Saiko no Seito: Yomei Ichinen no Last Dance (2023): A review
NOTE: This series is about illness/death. Please note before reading further.
This is a drama I finished around a week ago! I've been wanting to make a post on my feelings, and I thought it'd be better to wait and ruminate on it. This is a drama where I didn't know anything about it and dived in with no knowledge whatsoever.
The TLDR of the series is: It revolves around a highschool girl who knows she's going to die from a rare heriditary illness in a year. She sets out to make the last year of her life worth it in her eyes. The series follows the main girl, Hikari, and her struggles and happenings during the course of the year.
Here's where spoilers start!
I expected this show to be okay at best. When I realized the plot, I was hesitant to continue because it's a hard topic to watch. Afterall, I don't know if knowing the plot I'd dive in. The series gives you the plot straight up, and by the end of the first episode you already know what the expected outcome it is. However, maybe being an optimist, I was like, "But they wouldn't really do that... Right?"
Well, I was wrong to say the least. The first few episodes were cute-- Nice, developing episodes to get you a feel of the characters and the softer notes of the show. However, around midway is where things feel more dire and stressful-- living up to being a drama. There was an episode in the middle that was incredibly hard to watch, where they hear a message from Hikari's mom to Hikari. I really think that episode made everything start to feel more dire, and really set the stage to the sadness with Hikari's illness and her slow decline.
I'm not saying this is an easy watch. In fact, I doubt I'll ever rewatch this series because it was such a hard watch at the end. It was well-written, but it becomes hard. If you've ever experienced illness, it hits on such a personal level. Watching someone you love, unable to help them, it is such a nervewracking and heartbreaking experience. The last few episodes as Hikari's friends learn her illness after she struggled to tell it to them and then watch her decline is heartbreaking. Though, this all pales to the last two episodes.
The ending of the 9th episode, I had a sliver of hope, especially with the preview of the next. I was like, "Of course, they can't kill off the main character! She miraculously came back!"... Then, clicking on episode 10, you're met with 20 minutes of a funeral. It's an incredibly hard watch. This episode, and this part in particular, really cemented the acting in this series. When I say I cried all 50 minutes of the last episode, I'm not joking. It was painful, it was mournful, and those actors delivered a really great performance.
The series ending with a final dance, like the name of the series, is actually well-done and beautiful. I usually don't like those type of endings, but it somehow made the final hit harder. I couldn't see the series ending any other way. It was both heartbreaking and lovely. Even thinking about it again, it triggered something deep inside me to get teary-eyed all over again-- a week later!
On a non-plot note, I really liked the music and the progression of the series. I couldn't help but find myself comparing this to Gachikoi-- 10 episodes, 2 songs, about interpersonal relationships and the struggles. I love the GachiKoi manga, but it made it more evident how that series wasn't great. I liked the two songs they chose for this series; I think they fit it well. I'm not a person who tends to go for softer, more emotional songs, but the ending song really fit. I also liked that "Sweet 19 Blues" song and keep getting it in and out of my head. I think the pacing of this series is really good too. It feels realistic, and I didn't feel like the progression of things was unnatural. I think the acting was good, and it was well-developed.
A final score would be about a 8.5-9.0 / 10 . My big gripe is the massive headache I had all day after the finale lol. And also, as I said, I don't think this is a series I'd ever rewatch, even with friends, and due to the subject matter, it is kind of hard to reccomend and tell people to watch it. However, I think if you can handle harder subject matter like this, it is worth it.
9:42pm .. .. // 11.15.2023
This is self rambly and talking about 18782. I don't feel like posting this on anywhere where it shows up in people's feeds, since it's more processing for myself and not really for anyone else. I don't care if people read it or skip it, it's not on the development of it per se.
I think the closer I get to finishing the game, the more anxiety I get about finishing it. I want it just to be done and move onto my next project already. It's not that I have negative feelings for the game-- I think in part it's knowing the fact of never being fully satisfied with big projects when they're done. At this stage I already see things that annoy me in the art, but those things have taken so long, it'd be stupid to do it; especially when in another 6 months I'll hate that too. I don't per se hate anything, but I get the constant urge I could do better. It's a really weird place. I'm trying not to look too into it so I don't spur-of-the-moment do anything I regret.
