Tag Archives: evangelion

Crawling Through the Dark: End of Evangelion

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In March, I went to a screening of End of Evangelion. While it wasn’t my first time seeing the movie, it had also been many years, and this was actually the first time EoE had been released in theaters in North America, courtesy of GKids. 

Evangelion as a whole is a major part of my history as an anime fan, culminating with the Shin Evangelion movie. But two decades ago, End of Evangelion was one of those works that blew apart my preconceived notions about what animation could do. The emotional turmoil, the horrifying spectacle, and the beautiful animation all worked together to leave a lasting impact on my psyche. 

It’s interesting to have again seen this film in full, now with the context of my own lived experience and where Evangelion has gone since then.

End of Evangelion is a sort of alternate version of the last two episodes of the TV series. Rather than taking place purely in an abstract world consisting of the collective minds and souls of its characters, things are based more in the physical world. After NERV defeats the last of the Angels, its secretive parent organization SEELE betrays NERV, and the ensuing carnage sends its already traumatized heroes spiraling down even further.

Ikari Shinji has long been the poster child for angsty teen protagonists, and it’s easy to see here why he could be both a very relatable character and an endless source of aggravation for viewers. As the people on his side and close to him are literally gunned down in cold blood, Shinji is unable to act. It makes me want to shout, “Get out of your own head, damn it!” And that admonishment more or less happens in the movie itself. But Shinji’s perspective is also one that hits close to home: He’s screwed up so many times that he thinks doing nothing is literally better than trying at all and inevitably making things worse. When you only see yourself as a source of failure and disappointment, it can be hard to take even a single step forward.

But when Rei initiates Third Impact, the apocalyptic event that’s meant to bring everyone’s souls together and reform humanity as the single entity it began as, Shinji does something surprising: He rejects this future that would ostensibly solve all his problems with human connection. It turns out that Shinji isn’t satisfied with a happiness that is handed to him, even if it would be a realm of sheer bliss. He wants to achieve self worth by going out there and finding it himself. The process itself, and the authenticity of the success, is paramount. It’s not so much that reality is about suffering, but more like telling someone who’s trying to plant a flower (and is incredibly bad at gardening) that you can just buy them an entire field of flowers that’ll be tended by the world’s best botanists. 

The ending scene is one of many scenes that have long generated discourse, and thinking about it from the perspective of dreams vs. reality has me reconsidering its outcome. In the aftermath of the Third Impact (or at least its attempt), Shinji finds himself alone with Asuka. Seeing her lying prone, Shinji starts to strangle her, repeating an earlier “action” he took while being confronted in his mind about the way he desperately tries to avoid loneliness. But to his surprise, Asuka’s hands gently brush against his face, and this causes Shinji to let go. Asuka then says, “Disgusting.”

I see Shinji’s actions as indicative of him doubting that he’s out of the dream-like Third Impact, only to be thrown off by Asuka being very different from what he saw in his own mind. The compassion and disdain are both there, beauty and ugliness all mixed together. Reality is where dreams end, but it’s also fueled by those same dreams. It’s a messy world where Shinji can once again try to make a genuine connection, even if they’re the last two people on Earth.

To me, the essential difference between End of Evangelion and Shin Evangelion has to do with their relationship with depression. EoE is what you get when you’re caught up in it and are trying to provide hope that there’s a way out. Shin Evangelion is the result of someone who managed to overcome that depression and can tell you the other side is real. 

I’m glad Anno found his light.

Frieren, Ikari Shinji, and Lost Love

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Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End is simply one of the finest fantasy series I’ve ever seen, on par with Witch Hat Atelier. From its premise, to its intriguing world-building, to its endearing cast of characters, Frieren is like an oasis in a desert of flimsily conceived genre works. Among its many strengths, one thing that I find most compelling is the way it portrays how different races perceive time differently. This is especially the case with the titular heroine, Frieren.

A long-lived elf mage, Frieren was originally a member of the small party that managed to defeat the demon lord after a decade of adventure. Shortly after their victory, she and her allies are invited to live in the royal capital, but she leaves for a “short” while to continue her pursuit of weird and obscure spells. By the time she returns (50 years later), their young and handsome leader, the vaunted hero Himmel, is old and gray. At his funeral, Frieren deeply regrets having been his companion for “only” 10 years—what others would consider a long and life-defining era instead barely existed for her.

