Urobuchi-san knew a few English words, but a translator was there for the whole of the interview. Urobuchi-san, Iwakami-san, and Ota-san were all very polite, and well spoken. Through much of the interview, they were definitely very careful in their choice of words, at the same time, very heartfelt and sincere. Direct questions were given direct answers, while some more open-ended questions were answered with a great deal of thought. It was decided for fairness that each person was allowed to ask one question at a time in a round-table manner. (please note that this is not a word-for-word transcript. It has been edited for clarity. A few questions have been edited out due to irrelevance.)

KaionIrui: How do you feel about cons here in North America compared to the cons you’ve attended in Japan?
Urobuchi: It’s actually my first time attending a convention in North America, and there is one fundamental difference that I noticed… I have a question to ask everyone in reverse: Do American otaku not feel the need to be completely open about their hobbies? Something they can embrace and be fully proud of?

(a moment of pause as everyone nods and thinks)

RadiantDreamer: I would say both yes and no. Many of us feel that being an Otaku isn’t something to be proud of. Our society and our interests show that Anime is still very niche, and isn’t widely accepted. However, among the otaku communities, there are many who do love to share with each other their interests and passion. Perhaps just not outside of that community.

SankakuComplex: In addition, most of North American society sees anime as cartoons, and cartoons are meant for kids, not adults. This clear divide makes it difficult for otaku to be accepted in society, and to be forthcoming about their hobby.

Urobuchi: That brings me to my point: Most Japanese otaku have some degree of self-loathing, which leads to the loathing of other otaku. Therefore, when Japanese otaku congregate, they don’t necessarily like each other, or treat each other very well. I feel that kind of self-loathing doesn’t exist at Sakura-Con, and is one of the biggest differences between Japanese otaku and Sakura-Con otaku.

To me, it’s very rare to see an otaku convention in Japan where all the attendees share such camaraderie.

… also, I have yet to smell any body odor among the fans here. It seems everyone bathes!

Ota: At NatsuComi, there are lots of concentrations of people in a single place. They do call Fuyucomi “a battlefield in Japan”, but Sakura-Condoesn’t smell like a battlefield. There is a lot of courtesy shown towards one another.

Iwakami: I’ve attended Anime Boston and a few other conventions. American fans are more positive and forthcoming. You can notice it at the Sakura-Con Fate/Zero screening yesterday. The positive audience reaction we heard from the battle between Archer and Berserker is not the kind of audience reaction you can expect to get in a Japan screening.

… however, the Japanese audience is just as expressive when it’s broadcasted on Nico Nico Douga, so they are able to express themselves while in front of a keyboard, just not physically.

Ota: I’ve attended the New York Comic Con, and the greater difference that I noticed besides the comparison of Japan and US otaku, was the difference between West Coast and East Coast fans. I feel that West Coast fans are much more expressive.

Japanaradio: When you’re working on a particular story, in your respective positions, what exactly are you looking for in terms of content, or genre, or even marketability, or ratings or sales, what exactly are you looking for when you’re working on a particular story?

Urobuchi: The most important thing that I keep in mind and is my prerogative is that I have fun making my work. If I am not having fun working on it,  the viewers can tell. That’s not something I’m willing to allow my product to have.

Ota: My job as an editor is to work closely with the writer. Having fun working with the writer is a high priority for me, and hopefully that leads to good sales… but that would be a separate question. When it comes to ratings, if it’s maturity ratings you are referring to, that’s not something that’s fully implemented in Japan, so it’s perhaps not as focused on… maybe that is a difference between the Japanese and American market. Although if you mean TV viewer ratings, that too isn’t as important either, as the profitability potential of most shows comes in the sales of DVDs.

Iwakami: As a producer, my main focus is about making an entertaining product; I have to think about the business aspect, but if the show isn’t entertaining, it won’t sell well.

LightningSabre: There’s a lot of merchandising with Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica; for example, there’s new Saber doll coming out in September. I’m just curious what your opinion is on merchandising?

Urobuchi: Merchandising isn’t something that I really need to pay attention to, because if you look at the purest form of magical girl shows or Ultraman or Kamen Rider, these are shows created with merchandising in mind. For these shows, the Intellectual Property is created first, and a show is built around the IP to sell the merchandise. The creative endeavors that I’ve worked on in the past are complete opposite to that, so I’ve never had to write with merchandising in mind. But if I ever were, then I would adapt to that creative process accordingly.

As an example, Madoka Magica was also not created with merchandising in mind. If merchandising was a priority, the toys would need to be selling in the first week of broadcast, so it would be impossible for Madoka to not be transforming in the very first episode.

