When we first properly meet Himeno and Kobeni in Chainsaw Man, Himeno’s all over Kobeni and being rather affectionate with her. A large part of that is just Himeno’s personality, but I have no trouble seeing that translate into a fun, casual relationship in the Studio.
Anna was the last of the three-way tie for this First Shoot poll. While I don’t feel like I do a ton of Shaman King stuff these days, I did have a while where I was doing it somewhat regularly, usually with Yoh. Since almost all of the SK content I’ve done was yaoi, though, Anna just didn’t come up much. I had one Subscriber who pushed for her a lot, though, and she ended up in NHML nominations and similar things. I put her on the poll and, well, she just barely made it in with Nolan and Namari. With her random partner here, I thought they might connect over some shared frustrations with their respective partners/love interests/whatever.
I think a lot of Aki’s characterization in Chainsaw Man is informed by his motivations that I won’t spoil in case anyone reading this hasn’t seen Chainsaw Man yet. I think that drive really shapes his serious, meticulous character, and I think being in the Studio without that motivation might affect him. On the one hand, it has allowed him to loosen up and learn to be happy with Himeno, which is great for her, but here we see it maybe troubling him a little bit. Our serious boy’s become something of a playboy, and the poor slob just can’t seem to get out of the bed in the morning. I went with a hair-down look for both Aki and Choso here to help convey that morning messiness a little bit, hope it comes across.
So there was only one script submitted this month, meaning this page is sort of like a throwback for our monthly ongoings in that it’s one Subscriber’s singular vision. This is not personally the direction I would’ve taken this comic at this point, but here we are.
This is a pic I had laying around for a while, and I thought it looked good so I wanted to get it inked and colored before officially wrapping up Denji’s verginity arc in the Studio. Excluding Asks and the like, the next full standalone Denji pic should wrap that story up.
As has become tradition, here is a compilation of some moments from this year’s Studio Christmas party. Hiro Hamada won the lottery to get chosen as the official Studio Santa this year, but as you can see he’s not the only one sporting the look. I had a lot of fun putting together this year’s party, and I tried to fit in an eclectic selection of characters. I hope there’s a little something for most everyone here, and I’d like to wish you all Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas.
Yoruichi’s a character who’s struggled to get in appearances since debuting in that pin-up a while back, but I figured I could use this Ask to not only bring her back into the spotlight, but also set up a little Studio lore for how she’s been spending her time. I’ve mentioned the Studio’s cat cafe, Catflix & Chill, before in a previous Ask (one featuring Yoruichi’s costars here, Power and Anzu). While the cats who appear there are mostly regular cats, I thought the idea of Yoruichi going there in cat form to get pampered and relax sounded like a cute idea that could tie this Ask together.
There’s no shortage of alcohol-loving women in anime. Akemi, in her series, never passes up an opportunity to drink, and I think she’d have plenty of fun partying with Himeno. I decided to show them having some fun before getting drinks, though, to keep the pic from getting too… messy.
It seems like all of Makima’s Dares so far have been focused on her getting fucked. Like with Zarbon and Frieza, though, I think the more interesting thing about this pairing is the dynamic. I tend to be sparing when it comes to using the futa beans in Asks, but for a Dare I think we can pull it off here.
Here’s page five of Beach Treat! I don’t think there’s much I can say about this page right now, but I tried to keep the story moving in a reasonable direction with the scripts I had. It felt like some ideas were eager to jump to a point that didn’t feel natural to me from where we were, and I hope those Subscribers don’t get discourage that their ideas didn’t show up here. I’m not against them, but I don’t want to force them in just to move the comic in that direction. I think this page flows naturally from the last, and I’m curious to see where we go from here.
