[EN Sum-up]Hoshino Katsura's Livestream About Chapter 253.5 (part 1/3)

[EN Sum-up]Hoshino Katsura's livestream about chapter 253.5 (part 1/3)

Hello everyone, As promised here is a sum-up (more of a transcription?) of the one hour livestream Hoshino Katsura did last Sunday, February 2nd, 2025. The livestream was about chapter 253.5, which came out on January 29th in the SQ. RISE WINTER 2025 issue.

This sum-up is very long and will be divided into three parts:

Part 1 about the context around chapter 253.5 (How she came to draw it, etc.)

Part 2 about the art style of chapter 253.5

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Hello everyone, As promised here is a sum-up (more of a transcription?) of the one hour livestream Hoshino Katsura did last Sunday, February

Part 3 about the story itself and some details which will allow us to theorize about what’s coming next

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Hello everyone, As promised here is a sum-up (more of a transcription?) of the one hour livestream Hoshino Katsura did last Sunday, Februar

Obviously, this sum-up is full of spoilers, please be careful if you haven’t read chapter 253.5! This sum-up is not an exact transcription of what has been said: I skipped all the parts where she answered comments (except if it was relevant!) and I mixed some parts, because she has a tendency to repeat herself.

The context around chapter 253.5: from hiatus to an extra-chapter

Hoshino Katsura: “D. Gray-man was supposed to be in hiatus on this RISE issue, so first, I'd like to talk a bit about this.

It was because I was meant to be on hiatus I was able to draw 253.5 night in way, you know… at first, I was supposed to be on hiatus, not working at all, I was supposed to have received some vacations. I have been asking for a hiatus for quite a time now, since I was about to move [to Kobe] and I knew exactly when it would happen. Also, it has nothing to do with me moving to Kobe, but my chief assistant, the one who has been with me for years, a veteran assistant, has become a father! It's his first child so I wanted to give him vacations as well. That's why I was asking for a hiatus.

The authorization didn't come right away, but because I was moving, I got the authorization to go on hiatus for the winter issue. I was relieved to hear it.

HOWEVER, here come the problems. A month after I received the authorization, so around mid-November, I guess around the 15-17th, I was meeting my editor and he looked like he had something very difficult to ask me…He told me: "I know you are on hiatus" and I responded happily "yes, I know." He explained me D. Gray-man was one of the top sellers of RISE, and they needed to put something in RISE, otherwise the sells would drop. First, we were talking about a special benefit, like an exclusive illustration [which became the B5 clear file we had]. Only with that, I was already stressed: it was mid-November, I had other things to do. You know there is a pop-up in February right? Well, I was drawing the illustration for the pop-up shop, the one where Allen &co have cat ears, because the deadline was for the beginning of December. And, actually, I had another work with an exclusive illustration to draw. (!)

As you can see, I already had a pretty tight schedule until my house move to Kobe in mid-December. When I heard about the clear file, I was like "seriously?" I started to panic, but when I saw my poor editor, I accepted, I understood it was a sort of condition in order to be on hiatus.

And then, later, my editor told me: “You know, if we only add a special present in the magazine, I feel the DGM fans would be a bit sad [because there is no chapter]”. Basically, it would mean we would make the fans buy the magazine for the special clear file EVEN THOUGH there is no chapter. So, my editor asked for a small, short extra-chapter. When I first heard about it, I was determined to draw something VERY short, like 5 pages. I told him: "Alright, but I won't be able to draw as well as usual, so it might be a bit rough and messy. And I’ll be the one choosing the page number".

To sum up, I had to finish the storyboard for the beginning of December, the illustration for the clear file, the illustration for the pop-up store AND another illustration for something else. Everything had to be finished by mid-December. Also, I had to supervise and check futur D. Gray-man merch. Thar’s why I was really wondering: “would I be able to do everything while trying to move?”. I was really stressed. Eventually, I was not able to finish my preparations for my moving and I spent my December month calling my editor to complain. That’s how the extra chapter was born.