Iwakami: Madoka Magica isn’t the kind of show where merchandising was first priority, but within the confines of otaku culture, Madoka merchandise has been very successful. Those items would be the Kyubey dolls that the otaku culture warmly embraces. However, we never planned on these items, these were all licensees who saw merchandising potential and contacted us to license. No target market merchandise was designed prior to production of the show.

RadiantDreamer: What was your most memorable moments while producing Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero?

Urobuchi (thinks deeply): Hmmmm… well… there are too many moments to choose, but for Madoka Magica, it would be when I was anticipating the reaction to the broadcast of episode three. I was sitting upright in front of the TV, and it felt like I was waiting for the doctor’s diagnosis!

For the Fate/Zero anime, when I attended the screening of episode one, I was very impressed with the density of the content. I knew that this was the same team responsible for Garden of Sinners, so I had high expectations. They exceeded my expectations, which was wonderful.

Ota: For the Fate/Zero… the Non-Disclosure has probably expired now, so I suppose I can talk about the doujinshi… I was very excited when I heard Nasu and Urobuchi were going to do Fate/Zero. However, it was initially a doujinshi, so it wasn’t something I was allowed to openly help with since it was a non-professional job. I wasn’t impressed with their editorial design, so being able to secretly help them without letting my employer know was a memorable moment.

Also, for the anime version, I wasn’t involved initially. I joined partway through production, which was something I was anxious about. In the end, I was very happy when the others invited me to join production.

Iwakami: I’m very surprised that my moments of anticipation were exactly the same as Urobuchi – episode three of Madoka Magica and episode one of Fate/Zero.

Episode three of Madoka Magica was broadcasted first in Osaka before Tokyo. Director Shingo and I were out having dinner while it happened, and when we looked at the internet reactions the following day, it was as if the world had changed completely. We anticipated that there would be very polar reactions to the episode, but we were impressed that a lot of viewers were thrilled by episode three.

Episode one of Fate/Zero was a big challenge because it was an hour-long episode, that also didn’t have a single battle scene in it. That was the result of all the efforts of director Aoki. These two episodes from Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero were very big challenges, and all these challenges were rewarded.

SutoraikuAnime: There are several different music artists featured in the opening and ending sequences of Fate/Zero and Madoka Magica. As producers and screenplay writers, how closely do you work with the musical artists such as Kalafina, LiSa, and ClariS?

Iwakami: As producer, it is my job to select the artists and the songs. When a song is written, I take it to the director and Urobuchi to ask for feedback.

Also, it was Urobuchi who specifically requested Kawajiura Yuki as the composer. He expected it to be a long shot, but since she had worked with us for Garden of Sinners, it was something we pursued and made possible.

In regards to song selection, ClariS, Kalafina, and LiSa are all Sony Music Group artists. So we went through the large pool of artists that Sony Music Group has, and work with them.

When it comes to tie-ups, we started with existing songs for the opening and closing sequences. As the shows increase in popularity, original songs are written that would better fit the story and original novel, creating a better match between the songs and the shows.

KaionIrui: During the Madoka Magica panel yesterday, Iwakami polled the audience asking how many have seen all thirteen episodes of Madoka Magica. Just about everyone in the audience raised their hand. As you know, Madoka Magica is not released in America yet, nor is it released on Crunchy Roll. This means that the only reason all these audience members saw all thirteen episodes is because of fan subs. This leads me to my question – how do you feel about fan subbing in general?

Iwakami: In the context of Intellectual Property, that is not something we can fully appreciate. On a personal level, I can appreciate the enthusiasm the fans have shown through this dedicated work and effort to see the episodes right after they’ve been broadcast in Japan. But I most certainly wish that everything could be watched through legitimate methods.

Urobuchi: I almost wish there was a magical way to generate revenue without relying on the IP mechanism.

Ota: The population of Japan is about 100 million. The unfortunate thing is that this is enough of a market to sustain the endeavors of most creative people there. Because of this, overseas targeting is not on the minds of producers and creators. That’s probably the mentality that needs to change, because we’ve come here to Sakura-Con, and the fans here have shown there is a demand for what we make in Japan. If there is a demand for it, then there needs to be a service to meet that demand, and that may be the best way to resolve the IP dilemma.

Iwakami: In the context of trying to come up with legitimate ways to watch, Fate/Zero had a worldwide simultaneous release on Nico Nico Douga, and I think that is the first step of what we can do. I’m sure some friends have watched it through fan sub means rather than Nico Nico, but it is a start.

Actually, I would like to return a question – Are there any shortcomings of Nico Nico Douga that impedes North American fans from watching it, or if there are ways that would enhance the viewing experience?