A game I made when I was a teenager was like this, and a part of me feels it'll go that way as well. I've committed myself to not doing that again- which by again I mean, make a whole game, play it through myself, make it available for download for like a day and then take it back because I feel embaressed by putting a full creation out there. I don't know why, but it feels so hard to give a sense of vunerability.
18782 feels like a vunerable place for me. It's definitely a labor of love, doing everything myself for now years. I just feel such anxiety when I think about how close I am to finishing it. A part of me genuinely does want to say, "I'm done", finish the game and never publish it. As stupid as it sounds, I feel I can't do that after people tipped me after playing it. I'd feel weird disclosing the amount, but literally even if it was a dollar I'd feel this way.
This is more or less trying to get this off my chest. It's such a weird rush of excitement and sickening anxiety. I want to put my art out into the world, but I don't want to look at it myself after-- or, I'll look at my own art fondly and never put it out into the world. That's kind of the two ways I always think with these things.
I know it's all overthinking. This month, I have more time to work on it. I am glad I saved sprites until this moment-- I think beyond anything else, minus maybe the video portions, it's the most important part to do last art-wise. Right now, my to-do list feels very sparse. I have a thumbnail and many, many, many docs containing the "ending text"; but I might re-format it yet again. I've never been good with ending things, and I guess that's the culmination of this ramble.
3:52pm .. .. // 11.8.2023
Another review~!
This time, the review is for Our School Broadcast (Bokutachi no Konai Hoso) .
This review will contain spoilers.
I wanted to watch more dramas, so I decided to seek out some from the same person who did the GachiKoi subbing. This was much shorter, only ending in 4 episodes. I think for what it was, it was cute. A succinct story about two boys who end up running a radio show in their school. I think overall, it was a cute show. I didn't want something super heavy, and kind of expected to just half-watch, but it kept up my attention. The acting was good overall, and the two main boys and the girl who joins them had a fun chemistry.
I do have to say, I didn't like the romance plot part of it. I think maybe if it was a longer series and they fleshed out more about Kenta [one of the lead boys] and his crush's relationship, it'd be more interesting. However, because they didn't their love story falls horribly flat compared to the friendship Kenta and Hiroya had. The last episode, the shoehorning in of that romance plot kind of annoyed me more than anything, and it felt so weird compared to the disbanding. We got maybe 2-3 scenes of the romance part, but I think it should've just kept it to the friendship the club formed, rather than add that in. I'm not against romance in TV by any means, but it felt like such a boring afterthought compared to the rest, and the last minute and still lacking development is more tiresome than anything.
All in all, it wasn't groundbreaking, but it was still a cute and overall cheery watch. The filming was soothing, and I think in the short amount of time (4 episodes being 20 minutes each, it's like a movie length), it was cute enough. I think my rating would be about a 7.
10:17pm .. .. // 10.1.2023
Another more personal log vs solely art! Maybe I will start with some art news... Chihiro's face is completely taken off. It got messed up as I was working on her hair. I'm looking into alternative ways to work on her eyes now, same with the other PicoNeemo dolls I got. More on that when I figure it out for real. I also do have some stuff thats under wraps right now...!
Another thing I can talk about is my 18782 comics. I decided I wanted to make a comic I could print and keep a version for myself. It was inspired by buying so many doujinishis. I think it's a fun project. I don't plan on selling it, and all the pages will still be available on my site...! Right now, I'm coloring the first chapter (in b/w); It's about 11 pages with an omake and character introduction. The next comics will be more linear and tell a story rather than one-offs. I plan to post each chapter when it's finished, slowly updating. Since I'm working fast, I'm hoping Chapter 1 will be out by the end of this month...! I also am planning to do some editing to the look of how the comics are currently laid out. By this, I mean all the current ones will be stored in a "Volume 00" page, still with the same click-through most likely, but I have thought about making it like the other pages in the sense there's a "base" page and things you click on to make the element it's stored in reload, not the full page... Anyway, that's not here nor there yet.
Other than that, I've been enjoying a social media vacation. I'll probably start again in a few days on my art tumblr/twitter. Also, I'll have an OCTober thing to post...! New for this year! Happy, happy~ I've also been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing, which I think is good for my health...! I've barely done any 18782 work, so I'll have to push through and do some the rest of this month lol.
