r/MagicalGirlsCommunity • u/bwoodyfailed4ngel • 1h ago
✨ ⁞ ⊹꒰Magical Boys꒱⊹ thoughts and feedback about my magical girl (well... boy... is there even a sub for magical boys?) designs + worldbuilding? pls pls (TWs in post and CW TGINR spoilers) Spoiler
galleryignore that the designs are not all that consistent. the pink guy (harumi)'s design is the one of the second pic with the gloves of the first and the blue guy's feet thing on the third pic, while the blue guy (aihara)xs design is the third pic with the only difference being that his bow is the same color as it is on the second pic. im allergic to consistency in designs
but thats not the point!!
it's been a long while since i last designed magical girl characters, and even then, I've never managed to make them look like the usual ones you see in the genre (i focus more on practicality and simplicity tbh, im not that much of a dedicated artist as to draw the characters i like in super complicated designs every time i want to draw them), so i was wondering if i could get some feedback? these two are from This Game Is Not Real, which WAAAAAARRRRNIIIIIIING is pretty dark in case you want to check it out. theres a ton about the lore that influences the AU and designs, but ill leave it on a comment instead of a post, so people can avoid spoilers if they so wish c:
so, you see, they're on a magilumiere-like setting, with some differences but i havent fully finished building that, so ill just talk about it as if it was on a mix of magilumiere and TGINR... which if you havent watched magilumiere, you totally should, i really like the anime, but i havent finished it yet so idk if it's good or bad.
so, you see, harumi is a young, 26 year old prodigy in coding who, well, loves coding, what else. he admires magical girls a lot, so taking inspiration on his other program, happy dream maker (program you connect to, which makes the perfect paradise for you basically), he makes other program. i havent decided the name but basically you connect to it, converts your thoughts into code, and lets you use them. this works through two things, one is 'File' and the other 'Real', File is what does the converting, while Real connects your thoughts to the File.
Now, for people who know nothing about coding; This part might be a little confusing, but I'm sure I can get the point across. For people who DO know about coding; PLEASE FORGIVE ME I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT CODING
The magical spells are made out of variables. for example, were you going to think "6J A2 L3" (im naming all of them with a number and a letter for simplicity's sake), Real transmisrs it to the File, that sees that and converts it to actual code without needing to go through the process of doing all that yourself with a computer, which, since harumi and aihara dont work under a company, is really useful because theres no one working for them- just as there is no one they work for. the File holds the information about the user as well, such as their identity, capabilities, and so on, since who [you] are is converted into numbers and letters. magical transformations or attacks stronger than the program can expose the File to being corrupted, which, would go horribly wrong, since what's on the File being corrupted would mean the Real also messes up, and the Real is connected to the brain so.... You can kind of guess how thatd go. Who knew machines could do the equivalent to lobotomies nowadays!
Now now, the worldbuilding yap is over, let's move onto the designs~
The color is the most important thing in the entire design, hence I prioritized it a thousand times over everything else. I'll limit myself to talking about what's around 2 hours in on the average gameplay of TGINR (which is 4 hours). TW for serious topics such as suicide, self harm, and just a ton of mental issues, such as pushing yourself waaaaayyy too hard, extreme envy and faking who you are immensely.
A little summary of Harumi's character would be; Acts silly around others, but pushes himself too hard thanks to the expectations surrounding him (I mean... He's an university student who made a program so complex! (he made HDM in university) the world absolutely adored him!). As for Aihara, it'd be; Someone who feels he cannot create anything 'original', as all he does is an imitation of other creators no matter how much he tries, he envies Harumi because he finds his suffering to be the most original thing ever, something rarely seen: Someone broken through and thorough thanks to the expectations of who hold him up so dearly, to the point of trying to kill himself and harming himself. NOW, YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING; "how is color related to anything of this?" HOOOO BOYYYY U GOT NO IDEA HEHEHHEE...sorry, im really passionate about the meaning the colors hold.
as you can see, harumi's shirt collar, skirt, gloves, and hat (and his shoes too, but I didnt care about them at the point I designed it) are all blue. Vibrant reds and pinks represent positivity / light. Harumi acts very positively, and he is often represented with light reddish pink because, well, because hes joyful of course(supposedly)! Not vibrant colors such as the grayish blues from Aihara represent negativity / dark, and well, Aihara is... Kind of a loser.
going on about harumis colors, his wrists and thighs are where he cuts himself, representing that these zones are 'negative', something undesirable, something dark, something that breaks Harumo's aura of positivity, the same thing is for his collar, for the only exception that it represents.... Oops, spoilers, will put it on a comment later(1)! The hat on the head just represents his negative thoughts.
The mask represents how Harumi fakes who he is for others, always smiling, always wide eyed, always cute and flustered, and most importantly; Always happy! The glasses are there to represent the negativity seeping through him, even as he tries his best to cater to other's expectations. That is also why his design is inspired by a school uniform~ People find teens and school uniforms in general cute, simple but cute (at least on communities I've been in!), so he took that and went 'hell yeah let's be cute hehehehe' or something idk.
Now, for Aihara! I promise you hes blue for an amazing reason!
His entire deal is envying Harumi, admiring how original he can be, so he tries to imitate him; Become Harumi. Hence the similar elements! (Simple clothing, bows, a high sock but then the other is at the bottom, the feet thingy, and obv the glasses) He has a similar pose to harumi because of that, but you can tell hes not nearly as excited or positive about this as Hqrumi is. theres not much to talk about the colors unfortunately, as hes negative all over. But hes specially dark blue on his torso and upper thighs because, 1) the arms where he cuts himself to try be more like Harumi 2) the upper thighs because that is... how do I describe this... where his 'desire' for Harumi builds up sometimes, especially when he's. Specially original... Gulp. (Sorry, these two are very messed up.) I realized just now his shirt collar should be a darker blue because at the end of TGINR he- .... SPOILERS DAMN IT!!!! that's going into the comment too(2).
About the designs, you're completely free to draw over them, straight up redraw them, or do anything with them really (THAT DOESNT INVOLVE AI) to give feedback! Just remember three things; 1) the only colors you can use are vibrant pinkish reds and grayish blues 2) Harumi has to be mostly pinkish red while Aihara has to be mostly grayish blue 3) AIHARAS DESIGN HAS TO BE CLASSY BUT SIMPLE. this is because i have an oomf who kins aihara so i decided to include his likes into the design~ wwwwww.
Sorry for the long post, I'm... very much of a yapper. And I'm extremely passionate about TGINR and magical girls so, you can kind of guess how thatd go.
Misako [Aoi] (shx/hxr) out!