SankakuComplex: For some, it’s a matter of convenience in terms of a simulcast. Some may enjoy watching an episode once a week, but some may want to watch all episodes in one sitting. In addition, the average North American’s internet connection speed is not on par with the internet speeds in Japan, which makes streaming videos difficult or frustrating.

Urobuchi (jokingly): I thought Bill Gates had established the fastest broadband network!

KaionIrui: From the last question that was asked – would it perhaps be possible to implement a feature on Nico Nico to purchase a digital copy perhaps at a reduced price relative to the physical Blu-Ray or DVD release, as a lot of consumption for game and music have now gone digital, similar to Netflix or iTunes.

Ota: Let’s wait for Iwakami-san’s promotion for when he starts the Aniplex Channel. I’m joking, of course.

Everyone: Thank you Urobuchi-san, Ota-san, and Iwakami-san for your time, this concludes our interview.

Urobuchi, Ota, Iwakami: Thank you for attending.

So that was the interview. What questions would you have liked answered? What do you think of their responses? Post your comments!

Most of all, it will help you improve your lifestyle, prevent gaming from destroying your life, while still maintaining a balance of enjoyment without overindulgence.

Need a good New Year’s resolution? This one will change your life!

A lot of my readers have commented over the years, saying that it’s a good idea, but sounds intimidating and tedious. I can tell you right now, it’s not. I only have to update the tracking sheet once a month (that’s 12 times only!) and each time takes about 5 minutes.

Others have asked “Why not use backloggery?” Because Backloggery is just a games list. My method gives SO much more information with about the same amount of work.

Nopy raised a good point saying that by tracking, it may take the enjoyment out of gaming. I used to think that way. It makes sense, and may not be for everyone.

But I would like to point out – this is a tracking sheet, and not a schedule. A schedule imposes deadlines and goals, and pressure to meet those deadlines. Tracking records and provides you information so that you can plan and make better decisions. My enjoyment of gaming has not changed since I started tracking. In fact, my enjoyment has improved because of it. (more on that later)

I will explain how this works, and how easy it is to set up. Then I’ll show you the fruits of my labor, and illustrate to you how it can be helpful.

I keep track of my gaming habits using a simple excel spreadsheet. You can download the one I use, right here.

[Download RadiantDreamer's Game Tracking Excel Sheet of Awesomeness!]

This is what it looks like when you open it up. Looks complicated, but it isn’t. A lot of it is automated! I’ve even pre-filled it with my gaming backlog for 2012. Let’s start with the header items. The only real important stuff is Title, priority, estimated hours, , Bklog, log, and Jan-Dec. Everything else is optional.

Title – obvious. The title you are going to play goes here.

Priority – Assign a priority for easy sorting.

Est Hrs – The estimated hours required to beat this game. I get this number from howlongtobeat.com.

Bklog – The backlog number. This will automatically fill once you put in your Est Hrs. The number will go down as you fill in the hours in the months fields. The formula is simple Bklog = Est Hrs – Log.

Log – This is also automatic. It will increase as you log hours. The formula is simple it’s the sum of all the months of gaming.

Now the optional stuff:

Type – C is for Console, P is for Portable. This is just for you to sort and see how many portable games you have vs console games. And if you’re like me, I play one portable game, and one console game at the same time. You can sort by this to pick your priorities.

System – Just a label to see what console it’s for.

08-11 – This is just a way to “carry forward” your previous year’s log. So in 2011, I was playing Skyward Sword, and Fate/Extra as well as Professor Layton. I take the log hours and put them here for my 2012. Previous Years’ Games Completed is the total hours logged since I started this thing (2008).

Start/End – this the date I started and completed the game.

Notes – I usually just write Completed here once it’s done, or Give Up if I didn’t finish the game, but decided to stop playing indefinitely. Sometimes I’ll put SELL if I want to get rid of it.

Year – You can either put the vintage of the game, or the year you bought it. I chose the latter. (yes, I have some 2009 games in this backlog!!)

Okay, now for the bottom half that looks really complicated, but also isn’t.

Everything here is pretty much automatic. The Total Hours will sum itself out, and show you the total hours remaining in your backlog, the hours you’ve played per month, and the hours logged in the year. This also automatically fills out your Gaming Trend hrs/mo graph below

Below that, you see a chart. This chart is to track your monthly changes in your log. Only Bklog and Log need concern. I deliberately left the center blank just so it lines up with the same cells above it. Bklog is the total hours remaining per month. Just copy the above number from Total Hours (cell F19) into the cell F22 (just type it in! Don’t copy the formula!). Log is the total hours logged per month. Copy from Log (cell T19) into cell T22. The following month would be row F23 and T23, etc.