Later episodes reinforce just how much of a drop in the bucket the 10-year quest was for Frieren. Against Aura the Guillotine, a mighty and feared demon, all other adventurers would do everything in their power to eliminate her for the danger she posed. Yet, Frieren held back so that she could deceive Aura for 80 years before dropping the hammer in the modern day. This truly gives a sense of how differently Frieren sees everything as an elf many centuries old, but also just how impactful Himmel was to her.

In thinking about Himmel’s influence, another anime character came to mind: Ikari Shinji from Evangelion. Specifically, his relationship with Nagisa Kaworu at the end of the TV series holds some parallels.

Kaworu shows up in Episode 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and he makes an incredible impact on Shinji. Their immediate friendship is a salve for the emotionally wounded Shinji, who opens up to Kaworu. However, by the end of the episode, Kaworu is dead. This relationship lasted only half an hour of runtime, and less than a week in-story. Nevertheless, this brief love (be it platonic or romantic) is powerful indeed.

The way Frieren sees her time with Himmel is not unlike how Shinji views his few days with Kaworu. It was there, it was magical, and it was gone just like that. It’s beautiful yet heart-rending, and these couple of details really showcase how amazing Frieren the series is as a whole.

Otakon 2023: The Iwao Junko Panel

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At Otakon 2023, Iwao Junko (Tomoyo in Cardcaptor Sakura) had a panel focused exclusively on her history and career. This is a summary of the panel, as well as notes from the Q&A that occurred. To read the interview I conducted with her and collaborator Kawamura Ryu, go here.

The Beginning

Iwao started off the panel by talking about her childhood, and how she loved listening to records found in storybooks, watching anime, listening to music. At that time, voice acting wasn’t seen as it is today, so when she asked others about a career in that realm, they told her she would have to be an actor or a singer/musician. Even so, she thought about getting into voice acting since she was 6 or 7 years old.

Around 13, she secretly auditioned to become an idol, and while she was ready to get rejected 100 or 200 times, she ended up getting accepted after just on try. Her parents (especially her dad) were very against it, but she promised them that she would quit in ten years if she didn’t make it.

So she went to Tokyo and did lessons, and she eventually debuted as an idol in a four-person group at the age of 16. She was actually replacing another idol in the group who had “graduated” (i.e. quit and moved on), but the group was already planning to split up after one year. Once that was done, she had to do part-time jobs and attend night school.

Iwao’s First Anime Role

From then on, until the age of 23, Iwao just worked and auditioned, ending up with various jobs. She was in musicals, and also played an assistant in a science show for kids. She even worked at a train station. One day, one of the members of the science show saw Iwao and asked if she had given up on show business. At that time, the ten-year deadline she had promised her parents was almost up. This person mentioned that a certain show was looking for someone who could act and sing, and so Iwao went for it because it could be her last chance. After auditioning, she was nervous waiting for results every day. 

It was her first anime role, and it was Melissa Thorn, one of the main characters in an Japanese-French co-produced anime called Montana Jones, about explorers on a voyage. Got the part of one of the main characters of Montana Jones. When she told her parents about it, worried that time was technically already up, her parents instead congratulated her, and said they want Iwao to keep trying for another 10 or even 20 years.

From there, Iwao joined a voice acting school and practiced for her debut in Montana Jones. One thing that surprised her about working on the show was that there was no rehearsal time in anime. The first day of recording is when you meet the rest of the cast.

Another surprise was that they recorded based on roughly drawn non-color animatics. She expected to be acting in reference to finished animation, and while there was sometimes color, that was often not the case. Sometimes, ttwo characters would even be represented by just a red line and a blue line.

The other main characters were played by Otsuka Akio (Solid Snake, Black Jack) and Nakao Ryusei (Freeza). Their performances were so good that she worried there were actually prior practice sessions that she didn’t know about and missed. Iwao couldn’t keep up with them at all. 

