iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 25/09/2026

I try. On this page, there were no clean samples of the gradient under either sound effect. The one on the right had at least two dots visible per row, so I got a pretty rough but complete samepke built up. The one on the left had nothing usable for 10 rows so I had to approximate in some areas.

131

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

The series is full of asides, and I wrote them all by hand. It takes a long time, but I felt that Fujichika-sensei put so much love into that hand-drawn look that I needed to as well. This is volume 2 of 3, and it's such a delight. I hope you check it out!

An image from The Delinquent and the Transfer Student volume 2 in English.

An image from The Delinquent and the Transfer Student volume 2 in Japanese.

3294

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

And here are some other pages with fun stuff. I could reuse most of the "welcome to", but had to capitalize the W and move "to" over. I'm particularly fond of how the "OMAKE" text turned out.

1212

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

Now That's What I Call Localization

2232

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

The standout difficult pages in volume 2 were these festival shots with singing. Lots of retouch to be safe. The English text has more characters and needs to read horiziontally. The music notes were left in place, so text had to go around them. I drew guides and then traced in the original style.

1243

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

Layering of text into the image is so much fun. Same with doing block letters that overlap with each other. And when we need to use more characters in English, there's a bit of a puzzle for how to situate each character. Gotta keep the overall balance the same and fit in the margins.

1303

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

Fujichika-sensei drew tons of great signage and packaging in this series, none of it looking too uniform. It was a lot of fun trying to replicate that style and figure out how to arrange the text.

1303

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

The Delinquent and the Transfer Student volume 2 is out now! I adore this series, and lettering it was a huge challenge. I'm incredibly proud of the results, and wake to display some comparisons of the Japanese and English lettering. Here are some, with more in the thread below!

6269105

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/09/2026

Charming localization quirk using decimals when listing height in feet. Not a chance that most Americans know what the decimal value of the inches in their height is.

The character selection card for Claire Redfield in Resident Evil Gun Survivor 2, listing her height as 5.545 ft.

052

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 22/09/2026

Rewatching the good stuff hits so hard.

020

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 21/09/2026

Some basic, gut answers. Top row unimpeachable.

Nine favorite manga for Aidan:
1: Bully Bat
2: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
3: Witch Hat Atelier
4: Otaku Elf
5: Black Jack
6: Berserk
7: Dorohedoro
8: Ping Pong
9: Vinland Saga

2220

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 17/09/2026

Love these cassette tape labels included in the August 1986 issue of Asuka. Gonna make some mix tapes to utilize them. (After scanning them for preservation.)

A color insert page in a manga magazine with six cassette tape labels drawn by shojo manga artists.

0122

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 16/09/2026

Going to make and release a new font by the end of 2026. Putting this out there so I have some solid motivation. Not gonna be a font specific to comics, just my default rough handwriting. It's messy. But I've learned a ton since my prior font, and need to kick into gear to implement all that.

Uppercase and lowercase print alphabets written on graph paper with a green pen.

3182

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 13/09/2026

Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto has a thematically-relevant reference to the Bionicle character Thok, taking place in an icy environment.

0196

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 10/09/2026

Cool sound effects in Golgo 13 volume 220. Ear-splitting sirens rendered as GYON, with rounded characters covered in small rounded spikes. Reminds me of caterpillars, lol. I think these do a great job conveying a widespread, ringing awful noise.

0166

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 09/09/2026

I'm *so* annoyed that I didn't buy the DVD of Otaku Unite that I saw in a Kyoto book store. It was even priced pretty cheap, unlike all the English manga that they marked up super high to gouge tourists.

130

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 09/09/2026

We gotta juice those numbers

100

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 09/09/2026

I think it's pretty clear that Stu Levy doesn't have a deep love for the comics he publishes. Especially not in this second incarnation of TP after they lost their big titles. Can you name any titles currently published by TokyoPop? Stu rarely does.

If there's a smoking gun to Tokyopop's losses in 2025, it would be its venture into events by obtaining the license to be the exclusive Naruto exhibition promoter and producer in Europe, despite not having the rights for the manga or anime.
"In our case specifically, we did great in
2024. Then in 2025, we took a good amount of that capital, and we placed a big bet; we took a big swing at the experience business, which we wanted to be in," Tokyopop founder/majority owner Stu Levy tells Milton Griepp of ICv2.

54725

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 04/09/2026

Which manga have the most separate English localizations? Not just different releases like an omnibus of an existing edition, but distinct translation and lettering efforts. Maison Ikkoku has three distinct translation/lettering sets from Viz. Akira has Epic/Dark Horse/Kodansha US.

7289

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 02/09/2026

The manga Ichi the Killer has a nice little reference to Thok, a Bionicle character.

A panel from Ichi the Killer showing a guy getting punched in the forehead. A sound effect reads "THOK".

092

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 01/09/2026

Celebrate the 11th anniversary of the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain by picking up Billy Bat volume 2, now available in English!

25514

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 22/08/2026

Blessed by the presence of this big guy

0140

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 21/08/2026

Come to the Kana panel at Anime NYC this morning! We'll be talking about Billy Bat lettering and other stuff!

0136

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 19/08/2026

Please try saying the phrase "Doctor Pepper Manga Contest" out loud. Imagine Orson Welles saying it. A beautiful combination of words that should be seared into your memory.

A button showing a can of Dr Pepper, with the text "Dr Pepper Manga CONTEST", the most beautiful phrase in the English language.