Difference will automatically fill in, showing you the discrepancy between your backlog, and hours logged.

Alright, let’s run through how this works:

Assume you’re starting a brand new game in January.

1. input your game data. Easy enough.

2. play your game.

3. End of the month – Upkeep! Start up your game, and find the save data, it usually shows how many hours you’ve played. Use this formula:

[hours on clock] minus [hours on Log] = total hours for the month.

Punch that number into January. So if it’s a new game, hours on Log is of course, zero.

NOTE: if you ever get a negative number in your Bklog, your estimate is wrong. Change your Est Hrs.

4. Copy the Total Hours under Bklog (F19) into the chart, next to Jan-12 (F22).

5. Copy the Total Hours under Log (T19) into the chart, next to Jan-12, under the Log column (T22).

You’re done!! Repeat next month, for February!

So what do you do if you’ve beat the game in the middle of the month?

1. Do step three from above only. Almost always, you’ll find your estimate to be slightly off (give or take a couple hours). eg, you’ve finished your game, but Bklog still shows 2hrs remaining. Adjust your Est Hrs so that Bklog reads zero.

2. Put “99″ in Priority. Then sort. Your game will move down to the bottom of the list.

That pretty much sums everything up. Now, to illustrate how this will help you in the end by using my 2011 backlog as an example

Here’s my sheet from 2011

Here are some facts derived:

• This year I finished a total of 15 games.
• P3P took the most time, with 86hrs, and spanned 3 months to beat. I played nothing else during those 3 months.
• I bought Mass Effect in 2009. I went Mass Effect crazy and spent all of the month playing ME1 and ME2. This was about the time I played the ME2 demo on PS3 that got me going.
• Not surprisingly, ME crazy month was also the month I put in the most gaming hours, at 61hrs!
• September was crazy too, as I went for playing lots of quick-beat games. This was the month I polled my facebook fans which game I should play. Catherine won out overall.
• The Last Window was the only game that carried over from last year (2010)
• The first half of the year was mostly portable gaming, with the last half being all console gaming.
• I logged a total of 368.5 hours in my year of gaming 2011.
• I averaged about 32hrs of gaming per month.
• Lowest was November at 8hrs. I was REALLY busy that month.
• Highest was during August and September. I didn’t have a lot of work to do, and got REALLY tied up in gaming.
• These numbers are consistent throughout 2008 to 2010 as well. This shows that my gaming habits haven’t changed much, and that I should never keep a backlog of more than 300hrs in the year.
• I was very busy at the beginning of February, and I was sick between Feburary and March, that’s why I was playing mostly visual novels using VNDS.
• I was able to get a little bit more gaming in December because of the holidays.

Now, here’s some stats compared to last year’s trends:

• I played 3 games less this year.
• I logged less hours this year (438.5 hrs last year)
• My peak happened in October last year, at 60hrs, due to Valkyria Chronicles, and Atelier Rorona.
• Most of my game completes happened at the first half of the year last year, while this year had a lull in the middle (due to P3P no doubt), but overall was pretty even/consistent.
• The beginning of the year saw more gaming (40+hrs/mo) in both years.

So what does it all mean?

• I tend to resolve to “play more games! Take down that backlog!” at the beginning of the year.
• I get swamped with work during late spring/early summer.
• I realize how small a dent I made on my gaming, and compensate late summer/early fall.
• I get swamped with work during fall.

Now, let’s look at the graphs:

The graph on the right shows my trends over the month. As you can tell, it fluctuates A LOT! I can tell where I had time for gaming, and where I didn’t. I can compare this to last year’s graph, and see how these patterns have changed and for what reason. Last year, my gaming was a constant downward drop, followed by a huge spike before dropping off to nothing. This year, it just bounced around a lot, but gave a more constant average so to speak.

The graph on the left shows the change over time the backlog (red), hours logged (blue) and difference between the two (green). The log will always go up, or plateau. It will never drop because that would be impossible. But it shows a fairly consistent rise. The larger “bump” was due to the spike seen in Aug/Sept (or ME-Crazy-Month).

The Backlog line was consistent for the first half. This isn’t good, because while I was logging hours, the red line wasn’t moving – which means I was buying games as fast as I was beating them. That’s why you see the green line go up and down a bit.

In May I stopped buying games, and was engrossed with P3P. I then added ME1 to the list and beat it, then added ME2 to the list and beat it as well. If I had added both ME1 and 2 to the list in August, the red line would have spiked.

