Canvas 2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~

Canvas 2

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In a cookie-cutter world of bishoujo anime, sometimes there are a few series that surprise and amaze me, one of which is Canvas 2. I actually watched this during a recent vacation trip of mine, and it never failed me at all during the boring bus rides. Canvas 2 is a witty, smart, and effective romantic comedy that tries to humanize the usual bishoujo romance and add not only an artistic element (focusing on art and drawings), but also real-life concerns and decision-making.
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Life lessons from a bishoujo male lead

Hallo. I’m a male lead in a bishoujo game! And in my world there are lots of girls, not any different from your so-called “real life”. I’m just a bored and boring guy just like some of you. Maybe some of you play me because I already have tons of girls served to me in a silver platter, something which some of you may never get to have because similarly you are wussies like me! But I will differentiate myself from you, because I already have the girls, right? All I do is pick one! Easy squeezy! And you know what? I can “screw” them in the end of my short life! Jealous? Well, I only live like a few months because most of the time my story ends before graduation or something… but still… lolz.

Let me tell you, it’s easy work! I just be “kind” to the girl I want to have… done! I bump into one girl, she drops her books and papers… I just pick them up! Hello there iincho! I just out-shout and out-smart tsunderes who are annoyingly loud at times. I can bring out her softer side. I can just act like a baby to those girls older than me. I can also act like a onii-chan to those younger than me. See? It’s easy! Because I’m fiction!

Now it seems like it’s nearing Valentines or whatever eh? Lots of bloggers and others proclaiming their loveless lives calling it SAD (Singles Awareness Day) or whatever? Hahahaha! Too bad for you guys, because you live in reality! I heard it’s more complex over there. What with all the emos and such running around the internets. Me? I’m not supposed to surf the internets in my world anyway. I only have highschool settings. You know what I think what’s wrong with you guys? The internet itself! It allows you to groupthink. You meet people with almost the same lives as yours. You hear the same cries. You become most the same. And yet you don’t know each other in reality. And yet you still derive something from each other in reality. If you’re ronery you become ronerier because you see similar ronery people making you not move yourself because “oh other people are like this anyway, so I’ll remain like this for the rest of my life.” Me? Sure I have a worthless male sidekick or two, but at least I’m not affected by other people in other bishoujo game worlds. My world is small… well, small enough that all girls in my world look beautiful. HAHAHA!

Eh…

Ok fine, I need to reflect on myself, as I am actually giving you disservice as well. I am a “wish fulfillment” property. I am not real, but some people may consider some parts of me and apply it to their own lives. Sometimes it can be beneficial, other times, not so much. I’m not in the position to explain this complexity in your lives, because I am not complex enough to think so. Maybe you are. It will depend on your personality, the environment around you, and the decisions you make towards life. You are a complex being.

I’m sorry if I’m kinda boastful about my own fictional world. Well it’s not my fault that I’m fictional, some writer made it out of their own thoughts. More importantly though, the writers made it out by their “inspired” thoughts. Those writers, they live in real life like you do. They may have experiences like you do, and maybe some experiences you don’t have yet. Similarly, you have experiences they don’t have as well. Ooh it sounds all confusing to me. In any case, I think you have tons of ways to live your life. Me, I only follow my dialogue and decision points. This is important, because to me, everything is a script. The world you have there is sometimes unscripted, and you alone are writing it, one second at a time. You actions, your decisions, you control your reality.

I don’t know how to console you. I may not even have the right to. But if this is any help, here goes. If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter and jealous. There will always be people better than you. It works both ways too. There will be people worse off than you. But that gives you no reason to screw up further. Also, let me tell you this, because my endings with my chosen girls are sometimes unwritten. There is life after love. Even if you got your girl already, there are still challenges ahead. I can only imagine what these are, because as I said, I can never live it. How to nurture these relationships over the years are still up to you. How you grow yourself is also up to you. Many of you think that love is the only thing lacking in you, not realizing other real things you lack. People are somewhat blinded by love, saying it’s the only thing that matters, especially in this love month season. Again, that’s just groupthink. Sure, your society seems to embrace that notion, and that singles who grow old being single are somewhat ‘silently’ frowned upon. Bah, but who cares what they think? If you affect yourself with their thoughts too much, you would only pity yourself further and you just sit in that corner crying.

