Everybody wishes they could be like me, smart and cool. Handsome, wealthy and so sexy.

Posted On December 16, 2006

Original Post

Uncensored version here. (warning, nudity!)

The reason why I’m here writing this news post instead of getting ready to go to Karate is because I’m feeling sick, and one should not be punching and kicking other people whilst sick. It’s simply not good form, you know. So here I am, under a blanket (much like this) writing you this lovely news post.

This comic? I have to say I’m quite happy with it. I actually wouldn’t have it any other way, given the amount of time I spent on it. Especially on the backgrounds, which sadly had to be blurred in the end. You know, for realism ‘n’ stuff. At the last minute, I tried to make the lighting look kind of like the Death Note anime, because I enjoy Death Note’s look quite a bit. I also changed Rets’ hair color so it’s straight black. The decision to do this was more inspired by NHK’s colors, though. I think I like his hair better straight black rather than dark grey. Overall I’m really happy with the art here. Less so with the writing, but it’s not as bad as usual.

I should probably fill in a couple holes that this comic presents.
1) In this comic, “going to college” meant “leaving the place were we already are and going to another place far removed from here to go to college.” I understand that this sort of message couldn’t really be inferred from what was said in the comic, but you know. It’s not like the “location” of this comic has been well-defined anyway, I just felt I should explain Rets’ “back home” comment.
2) This is the same store from this comic, though it underwent a massive facelift after subsequent visits to its real life counterpart and multiple viewings of store photos. That giant TV in the old comic? Yeah, I was too lazy to draw shelves and such when I made that comic… let’s just say the store couldn’t afford to keep the TV. The repo man took it.
3) Given the size of the store (small) it is clear that Rets would have seen Brad at the register, so his “B-Brad?!” is clearly faked, probably just to piss off Brad. Chances are Rets wandered around the store silently, continually grinning at Brad, while Brad wished for his life to end, or something like that.

A new podcast has materialized, and it’s available for your listening pleasure. The main focus of this episode was meant to be Code Geass, but we spent too much time on other things. There is a part II, which focuses completely on Code Geass and should appear next week. Please look forward to it. Oh, and sorry for the two minute opening song. Sometimes I go a little crazy. At least I’m not Patrick Macias who begins his podcasts with four minutes of Duke Aces covering Pizzicato Five’s “A New Song.” But Patrick can do that because he’s awesome. And so is that cover of “A New Song.”

For those who have not been keeping up with the blog (you should, you know) this comic has successfully penetrated Japan. Yes, I’ve gained some Japanese readership! Actually, according to the stats page, I’ve always had something of a Japanese readership, but this is the first time I’ve gotten a plug like this, and twice no less! I’ve also received an email from one of the commenters (not a word) at the Japanese blog with an evaluation of the comic, which I found to be very interesting and helpful. I should reply to that after writing this (just so you all know, I usually like emails sit around for a few days before I reply because I need a few days to formulate a response.)

One last bit of site news: I changed to gallery link so it leads straight to my art site. Just because.

After days of clicking and having sex with girls I didn’t want to have sex with (effectively being raped) I finally unearthed the Kaede ero scenes of legend in Really? Really! Well, “scenes” is misleading as I’ve only got one so far, but oh was it good. The best one in the game, followed by all three of Primula’s. Yuuko Gotou can really groan and moan in the cutest way. That mixed with Aoi Nishimata’s art makes the for the perfect fapping. I’m told there is some story to the game, but given I can barely understand 50% of it, it is mostly lost on me. It would be nice if Rin was fully voiced, given he is a Kanji Machine, but what can you do? Well, with luck a translation patch will appear in the next couple of years. Either that or my Japanese will climb out of two-year-old level. Let’s see which happens first.

The Chocotto Sister anime is sadly coming to an end next week, with the last episode being a Christmas special. Episode 23 was emotionally charged, but in the end it seemed kind of pointless given it wasn’t the climax of the series. Also, that reused shot of Haruma’s mom kind of got old (but not as old as the footage of Mayu’s bloody arm stump from Gundam Seed Destiny.) This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did. It just seemed they threw it in there for the hell of it, though. On another note, it’s kind of sad that this show is getting no attention. I’m placing the blame on Ryomi subs and how stupidly slow they are. I mean Jesus. One episode every month is not acceptable, especially when some groups can pump out an episode a day or so after it airs. srsly

NHK is also coming to a close very soon, and it looks like they’re going to end it with a bang. I was kind of sad that the second to last episode had some of the worst animation that the show has to offer (though some may think otherwise.) I’d simply like it if Gonzo would just get their shit together for this and produce consistent, quality animation. Well, not so much animation because everything in NHK moves fine (for the most part), it’s just the art that needs (serious) work. While I do like some of the varying styles, some just look very, for lack of a better word, ugly. Shingo Natsume, who handled episode four is an interesting case. While I enjoy the style he’s coming up with, I don’t like how it’s clashing drastically with the rest of the production. It’d be better if he was working on something more suited for his more experimental style, or if the whole show looked this way (I’d prefer the former over the latter.) But, animation aside, seems we’re in for a serious dramatic climax. I can’t wait! If I have time I may throw together a review after the series ends, kamo…

I recently got my copy of Pani Poni Dash, and I’m quite happy with it. I won’t say more, since I gave a somewhat thorough review in the podcast. I uploaded the opening and the special opening. Check it! I’m also thinking about picking up Moon Phase, which will be a gamble, given I’ve not seen it. But it’s Shinbo, and can you go wrong with Shinbo? Not at all, is the answer.

I was in Borders the other day reading Newtype USA, as I sometimes do. They had interesting feature on the Rebuild of Evangelion. What I found to be the most fascenating was Anno’s thoughts on the series after all these years. I was surprised that he found he found it to be “interesting.” I actually thought he’d come out hating it, but I guess 12 years really is enough time to look at something you made without having any kind of personal bias for or against. The rest of the article gave me hope in the new films, given the kind of positive energy that was said to be universally shared by the production staff (though Newtype is known for blowing things out of proportion…) In any case, I’m excited. These are going rock.

So, that’s it for this week. Before I close, I’d like to post the calendar images for November and December, given it’s become something of a tradition. They can be found here and here. Late.