The way the recording studio was set up, 10-plus people had to work with four microphones. And in fact, one of those mics was the “main character mic,” exclusively used by Ohtsuka as Montana Jones. The result: you ad to quietly get up to the mics each time and constantly choosing which of the three you’d use every time. Not only that, but recording was analog back then, and the tape didn’t stop for you. Every take was 15-minute long (about half an episode), and whenever there was a mistake, everyone had to start all over again. Iwao remembers the other voice actors getting frustrated with her and asking, “What is this amateur doing here?” It was Otsuka and Nakao who helped her through the process, until they eventually finished the first episode. 

After the debut episode, haired, the show actually got complaints from viewers who wanted her to be replaced with someone more experienced, and she even received a stack of physical hate mail complaining about her. The other actors supported her and let her know that everyone has to deal with this. Gradually, the staff also supported her, and she gained fans little by little. She still got negative feedback, but would also receive letters from fans. Because of that, she wanted to become someone who could someday help a newbie overcome these same troubles. Something curious she noticed was that once she started having a more positive outlook, she started landing a lot more roles.

Going Full-Time

At first, she didn’t have enough voice acting gigs to quit her day job, but eventually had enough roles that she could go full-time. Her first time as protagonist was in Key the Metal Idol, and from there, it was Cardcaptor Sakura and Evangelion and so on. She remembers her manager saying, “You’re gonna get it,” in regards to Eva. It was with Eva that she could make voice acting her sole career. One thing she learned, though, was that despite the job being “voice acting,” a  lot of her work seemed to be event-related. Couldn’t get much sleep, which was rough.

Iwao recalled that the Eva audition was 15 minutes long for everyone. There was a long bench where everyone sat as they waited to try out, and she could see so many voice actors there who were interested. Iwao actually auditioned for two roles, and hinted that the second role has become known recently, but did not specify which one.

Q&A

  • At the 20th anniversary CCS exhibition, she got to go to dinner with all the other actors outside of work. 
  • Shows she wishes people would know more: Harimogu Harley, Betterman, Key the Metal Idol.
  • Perfect Blue was a case where she actually received a real script and storyboards prior to recording. Iwao’s time as an idol only lasted one year, but she knew from others while working at that time that some of the things Mima goes through in the film actually dho happen. What she didn’t find out until later that director Kon Satoshi didn’t know anything about her idol history or age, and decided it based on one line that everyone was supposed to recite for their audition: “Who…are you?” Kon had decided on voice alone, so when he looked at her résumé, he reacted to Iwao’s extremely strong-sounding family name, which translates roughly to “Boulder Man.” Kon was excited to see what kind of Rock-like Man would show up, and was surprised Iwao was rather small. Because of this, he was watching her with a stern and scary face, but she didn’t know this was the reason, and Iwao was so scared that she couldn’t greet him. When playing Mima and the “other” Mima, she had to have separate recording days for the different personalities, and thought Matsumoto Rica (who played Rumi) gave a powerful performance.
  • When asked if she ever had the chance to be the mentor she wanted to become during Montana Jones, she mentioned that she thought upon entering her 50s that this would be her mentorship phase (Iwao is 53 this year). The series where she was able to to do this was an anime called Shining Post, where she thought, “Now is my time to shine.” Iwao ended up telling the new voice actors about what she herself had experienced.
  • I got to ask a question as well, one that I couldn’t fit into the interview! “Are there any roles you played later in your career that would have been difficult for you  earlier in your career?” Iwao replied that it would have to be Hisae in Onihei, as it was a role where she felt she could bring the experience she had built up over time. When playing her, Iwao thought, “Finally, I can play adult roles.”
  • Everyone who worked on the Madoka Magica found out about the twists and turns week by week, so it was a surprised to everyone.
  • Iwao is from Kyushu, and a major Tomoyo/Iwao fan asked the final question, which was regarding recommendations for anyone traveling to her home prefecture. Iwao’s Her recommendations are Beppu in Oita Prefecture, which is famous for hot springs. She also suggested checking out Nagasaki.