You could see that after September though, I bought more games, as the backlog went back up. But I wasn’t beating them fast enough, because the green line dipped.

So what games did I love and what games did I hate? The ones in BOLD are the ones I highly recommend you play click on the link to be taken to amazon:

• Uncharted 3
• ICO
• LA Noire
• Portal 2
• Catherine
• Mass Effect 2
• Mass Effect
• Persona 3 Portable
• Time Hollow
• Narcissus
• Saya’s Song
• No More Heores 2
• Ghost Trick
• Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
• The Last Window

I can happily say that I did meet my resolution that I made at the beginning of the year – to play as many good games as possible, and eliminate the bad ones.

It would be difficult to pick a Game of the Year among this list, but for me, Ghost Trick would be the pure 100% enjoyment from beginning to end. PLAY IT. YOU NEED TO. Everything else comes close!

A few games I played, and didn’t have fun playing, didn’t have time for, or felt that it dragged on for too long:

• Zelda Ocarina of Time 3DS
• Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
• Chaos Rings
• Sin & Punishment 2 Star Successor
• Okamiden

I gave each game a chance of about 20% completion minimum before deciding to drop them.

In conclusion

When I do these little bits of data, I can see patterns in my gaming, and also my priorities in life, as well as what happened. It’s a year in review, and helps me make resolutions for the following year.

In addition, since I update every month, I’m not stuck to a one-year resolution. I make changes every month to accommodate with my life, and my gaming lifestyle.

If I have too much work to do, I know not to buy any more games that month, and place it on a wishlist.

I know how many hours of gaming I can average per month without it destroying my life in the long term, so when I see a huge spike, I’m able to cut back.

With priorities, I’m able to determine whether I should buy that next game. I can also expect whether or not I’ll be able to get to that lower priority game this year.

I can also make buying and selling decisions with it too – like if a game can’t be beat this year, and may not make it down the line, I can consider selling it. Or, if I notice a huge dedication to a particular game for that month, then I know for certain I would like the sequel, or games similar to it. It’s that level of awareness that makes my gaming more optimized.

For this year, I intend to complete my current backlog (I might cut Katamari), and put all games on wishlist purchase. (with the exception of current preorders, and upcoming Limited Edition purchases only). This gives me a sum of 139hrs of backlog, which is very acceptable, and will keep it open for some upcoming titles. I think this year in gaming will be my favorite, as I’m looking forward to the line-up of my preorders mixed with my backlog of want-to-play games!

I’ve been incredibly busy, but would still like to take some time out to draw a little sketch, and wish all my readers and fans a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday. I don’t have much to give, so here are some wallpapers of Snow Miku that I made. Enjoy!

And remember, this holiday season, it’s not about giving presents and receiving presents, but about sharing with loved ones. Let this video touch your heartstrings and remind you of the joyous occasion to celebrate love and family.

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas!

It’s rather unprecedented of me to not update in such a long time. The main reason for this is that I’ve been incredibly busy earning a living.

For the past few months, I’ve been working as Art Director on Sky Pirates of Neo Terra. It’s a 3d racer game based on the comic book, the artwork done by Camilla D’Errico. She’s a local artist and a world-famous one at that. It’s pretty awesome because I get to work with her, and chat with her almost every day. I’m sure it’s every Camilla-fan’s dream. ^_^

When I get home from a long day’s work, and in addition to doing some household chores, I have a few options for the meager 2 or 3 hours left in the day – I could work on my art, play some video games, surf the internet, work on other clients’ jobs, or update my blog.

Usually, since I’d been painting all day at work, doing art isn’t very high on my priority list. The fact that I’ve had ANY work done in the past few months is a surprise already.

I usually want to play some video games. But according to my tracking, I’ve only managed to put in about 10-15hrs worth of gaming per month. This is sad (or not), since I usually average about 35hrs per month of gaming.

Working on my blog hasn’t been a very high priority either, since I don’t really have much content to talk about. The majority of my day is just work, sleep, work, sleep. I don’t have time to read up on stuff, watch some anime, or find inspiration in my currently uninspiring life. (not entirely true, since working on an anime-based game is awesome). Not to mention I do daily facebook posts anyway. I had thought about doing another blog post compiling most of my facebook updates, but not today anyway.

So I’m left with either surfing the internet (which happens a lot no thanks to facebook) and working on my other clients’ projects. Sometimes, that is what happens. Kinda sad, but for right now, that’s what’s going on.

It feels to me like my lack of attention to my blog is going to directly reflect my site’s ranking, and the attention it gets from my readers and search engine results, but the numbers aren’t important, I guess. The biggest thing is just having that awareness around, and making sure my friends and readers know that I’m still alive, just busy as f*ck.