There is some truth to the “be yourself” saying that is sometimes overlooked. If you just simply and literally “be yourself”, you may end up not growing up and moving towards the goals you are supposed to set yourself. I think a better way to rephrase it is to “accept yourself”. Whoever you are, whatever you are. Know your limits. ‘Then from there’, build on your limitations to pursue your goals. Realistic goals first before you insert any fantasies. Well, fantasy goals can be good too, it reinforces your positive thoughts. Be yourself, accept yourself, then change. The only thing that may be constant in your world is change. Sometimes it’s hard to change, I know. Personally I can never change unless the writer gives me an additional scenario in a revision bump or fandisk. As I said, I’m just at the mercy of my writer. Don’t be like me. You are your own writer.

I hope I made some sense. My fictional life may never be reality, but at least some part of it is. It would still depend on you if you can apply this to yourself or not.

Lovingly yours,
(insert bishoujo male lead name here)

Da Capo II: Maya Sawai

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She’s not my favorite character in this game, but I like Maya because she actually reminds me of one of my ____ in real life. Unnecessary tidbit aside though, let me just say that Maya is almost the same as many other iinchos (class representatives) in the anime or bishoujo world. She is a tsundere meganekko. Well she’s not exactly as snobbish or strict as an iincho usually is, but she still has the spunk and the strong character. Like any strong character though, there are some vulnerabilities inside, so let me show you what she has in store for us.
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How to make a good story anime/bishoujo style

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Miya Maruyama

This April Fools post was indeed my personal sample venture into fanfiction writing. For a [long time now->summer-of-bishoujo-3-project], I’ve been wanting to write my own story, favorably in the style of Japanese anime and bishoujo games. Of course, there are expected challenges in this one. First and foremost, I’m not Japanese, so any culture references are just the usual (unusual) ones already found in existing Japanese anime, manga or games. Secondly, I have to write in English, which means I’m just emulating Japanese similar to the sometimes-wrong translation style in [fansubbing projects->fansubs-serious-business]. Lastly, I don’t consider myself a good writer in the first place.

Despite this though, I still want to have the drive to do it. Whenever I see [other people->hinano-renai-blogger] succeed, I always say to myself that I can do it too. I may not be as good, but at the very least, “get it done darnit”, lol.

In this article I focus specifically on the characters, settings, and plot I envisioned on my own Miya Maruyama story.
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Da Capo: Kanae Kudou

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It’s… a… TRAP!

Kudou-kun, Da Capo’s resident crossdresser. I have a weird enough penchant for characters of this type (no I’m not going Brokeback on myself), mostly because you can really only do this in fiction. In real life, I have not seen any convincing crossdresser that would fool me into thinking that he/she is actually of the opposite sex.

And with Kudou having given basically NO love in [Da Capo Second Season->] at all, I decided to give his… I mean her scenario a quick run.

Disclaimer: I’ll be addressing Kudou as a guy at first, and then a girl afterwards accordingly when Junichi finds out about it.

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Tragedy, Hope

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Knowing about the true story of Sakura in anime form was unprecedented for me. Even if I had already [skimmed the surface->dc2-da-capo], I guess the tale can still be told effectively in another way. The most important part of the experience though, is that I can relate somewhat to the character. Yes, Yoshino Sakura’s trials, tribulations and tragedies reflect my own set of current real-life problems. As a result, my heart breaks yet again for this fictional character, and in part, this fictional character gave me a source of reference, reflection and inspiration of myself.
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