Rundown (12/17/2023) Year-End Hustle & Bustle

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This Week’s Topics:

Rundown Preamble Ramble:
Year-End Hustle & Bustle

It is officially the latter half of December, meaning I have been busy getting everything ready for year-end. What do I mean by that? Well, I finally put out my Robotic Battle Maiden review this past Thursday, and my primary objective has shifted over to getting everything ready for a big year-end bash! 

We’ve got Natalie & Cassie Ramble About The Star Wars Nonology coming 12/20/2023. Right after that, bam, it’s Natalie Rambles About 2023 on12/27/2023 as a post-Christmas cake! And to bring in the new year, I’m releasing a compilation of every TSF Showcase I wrote this year, all in one convenient place without any of my calls to bake the police into Christmas cookies! Or whatever the fuck I usually talk about in these Rundowns!

Progress on these things has been going pretty well and I don’t foresee any issues, as I mostly need to do a bit of writing, a lot of editing, and some image creation. It requires me to bounce around a lot, and to do some critical thinking on how to best manage things. But despite the title I decided on before writing this preamble, it’s chill casual work that I can do while just letting a video play on my other monitor as I finagle things about. 

I will be DONE with all of this by next Rundown, and will then get to spend the holiday season by hunkering down and going to Verde’s Doohickey 2.0 boot camp. My boss is going to be out of the country, I won’t have any real work lined up, so I will try to be a productive little beaver and crank out 5,000 words a day. …Aside from movie days I have with Cassie

Now is not the time for me to lay back, flop about, or catch up on my sleep. It’s time to get working and meet my deadlines ahead of schedule! …Like I normally do.

Also, there will be little to no gaming news the next three weeks so… screw it, let’s double dip on TSF Showcases. It’s better than whipping a new topic straight outta my ass. 

TSF Showcase 2023-42
Seitenkan Appli no Tadashii Tsukaikata [How to use Gender-Changing Apps Properly] by Mogetama (Tanakamori Yokota)

Last time, I covered a 1,400 page TSF manga that was decidedly not queer, so let’s bring it back with something that’s undeniably trans!

How to use Gender-Changing Apps Properly is a story that, on its most basic level, is familiar to anyone who has dabbled in the more erotic end of TSF manga. A young male-bodied person downloads a gender change app, uses it to nab themself a female body, and then proceeds to have sex with their best friend. It’s a bog standard hentai plot, so familiar that I’ve covered multiple stories that exaggerate this very same premise. 

Though, it’s rare— at least in the world of TSF comics— to see more… realistic or proper use of something as fantastical as a “gender-changing app.” Namely as a way for people to… play around with their gender, explore their curiosities/identity, or use magical tech to change their bodies better than HRT and surgery ever could. …Which is pretty much what this story is all about.

The comic follows Hinata, a nineteen-year-old trans woman who has always envied their twin sister, Himari. For her ability to dress in fluttery, frilly clothes, wear girlish accessories, and be seen by others, namely their best friend, Yuushin, as cute. But Hinata has been routinely denied these things by having been born a boy, with a body that ‘doesn’t suit’ this type of clothing or general image. …Except for the face, which is the same as Himari. I’d call that questionable, but I’ve known trans girls who had the same face as their sister. Genetics are just like that sometimes.

Things begin by hammering home Hinata’s hyperfixation with this ‘typically girly’ aesthetic by having her buy a female fashion magazine, visit a female clothing store, and having a super girly room. And while this would typically elicit ribbing from her male best friend, Yuushin… is fully supportive of Hinata’s interest, and actively urges her to do what she’s passionate about even if she considers it to be “weird.”

Yuushin is pretty much the best sort of friend Hinata could ask for, so it’s not surprising that she has a crush on him. And in case this is all too subtle, she goes so far as to fantasize about being with him, imagining herself with a more femme body, in the clothes she admires so much, walking hand-in-hand. It is so vivid that Hinata decides she may as well try the ‘gender-changing app’ she heard some people talking about and, much to her shock, it actually worked.