2:54pm .. .. // 9.16.2023
I've been thinking a lot about my comics lately. Since I'm almost done with a 8-page comic I've been working on for a little over a month now, I think it's led me to to this. I think in time, I'd like to segment 18782's comic portions by "volumes". I'll end "Volume 0" with the comic coming up. I like segmenting things, as it's easier for me to see improvement. Nothing will change aside from how they're displayed. I have a habit of liking to start fresh often and I think it'll help. I have an idea for a big component of next "volume". It's probably spurred on by the buying of doujinshis and getting emotional over fanworks, but I think it'd be cool to have a physical copy of my comics. I don't need it to be able to sell them-- I don't really care about making monetary gain off of my stuff (if I get money as a tip or for a physical version or something, cool! But other than that, I want my games and comics to be free to read/play, and my fanart pixels to be f2u). Nothing wrong with people who do, but art is my passion and not something I'd strive for as a career.
I'm hoping to introduce more 18782 OCs into the comics. An issue is I have so many, so I guess it makes it hard. I still need to have some make more apperances than one-offs too! Well, at least my next big comic project with 18782 involves a lot of Issei and his shennanigans with Yukio. Above is actually me trying to figure out how I want to make comics in terms of coloring. I love pixel comics, but they are much more tedious than anything. I have a big pixel comic that's a WIP, and I'm worried it'll be in limbo hell if I don't convert it; But that's something that I've already lined about 6 pages and they're pretty detailed so... Ah, that's all for another day.
I'm officially on "social media vacation" now. It makes me happy not to have to worry about self-made deadlines. I got books I've wanted for a long time recently, so hopefully I'll read more.
7:52pm .. .. // 8.26.2023
A hodgepodge of a log. I thought about splitting it into 2, but that's too much and anyway, it's just a relaxed personal log. I will start with the art-related things first.
Mitsukuri charm updates! I started putting his hair on. Above is a bit of a progress chart!! I did it in different incriments,
starting with his bangs and then the hair on the backside. I might edit more, he'll definitely need a light sanding before
I coat him in mod podge. I'm really happy with his progress!!!
Art project...2! I decided to leap into Blender again! This time, I think it's going better. In my previous attempts, I tried
to follow a tutorial... For some reason, such things are really hard for me lol. I'm glad I started over because I'm really liking
this so far. I don't want to upload 10000 wips, but I think the document of progress is really fun!
I can't remember if I started Friday or yesterday [Saturday], but I feel I've been working fast...!
I had a prior attempt, but I was spitballing it without a backing image as reference. For this, I made a quick mockup and
follow it pretty well [by my standards.]
Reference image mockup vs turn around of the current work. He still needs thumbs...! But that'll happen soon. And well, uh,
clothes. That needs to happen soon! I'm debating if I should just cut segments and color them... But making clothes ontop sounds
fun and unessisary so I might just do that...! : ) And he needs his tail, anyway.
Soon, I'm going to the beach. I'm debating if I should buy some books. I have Dante's Inferno and Crime and Punishment, both
which I've been wanting to read. I'm not quite sure yet. I want to buy Our Lady of The Flowers and some of Frank O'Hara's poetry books.
Maybe now's the perfect time. I'm excited to lay down and listen to Slint's Spiderland album and space out doing nothing for a while.
A content nothing, hopefully.
I'm planning a little "social media break" again; which just means I'll gather up art to queue there. I find that so much less stressful
than forcing myself to complete stuff just to post every other day. I like the idea of being left to my own devices for a couple of weeks. Anyway, not much else to say! If you read this... Hi! Thanks!
8:00pm .. .. // 8.20.2023
BlazBlue: Alter Memory : A review
A little review of BlazBlue: Alter Memory since I finished it last week! I wrote a little review on MAL, but figured to expand/write it here as well. I think overall, it's about a 6.5/10. I don't think it's the worst anime ever, but I also don't think it's stunning. I remember going in seeing lots of comments being harsher on it than I think it was. I think the score is definitely lower if you have no prior knowledge of the series, and probably makes it seem like a jumbled, unexplained mess (I'd estimate probably a 3/10 if you've never engaged in any BlazBlue games/know the vague storyline prior.).
