Fanart Friday returns, swift as the coursing river. Last week, we had all the force of a great typhoon (and I got to write the headline of my dreams) with WIND-based characters, but this week we continue our trip through the elements with WATER! Covering 71% of the Earth's surface, and making up about half of the human body, water is an integral component to life on this planet.
So to be honest, I'm always kinda surprised when water elementals just splash people with water or use ice, when they could just take control of all the fluid in an enemy's body and burst them like an overfilled balloon (note: do not let me make children's cartoons). Don't just poke your toes in--jump on in, and let's get started!
DISCLAIMER: None of the art presented is the property of myself or Crunchyroll. All characters and series are tm and © their respective creators and corporate owners. All art is the creative property of their respective artists. Any artists who wish to have their work removed from this article may contact me, and appropriate action will be immediately taken.
As this month has continued, I've become more flexible with the definition of "embodying an element," so Bruce Lee is my pick for this week. In what's now a pretty famous scene (that was repeated in The Tao of Jeet Kun Do), he talked about how a fighter must "be water," changing shape and form to fit the situation at hand and not be bound by rigid tradition or style. It's good advice!
by مصطفى
Like a certain orange-clad Hokage wannabe showed up in last week's installment for wind, Hidden Mist ninja like Zabuza and Haku use lethal water and ice techniques to overwhelm their opponents early on in Naruto. There's also Hoshigake Kisame, that awesome shark guy who never freakin' dies, but it was a real toss-up for me, so I went with the classic faces.
by SemiMage
The week-by-week run of W.I.T.C.H. continues, this time with water specialist Irma! I'm actually very impressed that you guys have kept the requests up for this series that--until the start of this month--I'd never heard of.
by olivia
Since Tsuna's "element" in REBORN! is fire, you'd think water-wielding swordsman (and Vongola's Rain Guardian) Yamamoto would be his rival, right? Nope, he's the level-headed (almost boring) member of the Vongola's main fighting force!
by nargyle
Before I talk about the waterbending Katara from Avatar, I have a correction to make from last week--it's not called The Legend of Aang to distance itself from M. Night Shyamalan's awful movie. "Bender" is derogatory slang in some countries, so that's why it was changed! Thanks, edifying! My only real question is... what do they call the guy who always wants you to bite his shiny metal ass? Also, I am not a Katara fan, because she's dumb as a bag of hammers. "I HAVE TO HELP THESE PEOPLE" no Katara, shut up, go do your main quest and stop getting distracted by side quests.
by ハルヨシ
Tier Harribel's name is a nightmare for me, because you have no idea how many different ways people have romanized it in her surprisingly brief bit of screentime in Bleach. Halibel, Hallibel, Haribel, Halliburton... let's just call her Underboob Espada and leave it at that. It's kind of a goofy design anyways.
by Wendy-Marvel12 READER SUBMISSION!
So I haven't seen Nagi no Asukara yet, but I do know that it has something to do with people who can live underwater, and that water is important to them, and that it's a real tearjerker. My only problem is the art style, which has the "AM I KAWAII UGUU" look that really creeps me out.
by 久連
I think Final Fantasy XIII came at kind of a bad time for JRPG fans. Mechanically its Command Synergy Battle system is pretty good--it's engaging and fast (when it finally lets you just play), but I'm wondering if FFXIII kinda disappointed the FFX generation in the way that FFX disappointed me, a FFVI person. Also, here's Snow, who gets way too much hate for just being kind of a dork.
by ultmte READER SUBMISSION
I still haven't had a chance to check out The Irregular at Magic High School yet, but I am surprised at how quickly Miyuki ended up on the "hated characters" list on Anime-Planet Recommends. Oh yeah, I should also mention how happy I am that someone else is doing a regular column on Crunchyroll, so check out Kim's column on Saturdays!
by 電池ねずみ
Being one of the first three types you pick up in a Pokemon game, there are too many Water-types to easily list here. However, here a bunch! And that poor fisherman is freakin' dead, because, well... Gyarados.
by tomzj1
A Final Fantasy mainstay, Leviathan shows up in some way, shape or form in every game, whether it's as an actual summon (most games), an airship (FFXII in a really cool twist), or as a terrifying force of nature (FFXIV)!
by Nardack
It always kinda bothered me that Sailor Mercury was a water elemental on Sailor Moon. Mercury is a blazing-hot ball of rock that orbits the sun at ridiculous speeds (one year on Mercury is just under three months on Earth), but whatever, I don't write shoujo manga. Of course, Sailor Neptune is a more sensible choice, but we'll get to her later.
by MadPandaKira READER SUBMISSION!
