u/crooked-meadow-grass

Imagine this: It's an ordinary day. You are walking outside and suddenly, a gigantic face that's a copy of yours floats towards you. There's a rope dangling at the lower part of the head. At the end of the rope, there's a noose, which gets swung towards you, reaching for your neck. The balloon head doesn't say anything but just makes manic expressions while it keeps tracing you without getting exhausted. If you hide indoors, it will wait outside the door or windows. If you shoot it, your own face will get damaged the same way and crumble when the life leaks out. You can't cut the rope easily either since it's metallic and thick. If the balloon eventually gets the noose around your neck, you'll get hanged to death while the balloon quietly lifts you high up in the sky to accompany other balloons which have caught their human resemblance.

The hanging balloons are a simple yet obscure concept which were inspired by a real life case where the suicide of a pop idol triggered many of their fans to take their own lives the same way.

While balloons are often seen in horror stories, I have not encountered them being applied to the story this way before. Their well-thought-out functioning and structure made the situation feel hopeless and ghostly.

The anime is called "Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre" (Episode 3) whereas the manga pages are from the short story "The Hanging Balloons" from "The Horror World of Junji Ito" collection.

Fairies are usually young-looking white females so it's refreshing to see a black male one that seems like a full-grown adult but still dresses in earthy, delicate, colorful clothing which fits the fairy theme instead of wearing something stereotypically masculine.

There isn't a single thing I don't like about this design consisting of multiple unexpected, twisted, folded, rough and curved things mixed together. It's so mysteriously quirky I can't help but ponder what he does, how he lives and what thoughts he has. His demeanor makes it seem like he has a lot on his mind but is hesitant to say everything out loud. I also keep wondering if there are special reasons for the arm pieces and the heart-shaped buckle or if they are just accessories.

All the art here belongs to Morokiokio. The artwork can be found in the Videos and Posts tabs on their YouTube channel.

The face is obviously the creepiest part of the design: It represents a deep dark winter night sky when snow is falling (The white particles in the black area actually fall down like snowflakes). The actor did an amazing job making her stare look ice cold, analyzing and piercing and the heavy eye makeup makes the eyes pop out even more and "connects" them to the black mask.

The rest of the design is very minimalistic but it works really well; The tall crown/hat reminds me of a snow castle or ice pilar and the cloak is like piles of clean, dry snow. The clothes also add mass / feeling of threat to her look even though she already is bigger than an average human. The cloak waves in a heavy way (Not heavenly but actually heavy) when she determinately trots around her arms firmly on the side, back straight, face forward.

Her hands: They are skeleton-like and pale with long pointy nails like icicles, which makes you think about death and cold.

Her carriage (In the bottom middle of the second pic) was also made to look unusual instead of going for the average ice sled. Her swan-shaped ride floats in the air and the folds make it resemble the queen's cloak. I wonder if the vehicle is also fluffy?

Broccolina making weird poses and expressions. The last image is the same character but in their non-mutated form as Evelina.

What makes this design interesting: 1. Inspired by broccoli (among other things) 2. Origin story: Turns from a well-behaved, nervous student into pure emotional chaos. Personalities are reflected in both appearances. 3. Creepy way of moving. 4. Unusual torso for a female character. 5. Athletic outfit with large beads.

You can find the creator, PoundToundHound on YouTube, Toyhouse, Blyesky and Newgrounds. They work on animations, visual novels and world concepts.