I'll start with the positives. The animation overall is decent-- not stunning, but I'll get to the faults later. It was nice to see a fully
animated version of the first 2 games. I really found seeing Ragna all in bandages was kind of cute lol. I liked how they kept the music
and what I'm assuming are the same VAs [I played the game with Japanese audio, and I watched the anime subbed, so that's what I'm refering to].
The main story progression was fine-- it covered the first 2 game's "True" storyline decently. It hit the main points. Also, I really liked
the opening and ending songs.
However, now I'll embark on the negatives. Some of the animation angles got strange, like even beyond your normal "Here's 1 stretch frame that looked
strange." I think it misses the fun of the game, but it could be argued it's a fault of it being a 12-episode anime. The fun of the game for me
is touching on the infinite possibilities of the BlazBlue universe. Not touching on those other individual possibilities and storylines makes
characters, who while they may not be the "main" [Ragna, Noel, Jin, Hazama in the 2nd game], are still equally as important in their choices.
Without showing backstories and other routes, it makes everyones motivations for things unclear unless you have that knowledge backing it up.
I sadly think the anime shows a very hollow view of what makes BlazBlue special and unique in it's storytelling... However I was kind of happy
that a certain character I'm not fond of [because of how they're written, I like their design] was not featured heavily.
This section is incredibly self-indulgent and does not weigh on my score but... Man there were some really good Hazama moments.
I kept annoying my friend and gf with images whenever he showed up. The egg scene I think was really a highlight to the whole anime,
and it was just fun to watch. I got very giddy seeing him and it was definitely the standout thing to me lol.
I also liked them showing some Makoto/Noel things... Even if it wasn't for pairing purposes, those two together make me happy.
As a conclusion, again I don't think it's an anime for people who've never engaged with the first 2 games at least. I think it's fun as
supplemental material to those games, but definitely not something I'd rewatch alone, honestly (Unlike the games, which even though I'm
not done with the series, I'm happy to replay.) I don't regret watching it though, and something about the excitement of watching it
kind of dwindled by the end.
10:39pm .. .. // 8.16.2023
Another sculpt/paint/project post~! I have some things to say about other things, but I'll save that for another post.
Recently, I got some AZONE Piconeemo dolls. I'm focusing on one, because... Well... The other one, I still need to ship out parts. Either way, it was a lot smaller than I expected actually! Head included, about 14cm. Still, I got the doll with a specific project in mind and size won't deter me. I wanted to make a Chihiro doll!
Her hair is unruly, but not lost. I'm looking into how to take care of it. For the purposes of face-ups, I clipped it back with 2
Hello Kitty clips I got forever ago. It worked well enough! I started a base layer of paint. I read or watched somewhere that it's
best to start with a brown color, so I took heed. I use simple acryllic paint, watered down. Getting the water-paint ratio is kind of
hard, but it worked.
I then started to go over the "sketch". You can see little remnants of it still. I colored the eyes a watery-blue. I had a bit of trouble
getting everything perfect, but it started to form...! You can see the body a bit better here as well. Once that dried, I went over it
again, more blue...!
And then added a lighter tone and the black! I might still fix up the mouth. It's not shown in this image, but I did glaze over with
mod podge; I wanted something to make sure her face wouldnt melt off, but not something that would be hard to get off either. I think
for what it is, it works well...!
And last little preview...! This project is another clay one. I wanted a Mitsukuri keychain, so I'll make my own...! About 2 years
ago now, I ordered keychain stubs(?). I'm not sure the official name, but the rings of keychains! I had this in mind all along, but
just never did anything with it. Anyway, here's a start of it! I realized from my Chihiro AZONE project that it might be smart
to glaze the face, paint over the glaze once it dries, and then add another layer of glaze. I felt more confident painting that
way, so it was a sucess!
I'm looking into hair-care products for Chihiro. The idea of messing up her hair is very daunting to me. I'm looking forward to
making her some clothes. All my custom dolls are naked... I need to fix that. Mitsukuri's hair is drying right now, but I realized
he needs ears. Hopefully, next update, he will have them...!
