Vampire Empire [Fujmoto 17-26 X Adrianne Lenker]

[ProstrateConstantly]

I've been head over heels for the early 17-26 Fujimoto one-shot mangas ever since I picked them up on a whim while I was visiting a bud in Montreal. It was right after I had spent 10 days in New York, and something about that city just had me totally exhausted. My flight home got delayed, so I remember sitting on the tarmac at 3AM feeling deliriously tired while listening to the Melvins' Lysol overlaid with Lenny Bruce standup overlaid with an Omaru Polka ASMR stream all while reading through Fujimoto 17-26, and it ended up being such an intensely inspiring experience I opened up the Notes app on my phone and typed out the first piece of fiction I had written in over 10 years. This inspired me to start writing more and get into some longer-form storytelling projects, and I'll always credit Fujimoto's unrelenting enthusiasm for fiction and the messy messy love that pours through his one-shots for inspiring me to creatively grow.

Seeing these manga adapted to anime meant so much to me. It struck me upon seeing this adaptation how miraculously it fits with Adrianne Lenker's beautiful "Vampire Empire", and this whole thing just clicked beautifully through a few multi-hour sessions of frenetic editing.