Is there a lesson to be learned here?

Everyone loves lessons right? It adds value to everything that’s being written. The one most important lesson to take away from all this is that priorities matter. If I were to say “f*ck it, I’m just gonna blog.” what will happen? I’d have no money coming in. My games would be left unplayed. Of course, blogging is important too, but life is, also.

But that doesn’t mean the end. It never should. We are human, and therefore, we are capable of  coming up creative solutions to the problem, because we are adaptable.

For example, I spend a little bit of time each day doing “mini-updates” on facebook with things that I find interesting. I help others learn how to draw via facebook now. I’ve never felt closer to my readers than right now because of the much more immediate and interactive ways to reach my readers and fans.

I have noticed less comments on my blog, but that means little compared to the number of impressions I get per day per post on facebook, and the number of comments and interactions from it.

Well, enough talk for now. Obviously, I don’t even have time to come up with a new splash screen or add any attention-retaining eye-candy. I’d better get going. I’ve still got a lot of gaming -er I mean, work to do.

I’m sure many of you know what Pocky is. But just in case you don’t know, Pocky is a candy biscuit snack. It’s a long stick of biscuit usually coated with chocolate. It’s popular all over the world. You should be able to find some in supermarkets in the asian foods section (usually)

Interesting trivia: Pocky Day is also Azusa’s birthday!

In addition, you see it in anime all the time! Over recent years, Pocky has been used in anime to depict intimate situations, usually involving two people sharing a single pocky stick. It’s probably because sharing a single stick involves close proximity, similar to a kiss.

Pocky was first sold in 1966, it’s called Pocky because it’s the sound it makes when you eat it. “ポッキン”. It remained a popular snack, and an Almond flavor was introduced in 1971, followed by a Strawberry flavor in 1977.

Pocky Day isn’t actually an official holiday or anything. It’s more of a corporate brainwashing that the makers of Pocky (Glico) decided to do on an annual basis to basically remind people to go out and buy some Pocky. On Pocky Day, Glico makes special advertisements, and people buy Pocky as gifts for their friends.

So how did Pocky Day come about? It actually didn’t originate from Japan or Glico, but from Korea.

A Korean company (Lotte) copied Pocky and came up with their own product called PePero. It’s exactly the same thing as Pocky. Korean school girls were the ones that came up with PePero Day, where they would give each other PePero sticks and wish them to grow tall and slender like a PePero stick.

Lotte denies anything about starting Pepero day, and simply claims that they notice a spike in Pepero sales on 11/11 every year.

I guess Glico, or Japanese schoolkids took notice of this, and made their own Pocky Day. The thing is, it hasn’t really gained much popularity. It’s mainly through Glico’s advertising campaigns that have sparked an increase awareness for Pocky Day.

Interesting Trivia of events that happened on November 11th as well -

It’s also Veteran’s Day (US) and Remembrance Day (Canada) and other parts of the world.

It’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s birthday

NASA launched the Gemini 12

It’s Singles Day in China

This year, it’s AFA 11

One of my facebook fan’s birthday is today.

For this special day, I made a Pocky Day illustration. Watch the youtube video here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVe30kJIeuU

I was a bit surprised when I received a message from his wife saying that he had passed away over a month ago. More than surprised. It hit me like a tonne of bricks.

I had first met Neal Puddephatt during the early days of the facebook group I started over 5 years ago, Anime Figurines Network. Back then, “the originals” included Lightningsabre, Shinohai, Coros, Valiant Ho, and a few others.

I had originally started AFN as an alternative “outlet” to the freshly started figure.fm, since figure.fm lacked a lot of functionality and features that a facebook group had. The membership grew at a slow and steady pace, which was perfect, since it was a very personal clique of people.

Then came Neal. He was an otaku, just like the rest of us, but he had experiences that none of us had. He thought outside of the box. This was even before the days of kodomut.

One of the photos that I will always remember was this one. This was the first time I had see such brilliant thought and creativity put into a photo. Nothing like this had ever been seen on AFN, or figure.fm

Neal and I eventually became friends on facebook, though we never really had a lot of opportunities to chat about our personal lives outside of our otaku circles.

But every so often, he’d post a new photo on AFN.

And every time he did, it was something different…

Something special.

It was experimental, to say the least. But from each photo, powerful messages came across. I’m not certain whether or not it was what he was experiencing in his life, or if it was just a creative spark.

Nevertheless, I could tell that Neal had something going on. He had a breadth of creativity and variety, both in the types of figures he owned, and in the way he set up his photographs.