9:35pm .. .. // 8.15.2023
Updates on sculpts!!! There's not much to talk about, but more pictures of the process!! Chihiro pre-pigtails and ahoge
Chihiro pre-kitty ears!
Completed head~!
Both heads finished! A pencil for approx size. I'm a bit daunted making the bodies now but im excited...!
4:46pm .. .. // 7.7.2023
Gachi koi nenchaku-jū: The Drama: The Review
I thought it'd be fun to do a little review for the GachiKoi drama! I mentioned here and there my thoughts on a few episodes, but figured I should do a full review since I finished. Again, I'm coming at this as someone who loves the manga, so I'm probably more critical than someone who came in with no knowledge of the manga. This of course will NOT be free of spoilers.
So, as a whole, I'd give it about a 7/10. For me, that's "I wouldn't really rewatch this on my own, but if a friend wanted to see it and watch it with me, I would." I get why they didn't, but to me, I think this would've been so much better to have split it up into more than 1 season. I feel like everything was rushed and squished together, in a way that wasn't condusive to the plot and fleshing out the characters. I feel the costuming was hit and miss. Outfits were fine but I do wish they had everyone look more like their manga counterparts-- Most egregious imo was Nemo and Victor-- I legit couldnt tell who was supposed to be who. Riko Mero, Ginga, and Mitsukuri on the other hand were standouts to fitting. To me, A little above okay were Koto, Hina and Yuuko. Harumi, Cosmo, Subaru, and Nao were okay [Nao felt much more tomboyish in the manga to me, and I feel they didn't capture that for her at all.]
I feel like Hina and Subaru's storylines were really drowned out due to how little it was given. I know in the manga, Subaru's arc was ~15 chapters, which in a 70+ and going manga, isn't all that much, but it's important. I feel they didn't make Subaru as scummy as he was in the manga. In the manga, I absolutely hated him at first (and probably until about halfway through Cosmo's arc lol). In the show... He felt so toned down. He wasn't good, but it wasn't the same fevor I felt with the manga. I feel they needed to be fleshed out more to enjoy that arc, and thus it felt very lacking. I wish Mero had more screentime, but I do like the end part of this arc where Riko Mero comforts Hina. While I'm mentioning Subaru, I wish they paid attention to how in the manga, Subaru kept up wearing Hina's bracelet gift, showing he was still weirdly attached to her. I'd give the Hina-Suba arc about a 3.5/10 overall.
Cosmo and Koto's arc was fine. I think they fleshed out Cosmo and Koto fine for what it was. I REALLY wish they added in how Nao and Yuuko became friends. That was such a cute side thing imo in the manga, and I'm sad they didn't touch upon that. Harumi was fine enough. She isn't super focused on in the manga, so I can't complain too too much about her involvement. Yuuko's involvement in the story in general is something that personally makes me uneasy, but I don't think the show handled it too badly; It did about as well as the manga. I think there were some sweet moments, but I am really sad they didn't add in Subaru and Ginga spying on Cosmo as during the confession of love--- But my god in the manga it felt like an eternity so I'm glad they cut it down LOL. Also... it makes no sense why they just didn't have Cosmo's arm brace... in... the final shots? Like they made it clear he was injured, why not include that? Overall, I'd give this a 7/10. It was cute. I'd argue it was the best representation of a couple's chemistry.
Last is Ginga and Mitsukuri's part. It kind of feels like a hit and miss in some areas; I'll include all of Hadal Zone here too. I liked the chemistry they were representing with these two and it was very fun to watch. I am sad they deviated from the manga on how they ended up working together. I can't be too upset about the big fanmeet event vs a small event, probably because they mushed it together based on bugetary concerns [i.e, getting a big stage vs a small venue]. I think they could've done better with Ginga not being satisfied in COSMIC in some instances, but it does seem like they were aiming to further develop that if it gets greenlit for another season. I am sad that Kikyo had such a small involvement, especially because of how important she is in the manga right now. I can't say I'm missing Ringo though, even though they teased her at the end. As a character in the manga, I can't stand her and I don't know if she'd be more tolerable in a drama format. I think the thing I'm missing most is based on the script, and thats just that reading a manga slowly lets things fester more emotionally, and when you condense it, you loose the feelings of certain small stresses piling up on a character. Ginga felt less desperate than he does in the manga, and I think that's where I'm feeling a loss. I'd say it was probably a 6.5 to their arc.