The Roles of “Characters” in Mecha Anime

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Sometimes, you’ll see a wild claim about mecha anime, like “Gurren-Lagann was the first giant robot series to be about characters instead of the robots,” and it inevitably results in a backlash—in this case, the counterargument that all giant robot shows are about characters. Whether the initial statement is made in jest or as a genuinely ignorant take by someone with only surface-level knowledge of mecha, it reflects certain assumptions about what the genre is like.

I got to thinking about the notion that giant robot anime are about characters because it’s both true and an oversimplification. Moreover, the extent to which the giant robots truly “matter,” as in they’re inexorable from the world being portrayed and can’t be substituted with some other form of weaponry, varies tremendously. But regardless of the true “necessity” of either characters or robots, I feel there is more to it than just one side mattering more than the other. Then a thought occurred to me, and I have a kind of nascent “universal theory of giant robot anime”:

Giant robot anime are about characters, but more specifically, the main character reflects some vital or fundamental aspect of the world and story around them. The giant robot, in turn, is reflective of the connection between the hero and that aspect.

If it seems nebulous, that’s because it is. I’m thinking less about trying to justify every mecha anime and more about how the giant robots end up being the avatar through which so many of these protagonists interact with their environment and their histories, and thus reveal more about the anime themselves. There’s also no denying the close ties between giant robots and merchandising, but this also ebbs and flows over the decades.

So let’s start with some of the big ones. 

Tetsujin 28 is about Shoutarou trying to make a difference in a post-WWII environment by being a boy detective who fights crime. Tetsujin 28 the robot was created to fight the Allies, but is now being used for an alternate purpose: as a guardian of peace instead of a weapon of war. 

Mazinger Z draws a direct lineage to this sort of thinking. While the power fantasy and toyetic appeal of the robot itself is undeniable, Kouji is presented with a question about human potential from the very beginning: If you had great power, would you be a god or a devil? The robot Mazinger Z is Kouji’s way of making a difference, and he chooses to use it as a protective guardian.

Mobile Suit Gundam, the first “real robot” anime that emphasized the robots as weapons of war over superhero-like entities, is about its hero Amuro’s repeated exposure to the trauma of war. It’s through the Gundam that he experiences physical and emotional scars alike, and the very fact that his piloting experience molds him into a capable soldier also contributes to the overall “horror of war” message that girders Gundam and its many sequels.

Superdimensional Fortress Macross has three main components: romance, music, and robot battles. Here, the titular robot is literally a flying city traveling through space, and it functions as both an urban cosmopolitan center and a massive superweapon. In other words, it is the very space in which all three pieces of Macross take place.

Neon Genesis Evangelion centers around Shinji and his fear of human connection, be it with his family, his peers, his friends, or anyone else. It is the anime of extreme introspection. Not only is the EVA-01 the means by which he tries (and fails) to find self-worth, but the EVA itself is revealed to house the soul of his dead mother. He is contained in a womb-like structure inside of his giant mom.

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann is about Simon and the limitless potential of humanity to overcome all obstacles slowly but surely—and ultimately whether there should be limits on that power. Gurren-Lagann manifests this through numerous transformations fueled by human spirit that bring on exponential power growth.

The above examples are all heavy hitters, but what I also want to emphasize is that this applies to “lesser” titles as well.

Brave Police J-Decker is maybe the most on-the-nose example of the relationship between a boy and his giant robot, as the story is about how Yuuta’s friendship with the giant police robot Deckard is what teaches the latter to develop true emotions and a proper sense of justice and humanity. 

Shinkon Gattai Godannar is about the relationship between Gou and Anna as husband and wife and how their love affects both their personal and professional lives as co-pilots. Godannar Twin Drive is literally a combination of both robots.

Robotics;Notes focuses on Kaito and his relationship with Akiho’s giant robot club, and the blurring of augmented reality with actual reality. The creation of the Guntsuku-1 is basically an untenable goal that, through the events of the series, becomes effectively “real” through how Kaito and Akiho view and utilize it.

Trider G7 is about Watta, who’s both a little kid and the CEO of his own company, utilizing both the image of Japanese corporate culture of the early 1980s and the classic child desire of wanting to do what the adults do. The Trider G7 robot literally flies out of a playground, and has tons of cool and wacky weapons, but the fact that it’s Watta’s robot and the main way he gets his job done means it’s the conduit through which that “grown-up” fantasy takes place. 

Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion the Animation is literally a commercial for bullet train toys that are, in turn, advertising for the Shinkansen trains in Japan. Its main character, Hayato, is basically a Shinkansen fanatic who sees them as not only the coolest things ever but as reflecting a philosophy of unwavering service to the people of Japan. The Shinkalion robots, by extension, portray a more action-packed version of this concept.

Giant robot anime embody many values, from crass commercialism to dreams of being brave and strong, from anti-war sentiments to deep looks inward at the psychological scars of society. The mecha themselves are often not “characters” in and of themselves (with a number of notable exceptions), but they are symbolic of how the protagonists of these stories relate to what they experience. The hurdle for those who think that these anime are “more about robots” is that this particular way of communicating the characters’ stories requires an acceptance of giant robots as a storytelling device.

Yes My Dork: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for December 2022

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I’m riding high off of three things: recent elections defied expectations, the VTubers of holoX have just been celebrating their one-year anniversaries, and it’s been 15 years of Ogiue Maniax! It’s hard to believe each one for somewhat different reasons, but I’m hoping I can carry this joyous monentum through this month and into the eventual new year.

Here are my Patreon subscribers for December 2022! Thank you to everyone.

General:

Ko Ransom

Diogo Prado

Alex

Dsy

Naledi Ramphele

Sue Hopkins fans:

Serxeid

Hato Kenjirou fans:

Elizabeth

Yajima Mirei fans:

Machi-Kurada

Blog highlights from November:

Hope and Chaos Take the Subway: Anime NYC 2022

My con report for this year’s Anime NYC. Note that it has a lot of coverage of Hololive.

I Started Reading the Saint Seiya Manga

And what a ride it is.

Non-Subpar Robot: Astroganger

I reviewed a lesser-known 1970s giant robot anime, now available via Discotek.

Kio Shimoku

If there’s anything to take away from this month’s tweets, it’s that Kio Shimoku loves Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise.

Apartment 507

Looking at Akiba Maid War through the lens of 1999 Akihabara.

Closing

As with every year, I’m going to be rating the anime characters I think are the best of 2022. It is unbelievable how tough this year’s field is. I feel like the top candidates would have won in virtual every other year had they been eligible.

Inktober 2022 Archive: My First Time!

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After years of hemming and hawing, I decided to actually do Inktober this past October. The results were, well, results.

Especially with the state of Twitter being extremely abunai, I decided it’d be good to just have a gallery here.

The Results Matter: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for November 2022

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The new anime season is in full swing, but while I’m enjoying the hell out of so many things (like Gundam: The Witch from Mercury!), my mind is on the upcoming US midterm election. I plan on (sort of) following up with my thoughts on this subject in a few days but for now, I’m using this time to encourage citizens to vote however they can: in person on Election Day, by mail, by early voting, anything.

I’d also like to thank my Patreon subscribers for this month of November 2022.

General:

Ko Ransom

Diogo Prado

Alex

Dsy

Naledi Ramphele

Sue Hopkins fans:

Serxeid

Hato Kenjirou fans:

Elizabeth

Yajima Mirei fans:

Machi-Kurada

Blog highlights from October:

Gattai Girls 12: “Idolmaster Xenoglossia” and Amami Haruka

After like two years, Gattai Girls is back with a new entry!

Evangelion + Beavis & Butt-Head = Chainsaw Man

Call it an epiphany?

Rock-Troll Remake: “Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island”

My review of the nostalgic Gundam movie.

Kio Shimoku

A sparse month of comments, but his tortoise is feeling better!

Apartment 507

Thinking about VTuber Gawr Gura’s recent animated short relative to other bonus animations.

Closing

Congratulations to Brazil for making the right choice and not re-electing an authoritarian nationalist who cares more about his self-image than the wellbeing of the people (sounds familiar).

How about I make some Saint Seiya posts to celebrate?