Sure, there are far more brilliant and well lit photos of anime figures out there. There will always be. But each of them are unique, like Neal’s photos.

All the photos shown in this post are his. I’ve taken them without his permission, and posted them here, as a remembrance to him.

Now that he’s gone, I wish I had spent more time with him. Earlier in the year, I had updated my website (my professional one), and announced it on my facebook. He had commented that “being a freelance artist is tough! I had freelanced for 15 years!”. I wanted to ask him about his life as a freelancer. I wanted to know more about his life then, the struggles he went through, and how he sustained it.

“I don’t really have time right now… I’ll ask him later.” that later never came, and it never will anymore.

I went through some of Neal’s photos on his facebook, and at least tried to learn more about the man who was.

I wish I could show you those photos, but I don’t think it would be good of me to do so without permission. But I can say, that this man looked like he really knew how to live life.

He seemed like a person that knew what mattered the most, and that was family, friends, and having a good time. (he liked to party, and seemed really connected to all of his family members and friends).

And then there’s his passion for anime figures. From his way of life, to this niche little interest, it seemed like polar opposites.

Breadth, I suppose. It shows in the variety of figures he owned, and the huge range of styles he attempted.

He was definitely a huge fan of Range Murata figures.

And Shunya figures.

I don’t know where he got this Range figure, but it’s very nice.

I’m sure my wife wouldn’t like me having it in the house, but the fact that he owns it shows how accepting his family is of his hobbies and interests.

That or he just tells them “this is the way I am, like it or too bad.” I can kinda see him saying that too.

DO like it.

All this makes me think about life and death as well. When I die, what will become of me? What will become of me. My possessions, my legacy, my family, everything that identifies me and makes me “me”.

Will I be remembered? Does that even matter? Does any of it matter?

Perhaps at that point, not anymore. But what does matter is what you do NOW.

If today was the last day of your life, is this how you would like to spend it? If not, then what would you do differently. Where would you want to be? What’s stopping you from getting there? How can you overcome those obstacles so that you can get there?

Ask yourself those questions. Answer them. And then go do it. NOW.

Time won’t stand still for you and wait for you. I think Neal figured that one out.

So long, space cowboy. It’s been real swell knowing you.

While I won’t be there, my exclusive Arcana Heart 3 poster can be obtained there (and only there). So drop by and check it out.

The expo takes place on from Oct 28th to Oct 30th.

In addition, Arc Europe will be holding Blazblue and Arcana Heart tournaments via PQube, on both Saturday and Sunday. More info here: http://pqube.co.uk/mcm-games-tournament-blazblue-arcana-heart-3/

Participate and win awesome swag!

More information of the convention can be found here: http://londonexpo.com

This week has been pretty crazy for me. I received an unprecedented six packages in total! That’s almost one package a day! Four of the packages were from figure preorders that were suddenly all filled at once. Two more were from Zen United.

It was a usual day for me, when I heard the doorbell ring. But it still seemed strange seeing the mail lady so often. She was already saying “I’ll see you again soon!” like it’s a regular thing. “Enjoy the weather…” I said sarcastically as I looked up at the dreary sky. It’s been quite a number of weeks since we’d seen rain. Maybe even a couple of months now. I can’t really tell or remember anymore, since I spend most of my days indoors. But now that I look out the window, I miss those sunny days. Should have gone out more…

The two packages I received from Zen was a poster tube, and an artbook-shaped box. I could hear something rattling inside. Upon opening the package, I got this:

Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus – Limited Edition. It goes without saying that I was ecstatic. The box was sturdy, and thick, like from those high-end department store gift boxes like Hugo Boss. Just the box itself makes this one of the best Limited Editions I’ve ever seen. (If you’re interested, you can buy one at the Blazblue Store here)

Lifting the lid of the box though, I was greeted with yet another surprise:

No Guilty Gear stuff! It’s just the box! Instead, the Arcana Hearts 3 Limited Sugoi Oppai Edition! But there were also other goodies:

There were a bunch of art cards, including one rather Yuri Noel and Rachel art card, the Zen United signature envelope containing them, and several copies of my art card, as well as two copies of the A.B.A. Guilty Gear Giclee prints (only 200 of these were printed!) Seems they retail for over $400 each!

A close up of the Noel and Rachel art card. My two fav characters. Dream come true. :3

A keychain that comes with the Arcana Heart LE. Very cute! I wonder who did the artwork for this…

A close up shot of my art card. I might give away some autographed ones in a contest. Want one?

Absolutely gorgeous quality prints. These things are staying sealed in their board backings. Sorry, NOT giving any away.