I would say that Gray Fullbuster is the Zoro to Natsu's Luffy, but Fairy Tail doesn't really have that many direct parallels to One Piece other than its sense of style and fun. Nah, the real funny thing about Gray is how his teacher--trying to toughen him up against the cold--told him to stand stripped in freezing temperatures, and gave him a public nudity complex.
by arrow
Speaking of One Piece, I'm just waiting for some guy to show up who has the Salt-Salt Fruit, and can create rafts out of saltwater and never drown. And then a Fishman like Jinbe shows up and totally wrecks his shit.
by Memed
Thanks, Super Friends, for making Aquaman seem incredibly useless. Along comes Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (and, y'know, years and years of him being a badass in the comics) to redeem the King of Atlantis, but noooooooooooo, people still think he's useless, despite the fact that he's almost as tough and strong as Superman, has a terrifying psychic arsenal, and has a shorter fuse than Wonder Woman. Aquaman ain't nothin' to f**k with.
by OroNoDa READER SUBMISSION!
Sailor Mercury represents water, but Sailor Neptune (appropriately) represents the deep sea, which makes sense because Neptune was named for the Roman god of the oceans (you may know him by his Greek name, Poseidon).
by ライブラ
And here's Mikagami Tokiya, reppin' Flame of Recca for this week with his water sword, Ensui! For those of you who've seen the anime and read the manga--did you notice how in the manga his hair got spikier and spikier? In the anime he had some spikes and this clean ponytail look, but in the manga he had full-on Flock of Seagulls hair and the ponytail.
For all the time she spends in Yu Yu Hakusho sitting around and freaking out when Hiei and/or Kuwabara are in a fight, I keep forgetting that Yukina has some pretty amazing ice powers!
by Arya
It's one thing to know that an artist goes for a particular pairing (like Fairy Tail's Gray and Juvia here, known by the hilarious couple-name Gruvia), but this artist does many pairings. She don't care, Fairy Tail is all about the looove. Don't believe me? Check out her gallery (and her dA, while you're at it).
by ほきょじろう
I love how when a reader requested Samurai Shodown's Sougetsu, I had to think for a second, until they described him as "the water/ice guy." Why yes, yes he is! Sougetsu and his flame-wielding bro Kazuki embody their elements almost too perfectly.
by ミスター
I really had to do some digging for this one--Infinite Stratos' Tatenashi doesn't have any water-based abilities herself, but her personal IS--Mysterious Lady--can manipulate water via nanomachines.
by 亘井
I hope you can all hear my exasperated, Kyon-like sigh as I bring up this week's D-FRAG representative, Sakura Mizukami, who actually goes against type by not having blue hair (seriously, count how many characters have blue hair in this installment). Swear to God, if people in the CR office start arbitrarily assigning elemental types, I'm gonna call dibs on "fire-type" and literally light their asses on fire.
by yunk
Another of Arata the Legend's mighty Twelve Shinsho, Yorunami gets the "water elemental" look dead-on, but he doesn't look like a Yuu Watase character to me. I mean, I know she's a good artist and can draw different types of people, but he looks like he belongs in Magi or something.
by ともやみ
Speak of the devil! Magi's Yamuraiha (who I keep want to call Yamuhaira for some reason) goes full-on Little Mermaid with her clamshell bustier.
by てとり
Much like Charizard (or Charmander, really) represents Fire-type Pokemon, Blastoise (or Squirtle) represents the Water-types by virtue of being the original.
by てむｋ
Aside from Bruce Lee, someone last week mentioned how strong swimmers are as close to real-life water elementals as you can get. Well, I agreed--to a point--which is why I went for the abtacular dudes from Free! instead of that reader's choice. Sorry, dude, I'll do my best to get whatever you request for next week!
Towel off--that's everything for this week! There's no way I could have included everybody--who are your favorite water-themed characters? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
I'm happy to see and more and more of you guys submitting your work to Fanart Friday--it's always welcome here, regardless of your skill level or experience. Just shoot me a PM with a link to your work, and I'll be sure to include it in a future installment! Here are the next three themes for Fanart Friday:
-Next week, on MAY 30th, we wrap up our month-long look at the elements with METAL! You might see a little overlap with The Good Earth Edition, but let's try and find characters who specifically embody the power of iron, the lustre of gold, and the ease of cooking with aluminum! Also, just for the sake of flexibility I'm allowing a few magnetism-based characters as well. THIS IS THE ONLY THEME I'M TAKING REQUESTS FOR THIS WEEK!
-Then, on JUNE 6th, we celebrate the release of Ultra Street Fighter IV with a trip through my all-time favorite video game series, STREET FIGHTER! Ryu and Ken (and the rest of the original World Warriors) have been joined by quite the massive cast... who are your favorites?
-On JUNE 13th, it's back to the studio with a look at the works of KYOTO ANIMATION, aka KYOANI! Y'know, I have yet to see a KyoAni show that actually, truly looks like crap--they know how to allocate budget.
Thanks again for coming by to check out Fanart Friday! Have a safe and fun weekend, and I hope you drop by next time too! Gonna go check out X-Men: Days of Future Past? Heading to FanimeCon, MomoCon, or Anime North? Let us know in the comments!
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