Both are surprised by this, but rather than being overjoyed, Hinata is more concerned about having made a mistake by hitting the ‘turn into the girl button.’ Some eggs are just dense like that… But Yuushin, being the voice of reason, reminds Hinata that this is the perfect time to wear the clothes she admired so dearly. And as she looked over herself, Yuushin drops the compliment Hinata has wanted to hear her entire life, “you look really cute.”

These words cause Hinata to break. Not out of joy, but out of frustration that this is not the real her, and the belief that Yuushin is just saying that because she resembles her sister. Yuushin explains that, no, he has always cared for Hinata ever since they were little kids, always encouraged her to pursue what she wanted, and always thought Hinata was cute. To prove this, he gives Hinata her birthday present early, a cute top for her to wear. 

With all emotional barriers crushed, and now having the body she always wanted, not knowing how longer this would last for, Hinata comes on to Yuushin, urging him to touch her. Yuushin makes sure this is what she wants, and she affirms she has always wanted this. From there, this 75 page manga then shifts into a 36 page sex scene and… it is almost one of my favorite sex scenes I have seen in my years of pursuing erotic manga.

It is slow, tender, and is driven by emotion from both parties. Hinata and Yuushin urge each other to go further when the other questions if they should stop there. There is a constant conversation between the two, rather than devolving things into a bunch of sexual barks. The sexual positions change regularly, but they carry a sense of escalation, with both parties easing into each other before Hinata gingerly asks Yuushin to go all the way. Hinata herself is sent on an emotional rollercoaster, overwhelmed by joy, fear, excitement, and uncertainty, yet clinging to her desires even as her face becomes full of tears. All while Yuushin serves as her rock. He’s stable, receptive, and clearly cares for her with every motion, and wants this to be good for her as much as he wants this himself. It’s both beautiful… and pretty inspiring as a writer. (Why yes, I do look to hentai for inspiration when writing sex scenes, just like every writer!)

…But right as this scene hits its apex— right after the creampie is served— the comic… undoes Hinata’s transformation! Her body turns back to normal, and rather than just… completely losing her shit over how dysphoric that would be, because that would be the sensible reaction, Hinata is much more… reserved. I’m not even sure how to describe it. It’s more like she is in disbelief over the whole event, and does not want to question it, while also really wanting to have a round two of sex. Yuushin is too, but instead decided to invite Hinata out to get ramen, urging her to wear her new blouse. Because no matter which body she has, he still loves her.

This is where the comic ends, and aside from the… sorta baffling ending, it is one of the most trans affirming TSF hentai comics I have ever seen. Yuushin is the best friend a TSF girl could ever ask for, being supportive and strong throughout the entire experience, while also having enough emotional intelligence to understand his partner’s desires. Hinata’s fixation is a bit… exaggerated— and weirdly reminds me of the DSM-V’s description of gender dysphoria. But she’s a deeply cute protagonist whose struggle to accept herself is probably more relatable than it should be. A lot of us trans girls are way too stubborn to accept who we are…

Now, I could wrap things up by gushing about how gorgeous the artwork is, with its soft linework, skill in depicting both casual clothes and girly frills, and the impressively dynamic sex scene. But… there’s a gosh darn sequel to this story! Seitenkan Appli no Tadashii Tsukaikata Bangai-hen/ Youta Otokonoko Ver. [How to use Gender-Changing Apps Properly Extra/Boy Ver]. 

Now, this sequel has not yet been translated, but I bought it, tried using a few machine translators, and… they didn’t really tell me much that I could not gather just by looking at the drawings. Fortunately, this extra version is a lot simpler. 

A month after the first comic, Yuushin takes Hinata out on a birthday date, but rather than using the app to transform herself, Yuushin requests that Hinata go out in their untransformed form, while still wearing her gifted blouse. They do typical date stuff— get food, see a movie, visit some amusement destination, and head to Yuushin’s home at the end of the night. There, the topic of sex comes up, but Yuushin says that Hinata does not need to use the app.

Why? Well, the two then have sex, so you can probably read between the lines. Yuushin loves Hinata for who they are, regardless of which form they wear. …Or at least that’s the interpretation I think the story is going for. And what I’d want it to be going for. I could ask Chari to clear things up, but Chari is busy saving TSF history, and I don’t know any other translators who I can hand… yaoi hentai to and not be labeled a grade-A creep!