I hadn’t decided what I wanted to draw because, you know, it came so suddenly. But, from the way the story is currently moving, I was convinced I should draw something related to the Bookman clan. When it comes to the Bookman clan’s anecdotes, well, there are plenty of them: stories I wasn’t able to draw in the main story, small anecdotes, etc. Besides, I didn’t have much time to finish the story board. So, what I first thought would be a five pages small bonus chapter became suddenly an eleven pages chapter. I thought it would be a story I could draw without putting too much effort into the art, but even though it’s an extra-chapter, it’s an important story, so I ended up putting a lot of effort in the drawings. In a way, I paved my way to my own death. (…). Honestly, it was hell. It took me so much time, and I spent my time complaining to my editor, but when I think about it, I’m satisfied with this extra chapter.

(A comment says the bonus chapter actually looks like a normal chapter from the main plot): “Well, it’s true, but you know, I would probably not have drawn that story if I had to concentrate on the main plot. The point of view changes drastically in this chapter”.

Eventually, I ended up house moving to Kobe while screaming internally “I won’t make it in time”, and then, I received all my furniture. I finished moving super speedily and I tried to create my workspace at home as fast as possible in order to start the chapter. It was around the end of December.”

To be continued in part 2 about the artstyle of chapter 253.5...

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9 months ago

it makes me so fucking angry. Why do palestinians trying to escape genocide have to ask how you are. Why do they have to apologize for sending asks. Why must every message stast with saying they wish the reader well, they they hope you're doing okay, that they're so sorry to bother you. Do these people have to act nice and sweet for anyone to care? Do they have to make sure you're doing well before they have the right to ask for anything? Its horrific.

4 months ago
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We always talk about the dorky and unstable side of Bokuto but he's also such an inspiration!

Sometimes a simple and positive outlook at things is actually the best approach when dealing with stuff you have no control over.

We waste too much energy on catastrophizing because we feel like a negative mindset somehow protects us from being surprised by the worst possible outcomes, but it doesn’t.

That’s why Bokuto saves Akaashi from the traps of his overthinking, just as much as Akaashi saves Bokuto from the traps of his overfeeling.

2 months ago

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the manga, during ch39: Portrait of a Father, Akutagawa shows up, as Dazai's informant, to give Atsushi documents about who the orphanage headmaster was and what happened to him.

For Those Of You Who May Not Be Too Familiar With The Manga, During Ch39: Portrait Of A Father, Akutagawa
For Those Of You Who May Not Be Too Familiar With The Manga, During Ch39: Portrait Of A Father, Akutagawa

At that moment, Akutagawa shows an uncharacteristic clemency towards Atsushi, saying that "Atsushi's master died today", and compares this to his own relationship with Dazai.

This was a long time ago now, and a lot has happened since. The Cannibalism arc is right after this, where they are very antagonistic towards each other, and includes this scene:

For Those Of You Who May Not Be Too Familiar With The Manga, During Ch39: Portrait Of A Father, Akutagawa

Akutagawa, despite his bitterness towards Atsushi for who he is to Dazai, has seen how similar they are in this sense. Atsushi hasn't, because his gratefulness towards Dazai prevents him from seeing that Akutagawa's experience was completely different with this same person. (he's also not given any time by the narrative to wonder about it)

but then just came along chapter 122!!!

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Atsushi gets to see, 1:1, the relationship between Akutagawa and Dazai. For the first time, Akutagawa is relatable to him.

And of course, at the end, Atsushi calls out the illusion as being the headmaster wearing Dazai's face because we are closing this loop! We are forcing Atsushi to see Akutagawa the same way Akutagawa has been seeing him!

2 months ago
I Love Haikyuu So Much You Don’t Understand
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3 months ago

idk if youve written about this before but who do you think will heal like "fix" Rin: Isagi or Sae? (sorry for bad english)

(don't apologize!)

I kind of did

This was not too long ago and I still think feel the way I did when I wrote that.