This isn't tied to a specific arc, but I think it's worth mentioning when they did some segments of COSMIC videos, that was a big highlight to the show. It was edited really in a fun way and realistic to YouTube and such. It's a very small thing, but I think it was a big strength of being able to adapt it vs the manga, and just by medium alone, was more effective and fun.
In a small conclusion, do I think it was stunning? No. Do I think it was bad? No. I definitely wouldn't have read the manga if I watched the drama first. I think the pacing was way off, but if it was written better and less squeezed in, it would've been a lot better. I hope if there is a second season, they pace it a lot better--- but that also feels like a bummer because I wouldn't want slower pacing if they had a good Ringo-- because I just don't like her character even as a "I love how much I hate her". I am greatful for the talent that came together to put this to live action and I'm thankful to the people subbing it [I personally followed Oshiroen's subs].
However, I also want to say I never want to hear that sad emotional song they kept playing over and over again I hated it so much. The other song was fine, but that one hurt my ears and just added a cheapness to every scene it was in.
9:44pm .. .. // 6.25.2023
Hello! This isn't a clay update, but a art/personal. Firstly, I'm very excited on my work recently in 18782. It makes me nervous to think one day it's going to be done... I've heard other people say this before releasing things. It's a hard line to step on-- excited because its done and I can work on something else after years, but then it's also nervewracking to put out a sole project out into the world. I really appreicate so many nice things I get from people about it. It's nice and very motivating. Right now, I've been working on the animation. The dream segments are being colored and I'm on 3/7; but I will go back and have to 1. add audio 2. make color edits 3. weave it into a video that's useable for RPGMAKER. It feels really strange and really nice. It's a personal project I love and I am excited to see an end in sight. I also got some dialogue from my girlfriend because 3 of her OCs are in it, and I'm aiming to put that in this month.
I've been really busy, but I've been trying to get some personal things in. I want to finally play some more BlazBlue soon lol... I'm almost caught up on GachiKoi! The drama. It's gotten overall much better and right now, I'd call it a solid 7-- which to me is, is it amazing? No. Is it awful? No. It's something that if someone else wants to watch, I'd rewatch it. I am sad they left out some things I really liked in the manga-- i.e, Subaru being weird as fuck with Hina [they made him less of a freak...], and then some of Mitsukuri's dialogue being missing. Again, it's something I get in the sense of needing to fit so many things in, but it feels like stuff that needed more time devoted to it. Which, speaking of the manga, I'm excited because a new chapter comes out in 2 days and this weekend I'll be busy reading and working on it.
Aside from all of this, ArtFight is coming up soon. I'm excited; I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do but I'm excited to do it!! I want to make more OC refs for it hehe!!! Also I've gotten back into a massive visual kei web-- Not that it exactly left, but it was more subdued. I've been listening to deadman everytime I go an read manga...over and over and over. Also! I finished Changerion. I really think it might be my fav toku, if not tied with Kamen Rider Ryuki. It was really good, but in the most messy and weirdest way possible. It's not something that I think everything will like, but it definitely is so strange that it holds a special spot-- not to mention Takashi Hagino.
I'm off to work more on 18782! And then I'm going to watch stuff w my gf!!! :33 Feels nice to write a little entry here!!
10:12pm .. .. // 6.7.2023
Scratch-made figure....! Well, I did use a mold to help sculpt the face plate. This is Momoka!!
Her hair was a bit of a challenge. To secure it better, I let it dry with cling wrap around it, so it would stay stuck closer to her face.
I glazed her hair and face at this point. I didn't want to glaze after I put her pigtails in, because it could cause trouble down the line. I ended up glazing it twice, because there was a bad rough feeling after the first time. The glaze was done with mod podge. It did seem to make her hair seem paler, which is a pain...
Pigtails are rough, but I'm not beating myself up over it.
With the pigtails on...! It's not perfect, but she looks cute to me. I'm scared to do the body though lol.
During waiting for her to dry and such, I started another project. This time, Chihiro-- who Momoka canonly based her look off of. Same thing with the face plate. I realized it was easier to add water to paint the face lol... Not too much though. Also, unlike Momoka, I added paint into the clay instead of painting over the dried clay. In this, it helped when I had to wipe off face paint, which happened quite frequently.