TSF Showcase 2023-43
Jinzou Shoujo [Artificial Girl] by Natsume Satoru

Coming in as a special request from Cassandra Wright, we have… something extra special. Jinzou Shoujo was a 2 volume long TSF manga from 2000 that was translated all the way back in 2008. Its author is a rather obscure one who worked on a few series before this, before seemingly vanishing after writing this story. Normally, I don’t pay too much mind to a mangaka’s history and look into stuff like that, but Jinzou Shoujo is a… strange story.

The comic starts in a familiar place for anyone familiar with the first ‘real’ TSF manga, My First Time by Yuzuki Hikaru. An enigmatic doctor is reviving a young woman using the brain of a high school boy. But as the young man, Yutaka Misumi wakes up in his new body, he is understandably confused and hostile, demanding to get his body back. While the doctor, Anjin Hiruma, insists that Yutaka is dead and he must be reborn as Nina, or rather “Nina.” 

Yutaka reacts to this news by running away to his old house, only to see it reduced to burnt rubble, having been destroyed 6 months ago. …Wait, then shouldn’t someone have cleared the lot in that time? Regardless, Yutaka learns that his original body was abducted before the fire, determines that it must still be around, and vows to find it so he can become himself again. The very next chapter, Yutaka learns that his body was spotted at the prestigious Shinseimei Academy, but is going by the name of Satonaka. As such, the only logical option is to attend school as Nina Hiruma to try and uncover this mystery.

The next chapter, a scant 12 pages, Yutaka quickly outs himself as a violent hothead despite his demure body, and basically blows his cover in front of Satonaka in an effort to get more information. Already, the pacing is… weird, but clearly going places.

…So chapter 5 opens with Yutaka getting abducted by a crow human chimera who tries to kill him with the power of gravity. He is sent free-falling, but Yutaka escapes death by awakening his body’s latent power to transform into a fairy. Or I guess a human-sized fairy. Despite this magical girl transformation, Yutaka is overwhelmed by the crow human chimera— his name is The Crow— who drops one of my favorite lines in manga history. “Should I fuck you and then kill you or should I kill you and then fuck your corpse?”

But as death nears, Yutaka slices The Crow’s head off and falls to the ground, where he is saved by Doctor Hiruma. …Who can fly now by the way. Also, I didn’t mention this earlier, but Hiruma has two confidants. A cat demon who loves eating rotten flesh, Mutton, and a mummy servant named Ushev. In this chapter, they are revealed to have alternate humanoid battle forms. They don’t really use them for much, or do much in the story, but they’re there!

In chapter 6, we learn about the origins of the original Nina. A 16-year-old girl with the mind of a 3-year-old who loved butterflies and wanted to become one. It’s actually a sweet if tragic inclusion, one that, while an idealized exaggeration, reminds me a lot of certain people with mental disabilities I shared the bus with when riding paratransit. Anywho, Nina jumped off a cliff, died, and was modified using alchemy before Yutaka’s brain was put in her body, thus giving him transformation powers. This also leads into a subplot where Yutaka is gradually gaining Nina’s pure and maidenly heart, including developing a… certain affinity for Doctor Hiruma.

Then we get to chapter 7, which opens with Yutaka returning to school and meeting up with a girl who gave him candy earlier, Nakahara, not to be confused with Satonaka. Yutaka defends her from a bunch of gyaru bullies who make fun of her for being a super senior, and Satonaka declares romantic feelings for Yutaka…. Only for Satonaka to be taken away and boy-smooched by a young man, who is revealed to be Kai, the mastermind behind everything.

If you are struggling to keep up with everything that’s going on… that’s because this manga progresses at a pretty fast clip for the first seven chapters, which make up 143 pages of the manga. Chapters 8 to 12 are 180 pages long, and… how do I put this? I can only assume that at this point the series was put on the chopping block due to low ratings or readership in the monthly magazine Asuka, but I have absolutely no evidence backing that up. I’d need to find and translate an old Japanese magazine to be sure.