12480171

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 16/08/2026

Camp Miasma is so fucking good. Wonderful hearing Jane Schoenbrun talk about making it! Immediate classic.

163

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 15/08/2026

The cover of Bionicle Ignition #1 contains a clever reference to the Bionicle character Thok.

The cover of Bionicle Ignition #1. The character Thok bursts out of a canister. He shares a name with a cool sound effect commonly used in translated manga.

083

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 15/08/2026

Secret Web Site! Cool DVD Packaging!

041

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 14/08/2026

Hell yeah, thought I'd have to wait until next month when it shows in Lincoln, but I'm so glad I thought to check the listings for this weekend when I get to New York.

140

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 10/08/2026

How I feel when I'm told I have to use Wild Words as the primary dialogue font.

138
SLOW DOWN
to create, then used planes and chisels to make them. A unified flow linked all parts of the labor process.
Capital, though, views this unified flow as inconvenient. If production depends on the skills and discernment of an artisan, it becomes hard to control the pace of production and labor, which makes it difficult to raise productivity. In the worst-case scenario, forcing things might end up injuring the artisan's pride and leading him or her to walk off the job.
Therefore, capitalists carefully observed the work performed by these artisans. They defined each component part of the process, measured the minimum time needed to perform each task, and then recreated the process in a more efficient way by dividing the labor among several people. This rendered the artisan obsolete. Now each component task in the creation of a product could be done by anyone, and the production was faster than if they were done by a single artisan, potentially at the same level of quality or higher.
(Begin gightight in green) This leads to the fall of the artisan. Capital ends up monopolizing the power of conception. (End highlight in green.) The workers employed to replace the artisans simply execute the commands of capital. Thus conception is separated from execution.

050

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 08/08/2026

Da Good Shit. (The Criterion release of Wild at Heart hasn't been officially announced yet, but I'd put that in place of Fire Walk With Me as my favorite standalone Lynch movie.)

My four Criterion Closet picks:
Drive My Car
Paris, Texas
Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
House

1160

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 07/08/2026

One of Toriyama's greatest strengths as an artist was his use of contrast in black and white images to make panels that are clear. Truman's sound effects don't retain the exact types of lines, curves, or angles, but they have great contrast.

04718

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 07/08/2026

Thinking about the way Wayne Truman drew sound effects for manga that didn't match the style of the originals but still burst with energy. The full color version of Dragon Ball has the original sound effects so it's used for comparison here.

28544

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 07/08/2026

The Georgian alphabet looks so cool. Loved this movie, and was really taken by how the title looked written out.

110

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 07/08/2026

Does anyone know of other movies that can go on this list?

A Letterboxd list with the title: "Movies where Viggo Mortensen has several tattoos and Hangs Dong"
The list has two entries, The Indian Runner and Eastern Promises.

261

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 03/08/2026

Initial build of the Miku Zaku done! Gonna try and panel line the black elements with chrome before adding the stickers. Then finish it off with a gloss top coat.

An RG Zaku II model kit in Hatsune Miku colors (silver, black, teal blue) standing on a desk.

0123

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 02/08/2026

Remembering the time I went to a record store and the little shelf in the corner had framed pictures of Laura Palmer (living and dead) next to a tiny framed portrait of Begby from Trainspotting.

A shef in the corner of a record store. It contains framed portraits of Laura Palmer and Begby from Trainspotting.

1132

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 31/07/2026

Thank you for the trivia, Anime News Network Page for Aldous Huxley.

ANIMENEWSNETWORK
THE INTERNET'S MOST TRUSTED ANIME NEWS SOURCE

Aldous HUXLEY

Chronology:
(1959) He allegedly declined knighthood of the British Empire for his services to literature.

Other articles:

Staff in:
(English version)
Kingdom Hearts (manga) : Original creator (The Doorknob; uncredited)
Kingdom Hearts X_(light novel) : Original creator (The Doorknob; uncredited)
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (manga) : Original creator (The Doorknob; uncredited)

0165

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 28/07/2026

Crystal Bowie ahead of the times with translucent shell tech

An image from Space Adventure Cobra The Movie. A crystalline clear space ship is in front of a moon, all in shades of blue.

072

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 27/07/2026

The Summer Hikaru Died is really good. (Personally, I think that cat would like me.)

A comic panel showing a teenage boy and a cat. There are two speech bubbles that read:
1: "I don't really care how. I just wanna touch that cat."
2:"Yeah?"

The three comic panels. In the first, a cat is eating a treat and gets poked. Panel 2 shows the cat's startled face. Panel 3 shows the cat zooming away from two teenage boys.

0195

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 24/07/2026

Also watched Rififi last night, but kept falling asleep. Seemed really cool though.

The last four movies I watched. The Happiness of the Katakuris, four stars. Dunkirk, three stars. Black God, White Devil, four stars. Motor City, two stars.

250

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 23/07/2026

Beautiful original score by Jun Fukamachi and Michel Legrand for the live action movie of Tezuka's Phoenix. Movie itself is pretty fun, not as good as the manga. The score is the big standout element.

042

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 22/07/2026

Good conversation with my brother

28921

Aidan Clarke @cranchyroll.com · 19/07/2026

Said it before, but it rules that this ancient DVD is still in print. They accidentally made the Oshii movie look more like the manga by cramming tons of text on the cover.

A sealed new DVD copy of Ghost in the Shell (1995) at a store. The cover design is the same as it's been for around 25 years, complete with huge amounts of text in several different fonts.

0183