Hair was added in a familiar way. However, this time I learned to put down a layer of clay for the hairline, and not wedge it in after. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea lol.
As of right now, this is where progress sits!! I only have the front of her hair right now. I'll work more on her soon!! I'm excited for both Chihiro and Momoka!!
4:20pm .. .. // 6.4.2023
Risa progress part 2...!
Here's before the painting and glazing. Again, hand sculpted hair with air dry clay. It feels a little rough, but it's better than the previous attempt! I emphasized his curls vs the older model.
Here's with color! I forget if this was before or after I glazed their hair with mod podge.
Same step, but closer up...!
With his twintails! You can see a string of glue gun glue on the one...oops. It was fixed later. And to that point, the twintails were also made with clay, but they were glued on with a glue gun instead of forced on with clay. I didn't think it'd stay unless I did that.
At the end are the final images and a closer look! From here, I want to make them some clothes, probably with fabric though. I am a little worried about how things will fit with his stand, but I'm hoping it'll be okay if I add velcro to the backing and open it up where the stand connects. Either way, that's something I'll have to plan and design!
4:00pm .. .. // 5.30.2023
Recently, I've been watching the GachiKoi drama. I don't really think it's a good adaption of the manga, but I'm a bit underwhelmed despite not coming in with high expectations. I'm 2 episodes in, and I will continue it just because I love the manga.
Episode one would probably be a 4/10, and I'd give episode two a 5/10. I think the issue isn't the actors, I mean, they're all good enough. I do have some issues with the stylization department for nearly everyone-- minus Mitsukuri, Riko Mero and Ginga to be honest. Koto and Hina are fine. The rest... It's not that they look bad, I just wish there was more reflection to the manga. Even I'm sad how they lengthened Nao's hair.
I think the issue is the fact they're cramming so much story in such a short runtime. Its like they're squeezing like 8 chapters into 20 minutes, leaving behind a lot of the things that made characters like Hina sympathetic. I think they didn't flesh out her well at all, and even Subaru too. I worry this'll be the same for the other characters and their arcs as well. I wonder if anyone who never watched the manga got attached to any of the characters.
It does make me want to draw miss Riko Mero again... Also I hope they stop using that horrible halmark-esque music.
9:09pm .. .. // 5.20.2023
A long post! This is a post about a project I'm working out-- making a custom nendo! The base is some sort of thing I got forever and a day ago. It's not exactly a nendo, probably some sort of knockoff. Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm trying to make my OC, Risa! Here's the process of making them!
My hands are so shaky, so it's kind of hard to do it well lol.
Here's the finished head! It's not perfect, but for a 2nd try, it's good! [My first try was another one of these like 1-2 years ago. This time, I used acryllic paint, the first time I used watercolored pencils. I definitely think acryllic paint is a LOT better.]
And next, I decided to sculpt the hair! I didn't want to use yarn like I've done for bigger dolls, because I feel clay fits a lot better for this style of faux nendo. I used air dry clair for this.
And the painted... Again, with acryllic paint.
However... I don't like how it looks. Next log with this project will be the 2nd attempt at the hair. Yes, its not awful. I even laquered it. However, I don't think it encompases what Risa's hair looks like. Risa's hair is a lot more wavy; so I decided to start over...!
10:04pm .. .. // 5.17.2023
I've been getting into multiple things due to friends. I recently read and finished "I Tell C", which was a short 20-something chapter manga. I'm kind of sad, because it definitely had more potential than it was able to realize due to the length. It had an interesting and fun story. I also started watching the Touken Ranbu musicals with a friend-- they're really fun!! However, one made me cry and it was only the 2nd one ever we watched. Funny how those things happen. I also recently picked up Limbus Company-- I haven't played the prior games, but again, friend suggestion. It's been really fun!! I love all of the characters, it's hard to pick favorites, but I really like Yi Sang and DonKi especially.