Now, this is normally a death sentence for a lot of series, leading to a lot of rushed or non-endings/ While the former is the case for Jinzou Shoujo… calling it rushed is a disservice. This manga loses its damn mind during its later half and drops so many revelations, so many bombshells, that I found it hard to keep up with everything without taking nodes.

Reading through it, I was constantly asking “WHAT?!” in my head every minute or so, as it just keeps on throwing out every wild idea the writer had for this story, cramming them into as few pages as possible. I could see how some people would call this crap, bad storytelling, or just exhausting… but I find it to be exhilarating. 

The latter half of Jinzou Shoujo is all killer, no filler, and refuses to let the reader catch their breath as the writer does their damndest to wrap things up ASAP. Characters make their big reveal only to be killed 20 pages later. Fight scenes with characters who were supposed to be important are condensed to two pages. And deranged nonsense happens so often that I almost certainly missed a few things in my casual single read through the comic.

It is so wild that… I genuinely do not want to spoil it for anyone. Partially because it would take 1,000 words just to explain what happened. And because I think its approach is genuinely inspiring. THIS is a prime example of condensed storytelling, and does so many cool things, so fast, back-to-back, that I cannot help but love it.

It has industrial human cloning, It has a whole damn apartment neighborhood full of artificial human hybrids, it has freaking magic, and also a hotel hysterectomy! That might sound like I’m giving away a lot, but I’m not giving away shit! 

As a writer who prides herself on her ability to craft some truly bizarre stuff, I am humbled by Jinzou Shoujo. The final chapters of this comic are a creative triumph, and a testament to how much a creator can do when time is of the essence.

This messy and rushed conclusion is, unsurprisingly, carried over with the artwork, being very… early 2000s blobbiness. This was a transitional era for a lot of anime aesthetics, going from the harder edges of the 90s to something softer and more moe. Jinzou Shoujo can definitely be expressive and cute, but you can also tell when the artist just did not want to draw backgrounds, and didn’t grasp that people are supposed to be seven to eight heads tall. Not nine. I can tell they have experience with the craft, and I like some of the monster designs quite a bit, but Natsume Satoru… had some iffy habits here.

…Oh, and I should address how this comic fares as a TSF story. Yutaka does not really pry about being in a female body too much throughout the story, and his boy-ness is mostly conveyed by his hotheadedness and a few comments about his maidenly heart. This does culminate in an acceptance near the end of the story, when Yutaka accepts themself as Nina… I think. It has the skeleton of a gradual feminization TSF story, but with time in short supply, it needs to expedite a few too many things for it to feel… complete.

In conclusion, I think Jinzou Shoujo is a creatively rich work that is beautiful in its ambition and admirable in how well it managed to end all things considered. If I read this story when I was a teen, I know I would be carrying around traces of inspiration with me to this day. And as a creator, part of me wants to try tackling similar concepts to see if I can put my own spin on its treasure trove of cool ideas. …While the other part is a bit too dazzled to try.

There Is No We or Us, Only Y’all and Me
(Natalie Bitches About Being Lumped Into Groups)

Hey, hey! It’s time for another one of Natalie’s pet peeves! As a person, I tend to be very individualistic. I like being by myself, doing my thing, and while I enjoy talking to people, I prefer to do so on a direct personal level, rather than a big group. I also consider myself to be an enigma of sorts. I’m someone who does not know a lot of things that are common knowledge, does not behave like a typical person in certain respects, and I am oblivious to a lot of things. It’s pretty much how I’ve always been— the quiet autistic kid who just wanted to do their assignments on their own and spend their free time reading or writing. Also, I’m trans, asexual, and aromantic in case I didn’t cleave away enough people who could be considered ‘like me.’

As such, I tend to be very sensitive when people ascribe me with traits that I objectively lack. Or when people try to lump me into groups that I, clearly, am not a part of. Which is why some of my least favorite words are we and us. Pronouns that are damn near required when being used to describe smaller groups of people, but are also used by some people to describe larger groups of people.

This is something I’ve seen a lot from older people, those who were taught bad politics that they carry with them to this day. But it is something that I have been seeing increasingly more among people born in the 21st century. People a few years younger than me who try to be very societally and socially minded, yet inherited this awful habit of categorizing people and imposing categories onto people. 

