all her friends, not just herself, and she wants him to do better. she probably even offers, subtly, things to replace that. she probably works out with him often and offers fun fights to try and get whatever drives him to drink out of his system. she doesnt mention it, but she does. she isnt the type to up front tell him hes disappointed her, but she wont sugar coat it if he ever talks about it