Ah I'm kind of feeling sick right now. I have the cold, or the flu, or something... I feel better than yesterday atleast, whew. So anyway.. I'll just ramble on and quote things in a manner which someone may or may not get annoyed at for not knowing where all these references are coming from...

"Who's got a fuzzy tum-tum? You've got a fuzzy tum-tum!"
I can't remember any more.. GODDAMNIT! x.x Okay I'm going to go and hack up various organs in no particular order, hopefully it'll all work out okay.. thanks!

This has been on my mind for a while... and I can't help but scoff at this subject as it's something everyone goes on and on about. When is "going too far" in a story "too far" and what is "going too far" and why stop at one place or another in terms of content?

It's fairly obivious to me that the reasons for going too far has to do with audience. However, I find a lot of comics, stories, movies, tv shows, books, whatever, tend to have no idea what they're doing in this context. What do I mean? Well, and I find manga and comics are more guilty of this than anyone, content which is really sexual and aimed towards a group that is obvious of mature age (though I don't believe in censorship honestly but regardless of that), seems to stop at the point of showing any sexual content or nudity beyond a point basically of showing it directly to their viewers. I've seen this a lot in DC, marvel, what have you, independent comics for sure, webcomics, tons and tons of manga, and to be honest it's so silly it's fairly ridiculous. 

What is the point of having that content if no one is willing to actually utilize it? Why have a story about couples and sex but not have no sexual content or nudity within it? Okay, for example. Take Chugworth Academy. This particular webcomic was basically a webcomic about high school girls or something like that and had all kinds of sultry jokes along with other things. Though it was fairly bad in general already, why did the author seem so opposed to putting any nudity of any kind within the comic? It wouldn't be the first thing too have content with nude teenagers since there is tons of movies like that already, but it really reduce his comic itself to a "cock tease". Which is funny considering the author now draws guro and charges people money for it. So he's either seen the light or a hypercrite. I'd like to think he's a hypercrite for various reasons relating to women's rights and the over all tone of that comic. (FYI if you do go looking for it through google don't come crying to me about how disgusting it is, hm, maybe this is me hiding behind the line?) 
And it isn't the first to do this, manga and anime do this a lot, "oh, wanna see nudity? look a hotspring! tee hee! just kidding, that's a 'forbidden fruit!'" Tee hee, we won't show nipples on our women because that's going too far. Tee hee, I'm not going to show nudity in my comic because that's "crossing the line". Even though my audience is mostly over 18 and adult. Even though my story has a lot of sexual content and humor to begin with.

This sorta thing was seen a lot in Love Hina, which I guess you could probably know I was referencing, which also, wasn't very good. We could've said "okay it's kind of a dumb story, half the female characters aren't likable and the males were all fairly forgettable, but atleast it wasn't afraid to express itself. Atleast it had nudity in a mature setting." No it didn't. But it did, because the women had no clothes and still didn't have nipples. And this isn't something that happens once and a while it happens all the time in anime and it's getting progressively worse, (probably because of the new stupid law that was passed causing companies to 'over react' in terms of controlling their content, but that's a topic for another time..)

I still don't feel as if I really answered why though, people avoid nudity or violence within their creations. Is it because they don't want to be "that author" and is labeled a "porn artist" or something? Is it because they're afraid they'll upset someone? I get the feeling nobody would give a ratass about if they draw nudity or not. I never got any complaints about any of the nudity in my works that offended people honestly, I assume that people would just move on or don't care.  So what is the point?

I think that, it seems to me, they really don't want to be called a "porn artist". Which is nonsense. I don't think half the people who actually talk about porn know what porn is or ever watched it for it's intended purpose. For example, one does not watch porn for the story, just for the sex scenes, and if that's what your comic is about that's fine by me, I don't care and neither should you or anyone. But the people who believe they'll be called a "porn artist" or what have you have clearly a skewed vision of what porn is (probably not enough to draw content or nudity though), so are they worried about bending over for the masses and being "whores"? I just don't really get it, I don't get why people are afraid to take that step. 

Though, it can't be their worried about being labeled a "pervert", can it? If someone is writing a story that is full of fetish nuances, and full of things about cross dressing guys or double entendre jokes, are they really worried if they put nudity or sex scenes within that they'll actually be called "perverted" for doing that? If that's what they're worried about the boat's already sailed on that one, so I would like to think they know about it already. But being a pervert in that sense isn't bad if you enjoy writing about it. If you like writing about girls in bikinis playing volleyball, and you use glib sexual references and all, and if it has a compelling story, and content, then why would someone care one way or another if they're seen as a pervert? Maybe I'm looking at it too much from a writer's stand-point rather than an artist's standpoint...

I decided to take my somewhat lazy behind out and try to see if I can keep this blog updated in a regular fashion since I have such a time doing it with my own work, especially now at this moment since I've been busy with other things. I can't really comment on it now because I want to make sure I have everything really organized before I do it in the future. Though some people already have an idea of what it's about :P Just keep it under your hats for now until I can get myself organized.

With that said and done I decided to start to talk about a number of things, mostly related to either anime or comics in some form or fashion in every way. However, I have a bad sort of uh, well let's just say I can't keep my mouth shut about things and I tend to be an asshole. That's to say it bluntly. I really hope that anyone who actually reads this isn't affected by what I have to say in terms of my views or opinions, but I can't force you or anyone to do anything differently regardless, nor should I try to anyway. Only that if you disagree feel free to post your comments within the blog itself. I can't promise I'll be able to reply to every message in a quick manner but I will try my best to.