Evangelion + Beavis & Butt-Head = Chainsaw Man

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A sketch of a character that is a combination of Shinji from Evangelion, Denji from Chainsaw Man, and Butt-Head from Beavis & Butthead

I was originally going to write about how Chainsaw Man reminds me of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s the way Chainsaw Man feels like you’re peering into a creator’s psyche, how it both leans into and plays with various tropes, and importance given to feelings of loneliness. The manga (and soon to be anime) stands out from its peers and defies so much of what we consider “proper storytelling,” and I genuinely think it’s going to become an influence on creators on the level of Evangelion. 

But the two works are also fundamentally different in a lot of ways, and any actual influence from one to the other is indirect at best. The missing piece of the puzzle is that as much as Chainsaw Man has shades of Evangelion, it’s also reminiscent of Beavis & Butt-Head. 

Denji (aka Chainsaw Man) isn’t suffering the same type of loneliness that Shinji from Evangelion feels. One could argue that Shinji is a whiny teen too caught up in his own head, but the kind of heavy introspection he (and the other characters) engage in isn’t something Denji does for the most part. Instead, like Beavis and Butt-Head, he rarely thinks things through properly, and is also obsessed with losing his virginity. And similar to Beavis & Butt-Head’s environment, Denji lives in a world that seems off-kilter, as if even that which is considered “normal” is more facade than foundation. Also, Denji is not terribly smart most of the time, but he also has brief glimmers of insight—a kind of Butt-Head-esque quality. 

I sometimes describe Denji as being cut from the same cloth as Monkey D. Luffy, but I realize now that this analogy is limited because while they share some things in common, Denji doesn’t have that sense of justice and camaraderie. I realize now that a better comparison is to say that Denji is Shinji combined with Butt-Head. He’s kind of shallow, yet his emotions nevertheless feel real and honest, and ultimately he’s not a bad guy. I think it’s part of what gives Chainsaw Man a strange profundity. 

And if Denji is Shinji + Butt-Head, that would mean the character of Power can be viewed as Asuka + Beavis. Asuka is aggressive and trying to constantly prove herself, while Beavis is like a bizarre embodiment of Freudian id who also comes across as naively innocent at times. It totally works, is something I’m currently telling myself.

Could you imagine what it would actually look like if you tried to cross over Evangelion and Beavis & Butt-Head? It would be a spectacle of the absurd, gross yet fascinating—Chainsaw Man to a tee. In a series where characters grapple with emotional problems that run the gamut of silly and vapid to deep and soul-rending, everything feel bizarre and unstable, and when you add a layer of hyperviolence on top of everything else, you get a series that’s incredibly hard to match.

Best Anime Characters of 2021

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BEST MALE CHARACTER

Ikari Shinji (Evangelion 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon a Time)

For as many strong and unique characters as there were this year, there’s really only one right choice for me.


Shinji was never my favorite Evangelion character. However, seeing his transformation from the original TV series all the way to the final Rebuild of Evangelion movie feels nothing short of profound. It’s almost unfair to compare him to other characters because of this long arc of this through multiple versions, but the way he finally comes into his own after 25 years of being the poster child for emotional and psychological turmoil in anime makes what was already a lasting impression into something even more enduring. The boy became mythology in the most unexpected way.

BEST FEMALE CHARACTER

Laura (Tropical-Rouge! Precure)

In the Precure franchise, there are rarely characters of Laura’s disposition. A mermaid with ambition to become the next queen of the seas, Laura is a haughty and proud sort whose closest equivalent is Milk from Yes! Pretty Cure 5. One part of what makes her work as a character is that she fluctuates between earned and unearned confidence, and her friends are there to teach her when the latter occurs. 

But what I think seals the deal for Laura is the fact that she overcomes one of the most common pitfalls of mid-season Cures, which is losing much of her original identity once she joins the team proper. While she gains legs and learns how to live in human culture, her mermaid origin still plays a significant role and gives an extra facet to her character. Laura has to navigate the worlds of both land and sea, and that process is both endearing and hilarious.