I still think Rin's issues will be one of the core conflicts later on, seeing as how this entire PXG match was written to develop him further (make him more insane). Dedicating 200 chapters to developing one character means that character's conflicts are important and there will be more shit for that character later on. As far as fixing or helping (I get what you mean) I think it's gonna be a combo of both of them but more than that, Rin pulling himself together. Mostly because that's the pattern in Blue Lock so far. Nobody really discloses their baggage with anyone, the only one to do that was Bachira and that's because of how his relationship with Isagi is (very different from the other dynamics in the manga) and how Bachira just is as a person (very open about everything, esp w/ Isagi).

Bachira*, Chigiri, Barou, Nagi, Hiori, Yukimiya, Kaiser--> all of these people were "helped" by Isagi, but Isagi didn't do anything. He reached out to them to get them to collaborate and win matches. He was either met with resistance (Barou, Chigiri, Yuki) or willingness to make it work (Nagi, Kaiser**). Each time the outcome is the same though. Chigiri remembered why soccer was fun, so he jumped back in, Nagi realized what it's like to actually feel fired up about something, anything, Barou realized he can't just be The Way That He Is and win matches/be useful in matches/be a part of the team and given the opportunity/chance to score for the team. Hiori and Yukimiya found inspiration just playing with Isagi, Hiori moved past the pressure his awful parents put on him and found his own personal reason to play, Yuki and Isagi had a couple of Bad Moments and it worked out because they're both willing to admit mistakes and learn and change.

*Again, Bachira's situation was quite different from the rest, so we won't dive into his stuff here **Kaiser is unreliable and this comes with a grain of salt and that is an entire other post in itself, but the point still stands

Soooo moving back to Rin...I expect him to follow the same pattern. When you compare Rin's reaction to Isagi just PLAYING SOCCER and literally EVERYONE ELSE'S REACTION to Isagi just PLAYING SOCCER it's really wild.

Everyone else:

Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry

Rin:

Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry

Even fucking Kaiser started out acting like Rin and then shifted to feeling like everyone else (Kaiser and his unreliable narrating is a whole other post so I won't get into that here).

Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry
Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry

Everyone figured their own stuff out on their own terms (Not Kaiser lol). Rin should probably work out the same seeing as how he is seeing the same Isagi as everyone else but having a total 180 reaction. Rin is very much an anomaly though because unlike everyone else in the manga, he's stuck in his emotions and broken heart and can't get past it, and *his issues/narrative conflicts actually involve other characters who participate in the story (Sae). We're never gonna see Hiori face his parents or anything like that, so Rin is clearly a different type of story than everyone else.

*Kaiser and Ness but again, different post

Rin has two obstacles:

Figuring out what Sae was trying to tell him when he dumped him (in a fuck awful way, Sae is an idiot)

And the way he views Isagi

I didn't include "fixing relationship with Sae" as an obstacle because THAT will not happen unless he realizes #1. This story is all about "egos" (ego meaning finding your reason/motivation and not relying on anyone else). Rin always just wanted to be in his brother's shadow and Sae got really tired of that because he knew Rin was capable of more than that, so he dumped him.

Rin loses his shit a little (understandably honestly, really sad), uses his anger as a motivator (still missing the mark, that makes Rin codependent on Sae still), realizes there is finally someone who isn't just one of Rin's stepping stones (how Rin used to view everyone around him, first character flaw we see), and lost his shit a little more. Decided that beating Isagi was his next goal, which setting more reachable goals like that is good (it's what Isagi did with Kaiser), but because Rin has so many other unresolved issues he wasn't able to be normal about it and he let Isagi send him into a spiral/borderline meltdown on the soccer field in the PXG match LOL. Rin placed Isagi in the same playing field as his brother, literally compared the two saying he needs someone who makes him suffer in order to play to his fullest potential.

Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry

I don't think I need to explain why that thought process is completely fucked up lol. Sae legitimately hurt Rin. Isagi did nothing to him, so this comparison is evident of how desperate Rin is to keep finding a reason to play (his own ego).

I think the order of events for Rin has to be:

Get over this weird fixation on Isagi. Shift from letting Isagi ruin his life to letting Isagi inspire him like everyone else. View Isagi as someone to fight alongside and compete against without escalating into a mental breakdown lol.