Now we have all that out of the way I wanted to talk about various webcomics. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to read all webcomics around nowadays like I use to. I use to enjoy reading Drowtales, Tsunami Channel, Strangecandy, to name a few, but haven't as of lately. 

Drowtales is still fairly good, probably one of the best webcomics in terms of quality and professionalism compare to most that are out there currently.  Drowtales is about uh, well it's been rebooted like 2 or 3 times so it's hard to explain. It's about Ariel who's the daughter of a warlord and has to learn about her world to become ruler of her clan. Drow females and more like males and the males aren't really like females but you get the idea probably. It might sound a lot like Dungeons and Dragons and though it does take a bit from it it's completely different in universe and story. 

Considering that it actually has a pretty good animation clips, and radio dramas, some fan vote comics (which a lot of people seem to say is a sign of uncreativity, but let's not forget that it's basically not his main source of income so to speak. Considering it seems so many other artists other than the original creator actually take up those duties.) Drowtales adds the perfect balance of drama and darkness, and sex and violence and cuteness like true manga/anime from japan. Not to mention the great coloring. That's right, it's in color. It's in color and updated 3 times a week. And he doesn't charge people to read it. Though you can buy some of his comics in store too actually so that's just as good, along with a somewhat, limited supply of merchandise I wish was bigger. Kinda wish the site was a bit more organized and easy to read though... It does have a little character on the side saying "So you're new here..." but it's really hard to see and barely noticeable to the point most people would skim over it...

That is a BIG difference from... Megatokyo which, dare I say it, like Dominic Deegan, hasn't really changed much in format within the period of conception. Though I encourage people to read megatokyo yourself rather than have me sum it up for you, I'm never good at these things, it's about Piro and his friend Largo who go to japan and get stuck there getting forced to do a crappy comic book store job to get money back home. Simple as that, on the way they meet Kimko and her roommate Erika and the rest of the characters who aren't really all that important including friend's own wife as his "conscience" or guardian angel I forget. The only thing that has changed is the story and the art which has gotten more detailed, however, is still not inked and still has this unfinished feel to it. Considering all the things that went on and through with the comic since it's been out since, when, 2000? It's still the same stagnant style. And since the pages aren't inked they are especially not colored, though some people would point out that it's a tone of style I have a hard time believing it considering that's not really a form of style or medium of expression to leave it messy in such a manner since it has no relevant message to send it's readers. Though I did hear from other little birds saying it's because of the work load and that it would take him a lot longer to do it from the beginning, isn't this normal for webcomics? They always start out slow and the better you get the more stuff you either add or update more often. This also isn't a little comic for a hobby, this guy lives off this stuff and for all the sake of it he doesn't seem to take it too seriously. Look at the character section, just look at it:

"All right, all right! I still don't feel like finishing these sections, but whatever (grumble)...
piro - fall 2007"


Fall of 2007.
FALL OF 2007.

That was written five years ago, FYI, it never has been added or updated. Ever, and it'll be 2020 and I bet you it'll still be empty. Granted he did manage to finally add more information to the story section, but, really. 12 years? It took him that long to finally add it? It shouldn't even take 1 year for any of them if he's that serious about it. Another thing I didn't like about what Fred did was actually talk about stopping the comic if someone draws "hentai" or nudy pictures of it. I see this with a lot of artists, and they bitch and moan about it for some reason, I guess they don't want to be seen as perverts or equate it to be demeaning to their characters. Which is funny considering he already did it. Saying that though, is just stupid. Really stupid. Rule 34, read it, you know it says "If it exists, there is porn of it." That being said, they aren't making money off it, it's fan art. Asking your fans not to draw porn of your characters and publish it online though is like asking them not to write fanfiction, (a lot of aritsts and writers do that too), which is not only very selfish but very presumptuous that they will even listen to you. 

Now I'm not saying to go and do whatever your fans want, hell no, if they want that they can write their own comic. But don't tell me you don't want them to do naughty fan art for whatever reason. That being said though he sort of dropped it as a threat, but still, it shouldn't have been said in the first place...That being said, I encourage everyone to read these two comics regardless of this fact if you have that ability. I did like megatokyo at the start but now I just have no interest in it. Drowtales is very good but the storyline is complicated and long so it does take a deal of reading to get through it all.I want to try to go out on a more of a sweeter note than uh, probably the majority of this blog by the look at it. So I will recommend some other cute comics that will probably make you go insane by reading them...

Puushen the cat is very cute and fun to read, although you have to be a cat person to understand it totally. And if you love cats you'll probably go and share the links with everyone you know like I did to hear them say "OMG that's sooooo cute!"

Simon's Cat has awesome cartoons and comics, it's great to watch and read. It's another cat comic, but not as simplistic as Puushen. A great place to send if you're bored as well.Two Lumps another cat comic, see a pattern here? Though, this time, it's totally different, it has two cats!

Clean + Cure a comic about catboys in maid outfits written and drawn by another friend of mine. Feel free to check it out if you like yaoi, and catboys in maid outfits... <.<

Well I suppose I've talked about enough things for now, I'm going to go wait for everyone from Megatokyo to come and burn me to the steak... mmmmmmmm........