Final Thoughts

There was no shortage of strong characters this year, but in the end, I felt that both Shinji and Laura both showed an immensely satisfying amount of growth in their own ways. For Shinji, it’s arguably unfair to be tapping into something with as much history as the Evangelion franchise, but it really feels like Eva has the closure it needs, and it comes courtesy of the Third Child(ren) himself. Laura meanwhile all but perfects the “unusual sixth ranger” by making sure the show doesn’t forget what made her an interesting character in the first place. 

I won’t say who they are, but a few characters got real close to taking the top spots. Some of their stories are still ongoing, so we’ll see if they make it to the top of the list in 2022.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights September 2021

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Much of Kio’s tweeting this month has had to do with the fact that Hashikko Ensemble Volume 7 went on sale on the 22nd, and Spotted Flower Volume 5 is out on the 30th…on top of Chapter 44 of Hashikko! There are lots of inevitable scheduling woes, but he’s actually also been responding to and retweeting readers in a concerted fashion for the first time.

Even I got a retweet!

Hashikko Ensemble and Spotted Flower Releases

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1433291033127776260

Hashikko Ensemble Volume 7 cover check. Kio seems fine with it.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1433622550236446720
https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1433628223670083590

All Spotted Flower volumes have a plastic cover jacket with characters in clothes that obscures a second paper cover jacket with the characters in underwear. Kio gives a sneak peek here.

Kio mentions that there are store-exclusive extras for Spotted Flower.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1433834213774557187

Kurotaki Mai in a bunny outfit, as a late celebration of Bunny Day, but also to promote the new release.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1435298818157805572

The next chapter of Hashikko Ensemble has a ridiculous amount of lyrics and musical effects, but while the work seemed to never end, it’s finally almost over.

With the work on both upcoming volume releases more or less over, Kio decides to do some cleaning.

Kio discusses with 18+ manga artist Ikuhana Niro (who also publishes in Rakuen: Le Paradis) about ways to abbreviate Hashikko Ensemble and Spotted Flower in Japanese. Ikuhana uses HashiAn and SupoHana, while Kio originally uses Hashikko and SupoFura, but also Spotted in hiragana or katakana. Supote is brought up, with the idea that it sounds like Ponite (ponytail).

The Rakuen: Le Paradis Twitter account chimes in that Supote is one sale 9/30.

Kio responds with thanks to those who tweeted about supporting the release of Hashikko Ensemble, Volume 7. He doesn’t quote tweet readers all that much, so it feels special. 

A fan mentions that they’ve always liked Genshiken and stuff, but only recently got into Hashikko Ensemble and wish they did so sooner. Kio tells them to enjoy it at their own pace.

Kio mentions that there are store-exclusive bonuses for Volume 5 of Spotted Flower. (I’ll be getting the Ogino-sensei ones from Melonbooks and Animate.)

A drawing used for promotional store displays for Volume 5.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1442741531346018308

Kio talks about how intense the Basso Masters from Hashikko Ensemble are.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1442721051079692295

Kio talks about how he couldn’t find any footage of a three-girl group singing “Zenryoku Shounen.”

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1442679296338714624

Showing his drawing of the Chorus Appreciation Society performing “Etupirka” versus an actual performance.

Other Works

In response to a TSUTAYA bookstore showing its display bookshelf for manga artist panpanya, Kio responds that it’s sandwiched in one hell of a place, given the shelves on each side (Blue Lock, Demon Slayer).

Kio up until recently still was not a fan of Kurita Kan’ichi as the voice of Lupin III ever since he took over the role in the 1990s. However, he’s noticed that rather than sounding like an imitation, Kurita’s performances now have a weight and seriousness that has allowed Kio to finally accept his Lupin.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1436920609426923523

Fanart of Isako from Dennou Coil. (WATCH DENNOU COIL!)

Kio sees Five Star Stories models and reminisces about when he built his first resin-kit Akatsuki from that series.

Kio retweets an article talking about a journey with toy soldiers that began from a panpanya manga.

Unknown

Kio talks about the good work an “Akio-san” did on photos. What it means is still unclear.

Looking Ahead

This was a pretty tweet-heavy month for all the reasons above. I get the feeling we’ll be seeing less for October, but you never know.
I also posted these highlights right before the 9/30 release date of Spotted Flower Volume 5, so I’m sure I’ll be covering a lot just from that!