Realize why he's playing soccer---> he SHOULD come to the conclusion that this sport brings him joy and it's fun. So far we've never see him really enjoy it. That's been the core of several arcs, Chigiri, NAGI especially my god (that's literally been the whole reason anything in blue lock has gone the way it has for Nagi lmao), Hiori. And even Bachira calls him out on it.

Idk If Youve Written About This Before But Who Do You Think Will Heal Like "fix" Rin: Isagi Or Sae? (sorry

If things go that way---> THEN I think Sae will see this change and their relationship can mend itself. Sae just sees Rin as an annoying sibling who wants to ride his brother's ass and annoy him forever being happy with settling for living in a shadow (literally, this was confirmed by Kaneshiro that Sae does not view their little spat the same as Rin does, he thinks Rin is just being annoying, Sae is an idiot lol).

I also think Rin needs friends. He has none. Realizing that people are playing WITH him is started this WHOLE downward spiral in the U20 match, so for me it seems that Rin's endgame should be embracing the 10 other people he's playing with and enjoy it with them, not feel like he has to be alone and do everything himself otherwise he's not good enough. I think Isagi (and Bachira too tbh) will be key to this part of Rin's story.

To answer your question:

Yes. Lol.

5 months ago
Make No Mistake, The Palestinian Resistance Caused This. Just Hours Ago, They Announced A Successful

Make no mistake, the Palestinian resistance caused this. Just hours ago, they announced a successful operation against the IDF

Al-Qassam Brigades: 

In a complex operation, our fighters were able to raid a building where a Zionist infantry force of 25 soldiers was fortified, and dealt with them with various types of weapons, killing and wounding all members of the force.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/zxyVe5tyXz

— RF News 🇵🇸🇾🇪🇱🇧🇮🇶🇮🇷 (@RFN3138) January 13, 2025
Immediately upon the arrival of the rescue force, a minefield was detonated on two troop carriers, and the fire is still burning in the building, and the clash is ongoing in the "Al-Najili" area in the Al-Shaboura camp in the center of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip.

2/2

— RF News 🇵🇸🇾🇪🇱🇧🇮🇶🇮🇷 (@RFN3138) January 13, 2025

Its operations like these that has made it difficult for the IDF to conduct a genocide in Gaza

200 Israeli soldiers have signed a letter saying they’ll stop fighting if Netanyahu’s government doesn’t agree to a ceasefire deal.

Burn out from killing children, and sweating over being chased for war crimes around the world.https://t.co/oWfNnmJhIv

— Naks Bilal (@NaksBilal) January 13, 2025

Of course the biggest credit goes to the people of Northern Gaza who steadfastly refused for 16 months to let their land get colonised

Once again, the biggest act of resistance and the most important factor towards a deal being made is not the armed resistance; it is the people of the North that ate animal feed and tree leaves yet never left. They made this possible.

— mini cheri🔻 (@Minicherii) January 13, 2025
The genocidal state failed in its plans for resettlement in the North because of them, there are STILL people in Jabalia and beit lahia and beit hanoun. Still people holding on to nothing left but rubble, but it’s their rubble.

— mini cheri🔻 (@Minicherii) January 13, 2025
1 month ago

the idea that it’s ‘creepy’ to interact with things posted a long time ago is so terrible for artists and contributes to the pressure to be constantly creating new work, at an unhealthy and unsustainable rate. I hate it so much.

2 months ago

Reo you're doing great in this arc okay?

But please for the love of God stop apologizing. Not your fault if you AWAKENED YOUR EGO AND CHRIS SAW THAT POTENTIAL IN YOU. Even Nagi saw how FIRED UP YOU ARE AND REALIZED HOW MUCH YOU'VE GROWN AND HE'S THE ONE APOLOGIZING TO YOU FOR BEING A BUM.

Kaneshiro please do not fuck up Reo's character development and make him Ness 2.0 in this match.

Reo's better than this. The fandom has waited hundred of chapters for Reo to score on his own outside of Nagi.

1 month ago

If you think Nagi's confession and Reo's reaction is dramatic in blue lock, then you're not ready to see it from epinagi's perspective.

The level of yearning is gonna be astronomical.

2 months ago
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍
He’s So Cute 😍

He’s So Cute 😍

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