I think this is something born from a lot of people studying sociology, from being taught how to view humans, themselves included, as components of a society. Something born from interacting with so many people that it becomes too burdensome to see most of them as people, and easier to view them as genres or archetypes. Like they’re bloody TV characters. This simplification of the other can give people the illusion that everybody is collective, that there are universal experiences that people undergo. When… that just is not true.

Not everybody has a connection to a prolific or enormously popular artist. Some people just don’t touch mainstream culture, or ignore things like the entire medium of music. Not everybody interpreted or experienced an event like the pandemic the same way. And even the most boring person has more depth to them than the most detailed character.

Akumako: “Natalie, is this just another pedantic pet peeve of yours?”

Uh, yeah, of course it is. I do not like it when people use the term ‘we’ to refer to a large population of people, because chances are, it’s just wrong. Saying that ‘we are obsessed with X’ when releasing something that is meant to be read and interpreted by a vast population of people, when you are just talking about a couple million people, is wrong. It bothers me in the same way that it would bother me if someone were to address a crowd of 80% women as just women, because while that does represent the majority, it is inaccurate.

But I think it is actually even worse when people use it to impose an idea onto people, like saying ‘we are powerless to change the world.’ Which… is again, just wrong, and actively denies that the individual has any power to shift society or alter it. While the common person has little power next to the powerful who do control society… you don’t need much power to harm someone. Or kill them. A lot of people did, in fact, change the world by killing someone. Or lots of people. …I’m just spitting the facts, yo.

Human beings are diverse. Every one of them has had unique lived experiences. And every one of them is different. Sure, some might be similar in many ways, but to deny that uniqueness, to suppress it in order to simplify the world… is just a really shitty way to view the world. 

Yes, yes, generalizations and broader examination is necessary to form an understanding of others. It is a way for the fickle lump of hamburger meat (brains) to understand the concept of a million people. And it is a way for people to observe larger trends over time. There are contexts where this sort of thing is necessary, but I think it is a dangerous line of thought to pursue. It can lead people to view other people as abstractions, as things that are somehow beneath them, and ties into some awful appropriations of terms meant to refer to fiction. The fact that calling other people ‘NPCs’ and viewing oneself as a ‘main character’ is an increasingly common worldview… grosses me right the fuck out.

Human beings are complex. So complex that it can take years before someone truly knows someone else. So complex that, even with a whole lifetime behind them, most people don’t even know every side of themself. 

People ain’t squares or nonagons, they’re stellated dodecahedron.

…I made a stellated dodecahedron half my life ago in an origami class. But I threw it out when bed bugs ruined my room. Now I want to make a new one!

Don’t Worry, I Won’t Bitch About The Last of Us Again
(The Last of Us Online Has Been Canceled)

Something that, in retrospect, is very odd about The Last of Us Part I is that it’s not even a full remake, as the game omitted the multiplayer mode from the original 2013 title and 2014 remaster. You might initially say that’s because the multiplayer mode was seldom used or not really played… but that’s not true. During the PS3 era, Naughty Dog actually had a reputation for delivering A-grade single-player experiences with robust multiplayer modes. 

I know that my childhood buddy Matt loved the multiplayer mode of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, though he also just loved Uncharted 2 and beat it, like, ten times. And while it was overshadowed by the single-player experience, The Last of Us had a highly lauded multiplayer mode. It maintained a respectable playerbase as people got hooked on the gameplay in addition to the story and wanted to spend more time in the world. 

Sony and Naughty Dog clearly realized that they had something here, and were working on a multiplayer mode with The Last of Us Part II, but the mode was ultimately cut from the game. Why? Well, there are a few reasons that pop into my noggin. One, Sony realized they could make way more money by launching a The Last of Us live service. Two, releasing both a robust single-player mode and multiplayer mode at launch requires a lot more work and a lot more testing. Three, I think a lot of people have new ideas as to what multiplayer games should be, due to the rising popularity of live services. It is not enough to push out a basic multiplayer mode in many cases, as players expect regular content updates. Four, I think they did not want the multiplayer to be overshadowed by the campaign. I have zero data backing this up, but I’m guessing only half of the people who played TLoU or TLoUR even tried the multiplayer.