I've kept up doing GachiKoi translations and I'm on chapter 51 right now!!! I love Mitsukuri so much, more than I expected to actually. I'm so happy to have finally seen him. He's very cute and his personality is right up my alley. I have to say though, I don't like Ringo much... Like I'm sure she'll become important, but right now, she just annoys me. I wouldn't say it's bad writing, more or less, she's just not my type of character. Mitsukuri's speaking to Ginga about how long he's been watching him and the fact it helped him mentally really was an emotional experience. I was upset Kikyo interrupted him though; I don't hate her and she's certainly more interesting than Ringo. I'm excited to see where things are going.
I haven't had the most time for game dev which sucks, but I am working on stuff for videos. I also started an Arakawa plushie; his face and head are done, next is the body. I'm excited for him, and hopefully he'll take shorter than Hachi did. Similarly, I have an idea of how to spruce up my 18782 comic page, especially since THS has a nicer layout, and that I keep forgetting to add to. I'm still slowly working on character pages for my 18782 page.
I don't really have much I want to add onto now, maybe some other time. It's funny, I feel like I have a lot to say, but when it comes to putting it down somewhere, I loose it.
7:46pm .. .. // 3.9.2023
I'm reminded of a scene of an anime I watched as a kid, where it detailed doing certain things after getting into Evangellion [Getting into classical music, reading the bible, dabbling in psychology]... Especially because I sat through nearly 3 hours of Scarface because of Hypnosis Mic. A little different, but...! The movie wasn't really my thing [I know it's a 'classic', ectect, but I don't want to write a whole essay on what I liked and didn't like. I have IMDB for that and haven't felt like wriitng there.] There was a still of a movie I wanted to see on Tumblr a few days back, and then I realized it was also 3 hours... Maybe tomorrow...! I need preparation before I embark on a 3 hour journey.
Speaking of, I was thinking about reading SZS. I watched the anime as a kid and liked it. I guess my hesitation is like with most anime and manga-- how well it holds up. There are tropes you look past as a kid that are a lot harder to stomach as an adult, and that's been a draw back of so many things I cherished as a kid. I know with SZS already the big thing that is uncomfortable, even if it's satire. Maybe it's just one of those things I try and if it doesn't click the same or I can't deal with it, I stop. I do have a bunch of anime and manga piling up... It's a bit daunting, but it's still fun. There's a happiness to things.
I've had a lot of ideas for things to spice up animations in 18782. It's involving a lot of hand-made things to get done first, but I think the end product might come out really cool. I don't want to show it all off, maybe when I have things more along I will. I need to actually get back to coding the game, that's where I'm falling behind now. I always feel bad putting the same things over and over in my monthly updates, so it'd be nice to put for once, "Updated day 2's coding". Plus, if I go too long without updating, I forget my place and that's annoying. I wish my hands worked as fast as my brain sometimes.
In a semi-addition, I've been thinking a lot of what I want from this year in art. I think my main things are to release 18782, or at least, be incredibly close to releasing it. I also want to put out a one-shot I've been slowly working on. I think it'd be cool to do some sort of animated video, whether it was script-based or like those fan MVs people make of Vocaloid songs (do they still do that? I hope so. I've been out of that community for years, but slowly coming back to the stuff from my childhood at least.) I have a few other things, but those are my main!!
Last little point of rambling; I'm on chapter 32 of Gachikoi now. It's funny to think that about 2 months ago I just started. I don't see it as a perfect translation, but it follows the story well enough to be coherant and get things across. I can't get too caught up in the small details, as it's just a solo small-time project. I really like Koto's arc so far, it's really interesting. Yuuko's inclusion was uncomfortable at points, but I'm glad where they brought it to at this point [Chapter 32, I mean]. It could've been handled really poorly, but I think overall the author did a decent job. It's kind of funny to see Subaru's "redemption" arc (loose wording lol) involve him trying to help Cosmo get with Koto. It's actually really cute though, I like that side of him. I'm really excited to see how the streamercon is going to go. I've been wondering if Mitsukuri is going to show up in this part since he's a streamer too if I've been seeing stuff right. He's why I got into it, so I'm excited to meet him...!!!
I don't think I have much else to ramble on about right now. If anyone read this, hope you're having a lovely new year~! I want to change how I do personal logs (look-wise), but I haven't had the time lately, so I'll settle with normal for now.
7:50pm .. .. // 1.15.2023