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A gift and tribute for the magical girl who changed the course of my life, and a header image for an open letter I wrote her, for four months into our... well, whatever you want to call it. It's been a while since my sona wore that serafuku, letalone a smile, hasn't it?

I'd say this is the first illustration of mine I would consider reaching for my ideal of making things that are both pretty but also meaningful in a sense.

First thing first: tarot cards. Because all this felt very much fated and has a sense of supernatural to it given our similarities, and because my love for her transcends that of physical or psychological and feels downright spiritual to me, much like with my muses.

Utena herself is The Star for multiple reasons. Firstly, as a reference the four-pointed star as her symbol spread across her magical girl design, and secondly as the tarot card for hope, love, inspiration and showing the way like a star in the night sky. All of this is actually very in-line with the attributes of a magical girl, and she has given me all of this and more, so to me she is the brightest of them all.

Amelia is The Fool partially because for one: I'm a fool for her, for two: I'm a fool in general, but perhaps most importantly because it is a special card that both signs the beginning and end of a spiritual journey, hence the number 0. The Fool sets out bravely and naively with no knowledge and no wisdow in the beginning, but once enlightened and embraced all the other cards, she learns to embrace her whimsical nature and become a bit foolish once again, which is also the cycle I am closing with the help of Utena — my guiding star. Mel's school uniform is also a reference to her earliest design back from 2011, again, returning to an earlier, more childish state.

Overall I am very happy with how this all turned out. The thin lines worked wonders and it turns out, hard lines as shadows aren't as hard as I thought they would be. I love this new, more even style for my sona's hair, it looks so much better now that it is not top-heavy. Even the hands are acceptable.