In other words, it made sense to take this foundation and expand it into The Last of Us Online, which was formally announced via concept art on June 9, 2022. Since then, there has not been much word about the game from official sources. But there have been various reports on the game’s development being troubled. …As such, it’s not surprising to hear that The Last of Us Online is DEAD!

Now, this is a damn shame, as this game has been in various states of development for at least five years, but Naughty Dog is impressively transparent as to why the game was canceled.

“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

Naughty Dog, An Update on The Last of Us Online 

Live services require a lot of people to maintain, as it is developing a live game. In order to maintain relevance in this cutthroat market, you need to give it your all, lest you be forgotten. If something goes wrong in a live service, you cannot just roll back or cut it, because it’s already out there. They drain resources from single-player games developed alongside them, and unless a studio is cleanly divided, it’s hard for any developer to do both.

So, with a binary choice like this… I think 90+% of people would prefer Naughty Dog to release one highly lauded experience every few years. There are too many live services anyway…

Part of me hopes that this move will be part of a larger trend for AAA studios to push aside live services …But not every studio can make Naughty Dog levels of profit and generate IPs that are so ripe for adaptation. Capital-G Gamers weren’t crazy about Uncharted (2022), but it made three times its budget at the box office…

Progress Report 2023-12-17

Oh shit, Gregor Daniels is on some weird fantastical shit again! Guess I’ll do that for TSF Showcase next week if it’s sufficiently dope! Also… maybe Megu Miruku by Kusaka Shiroi? I do like my HOT MILK!

2023-12-10: I watched a movie with Cassie and wrote 2,000 words, so that ate up a good chunk of my afternoon. I spent my evening finishing chapter 5 and getting halfway through chapter 6 or Robotic Battle Maiden.

2023-12-11: I finished chapter 6 of Robotic Battle Maiden and wrote 2,000 words for the review.

2023-12-12: I wrote 2,400 words for my Robotic Battle Maiden review, finishing it, but I decided to sit on it for a day before trying to edit it. Instead, I went through the surprisingly laborious process of grabbing 42 segments from prior TSF Showcases and dropping them into one WordPress post… before realizing that post was 5 hours long and had 200 high-quality images. So I decided to split the TSF Showcase Compilation into three parts. Also, I guess 300 words for the Rundown. Every bit counts…

2023-12-13: Edited and posted the Robotic Battle Maiden review for release tomorrow while on a 3 hour break for work. Spent the rest of the evening working on TSF Showcases. I got 100% done with part 1 and just need to find a new header image for part 2. I did not get to part 3. Also, my internet went out while editing stuff via an online editor. That was FUN!

2023-12-14: Wrote 1,500 words for the Rundown, did some image fiddling, proofread some bits for part 3 of the TSF Showcase, redid 5 Rundown header images to fix some errors. I decided to go ahead and edit this Rundown, getting it ret-2-go, as I was tired after going out to dinner with some family.

2023-12-15: I decided to get a head start on the TSF Showcase for next week. Wound up reading an 11,000 word novella and a 3 volume manga, writing 2,800 words on them.

2023-12-16: I spent the afternoon making the header image for Natalie Rambles About 2023. It might sound absurd that it would take me three bloody hours to make a set of two images… but that’s how long it takes. There is no obvious way I can make this work faster. Don’t tell a painter to just paint faster. Every brush stroke is intentional, DAMN IT! I kept working on other odds and ends, finishing the art assets for Natalie Rambles About 2023 and everything except for the stat analysis (I’ll do that on 12/23/23). I was feeling pretty sleepy though, so I decided to just read manga the rest of the night.

Verde’s Doohickey 2.0: Sensational Summer Romp
Acts 1, 2, and 3 Progress Report:

No progress was made this week, but I decided to change the TransSex names of all characters with unisex names. I originally wanted more unisex names, but in practice it just hasn’t played out as well as I wanted it to.

Current Word Count: 172,611

Estimated Word Count: 420,000

Total Chapters: 48

Chapters Outlined: 42

Chapters Drafted: 20

Chapters Edited: 0

Header Images Made: 0Days Until Deadline: 164

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