Esta Sencillo, Pero Con Mucho Amor `

Esta sencillo, pero con mucho amor ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა ₊˚⊹♡

buen dia ‹𝟹

Okay, but let's talk about Balam's hair for a hot second

(Yes, it may have become one of my fixations) You know, the guy not only cut it radically - and we know it's because of Iruma - he also let it grow back, and now he grooms it much better than before. Why? While my wishful thinking headcanon is that Kalego offered to brush it after they declared their feelings for each other (they are definitely introduced as best friends, but c'mon, look at them here)

...I also recognize this is not canon, so it can't be the actual reason. So I was wondering: why this difference? IMO it signifies personal growth, but what caused it, if Iruma led to the haircut? And then it hit me. Meeting Iruma, again - but in a deeper way than I thought at first. According to Balam's own words, he decided to cut his hair to appear more approachable. But why not brush it and style it as he's doing now? Everything we know about Balam's past points to him being treated like a weirdo and marginalized, not only because he likes picture books, he was also hyperfixated with the existence of humans.

This went on all his life, from bullies at school to his own students. He was likely wounded, full of self doubt and possibly shame, so he withdrew into himself, and his hair was messy because why bother if people avoid you anyway. So imagine finally having tangible proof that you were right all along. That's life changing, not only because of the discovery itself - it can make you reevaluate your whole story, and yourself. A radical cut was a logical thing to do, to break with the past. But why letting the hair grow back then? I speculate that Balam is most comfortable with long hair after all, and he feels more like himself this way (I mean, he had medium-to-long hair in all flashbacks). I like to think that his personal grooming is a metaphor for his newly found self confidence and self love: he can be himself to the fullest, he likes the demon he is, and he's not afraid of showing it to everyone else now, by making his hair prettier. He was right all along, and everybody else can shut it.

Such a small detail in the grand scheme of things, yet enormous for the single character. I love this manga so much ♡

watched a video about color and tried to do something with it

An orb pondering time for @maria-ruta 🔮✨

[Image ID: A Mairimashita! Iruma-kun comic based on incorrect quotes. Opera in the first image says "I scare people sometimes because I walk very softly and they don't hear me enter rooms. So when they turn around, I'm just kind of there. " with a sigh. In the second image, it's a bottom up shot with Kalego squatting on top of a cupboard, scared shitless while holding onto a spray bottle and pointing it at Opera in an attempt to defend himself. "How did you get into my house!? " he asks. A bit of the back of Opera's head is shown in the bottom right corner of the image, and their ear wiggles while they reply "Exactly. " in delight. End ID]

Yeah.

I just binged all of M!ik, and i just have to say how much I love how diverse the gender expression is among its characters!!

Like the obvious one is Opera, who’s canonically Non-Binary and uses they/them pronouns (at least in the English translation, since Japanese doesn’t really use gendered pronouns the same way), and who presents with a mix of feminine and masculine attributes, without it ever being seen as something strange by the other characters. Like, everyone just accepts that Opera is neither a man or woman. They’re just Opera.

But even outside of everyone’s favorite cat-demon, theres so many other gender nonconforming characters, including the main character!! Like I know that him dressing up in frilly dresses is played for a joke at one point, but for the most part, it’s not something he’s ashamed of. He’s a bit embarrassed to go on national tv dressed as an idol, but he also has a lot of fun doing it, even leaning more into it during the concert portion of the Evidol Games.

I also have a special place in my heart for the gnc men in the series, because I feel like that’s not something you really see all that often, except for with the generic pretty boy trope. But in M!ik we have Balam, who is undeniably a very masculine figure, but he has a lot of equally undeniably feminine traits. He’s very gentle and physically affectionate, and has a great love for small creatures and likes to make cute picture books. And on the Physical side of things, he has long hair that he wears down a lot that he carefully takes care to maintain (at least after he grows it out again).

And there’s a lot more than that, even just in the background characters that appear, but these three are the ones that came to mind first.