Shown above is what comes with the LE of Arcana Heart 3. It comes with a mouse pad, a soundtrack, artbook, art cards featuring each girl and their moves list, and a case for the art cards and soundtrack. Plus the LE box itself, and the game itself.

In case you didn’t know, North America NEVER got an LE of Arcana Heart 3. In fact, the only available edition of it is DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. You heard right, you don’t even get a physical copy! So if you want one, and own a PS3 (because the PS3 version is not region locked, you can purchase one at the Blazblue store. Just so you know, I don’t get any commission or kickbacks from this. This is purely me spreading my love and support for awesome localized LE stuff! If you’re not going to buy one, at least show your appreciation and support for localization and voice how awesome you think Zen United/Arc Europe is by commenting on their facebook page.

A close-up of the mouse pad shows that it’s very high quality. The colors are vibrant, and the lines are crisp.

Noel is very sad that virtually everyone has bigger boobies than her.

How can anyone not like boobies though?

The artbook is very thick, and retains its original Japanese text and formatting. For purists only!

Gorgeous concept art that you can learn from!

More pretty art!

My own artwork, now printed on a poster!  These are NOT available in store, and are a limited run as well. At the moment, they are only obtainable at the MCM Expo coming up in London. If you’re thinking of attending that, drop by the Zen United Arc Europe booth to see if you’re lucky enough to get this poster. While I won’t be there to sign it, just having a copy is immediate bragging rights. Even I don’t have many of these.

Hmmm… doesn’t that dress look familiar…?

Here’s a youtube video of the last 15hrs of the painting. (I did not record the sketching part, since there’s a lot of planning and back-and-forth involved with that)

You may recognize the music.

Interested in seeing what else I got from Zen? Check out this post: http://radiantdreamer.net/2011/01/19/blazblue-swag-sexy-model-not-included/

A word before I end this post – a lot of my fans look at my work and wish they were me. They wish that they had my skills to land opportunities such as this, and get awesome goodies. Let me share with you a secret – you can. The point of me blogging and sharing my work has always been to encourage budding artists to keep working at it, and never giving up. I share my successes and my failures to show that I’m just a regular guy like you. It says so in my Vision Statement. Keep reading, keep learning, and most of all, keep drawing, and you can have it all.

Credits to those involved with this project. Miku says “Bye!”

Please share this post with others so that they too, can be encouraged and inspired.

All the entries can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.269240629770650.80837.147048625323185

13 entries in all! Even though the contest is over, feel free to check them out, and click LIKE! I’m sure the original author will appreciate it!

People got their chance to be entertained, and vote for their favorite 4komas, and the one with the most likes was declared winner. And the winner is:

… wait! Drum roll!

It was a tight race between Gordonator, and Udsahn. But winning by a single vote is Udsahn!!

Congratulations! Please contact me with your mailing address, and I’ll send you your prize – one copy of Starry Night by Collateral Damage Studios, with my autograph! (the copy shown on the right)

To be honest, I thought everyone’s entries were awesome, which is why I didn’t vote because everyone would have gotten my vote anyway.

I also did a secondary contest – 5 signed prints of my Marisa vs White Rock Shooter featured art – those that were subscribed to my mailing list were automatically entered, as well as anyone that tweeted the contest link. Winners were chosen through random.org.

And the winners are:

Risa, IceDraconian, Pocky, and Miette-Chan. Miette-chan actually came up twice – once on the mailing list, and once on twitter, so Miette-chan gets two prints! Miette-chan, if you would like, I can send you the two prints, or I can give one to the next drawn number (I’ve already drawn the number). It’s up to you, let me know.

Gordon, since you really wanted my autographed piece of art, and you were only 1 vote from winning the contest, I’ll be sending you a print as well.

Again, thanks to everyone who participated, and especially thanks to Collateral Damage Studios. This contest wouldn’t have happened without them.

Stay tuned for future contests!

I actually forgot about it until just yesterday, and incidentally didn’t know what to draw for my youtube video this week. Perfect subject, and perfect time too!

One of the goals of this Miku Birthday illustration was speed. I wanted to get a full illustration done in the shortest amount of time possible. Sort of as an exercise. There are errors everywhere that I can see, mostly to do with anatomy and perspective, but the idea comes across fine, as well as the technique I finally chose to go with.

I had originally done a clean line art, as you can see through the youtube video, but ended up changing my mind after looking at the quite spontaneous sketching again.

Questions, comments, feedback?

If you like this, click on one of the nekomimi below to share!

As a reminder, today is the last day to enter the Collateral Damage Studios contest!