Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights April 2025

April was a relatively light month of tweets for the Genshiken artist.

Kio spent all of April Fool’s driving, so he couldn’t see any of the jokes. Someone suggests he still has time to fly to the US and experience the day there, and Kio responds that he’d only end up seeing American April Fool’s gags as a result. Another person mentions that he heard Genshiken 3 was coming out, to which Kio replies, “Yay!”

Kio drew fanart of Sis-tan (the mascot of the arcade Okayama Fantasista) for her 10th anniversary. SIsta-tan tells Kio that he’s helped make her anniversary more splendid, and asks Kio what games he’s played at arcades. 

Kio responds that there were certain games—namely Neo-Geo ones—that he would only ever watch at the arcades because he wasn’t brave enough to play against other people. He did get to play them at a friend’s house, though. When it came to games he actually played, he liked vertical-scrolling shooters like Gunbird and RayForce.

Sis-tan replies in turn that it was still great that Kio had an environment where he could play Neo-Geo, especially one where no one as skilled as Kohsaka in Genshiken would show up. And while Okayama Fantasista doesn’t have a whole lot of vertical shooters, it would still be great if he came to play the ones that are there.

Kio got help to finish his work schedule for April, but it looks like some of his other work will spill into May. A person replies that Gundam GQuuuuuuX model kits come out in May, but Kio doesn’t think he’ll be able to buy them, so he’s giving up now. He really wants them all, though.

On May 10, Kio will be at the Rakuen: Le Paradis gallery in Tokyo giving a talk with Tsuruta Kenji. It’s a part of an entire month of talk shows.

Kio is happy to finally have some time to watch the first episode of Gundam GQuuuuuuX. He’s jealous of those who can watch the first episode without having seen the theatrical release, The Beginning, which he did.

Kio thought nothing would really surprise him in the first episode of GQuuuuuuX just because he saw The Beginning in theaters, but the ending theme made him a lot more emotional than he expected. [The ED is by hololive’s Hoshimachi Suisei!]

He was already seeing fanart of the show’s characters before the first episode even aired, so watching the ending video had him in tears. The personalities contrast between the two main girls is right up his alley, and his imagination is running wild as a result.

Someone responds that he also expects to see old men dancing to the opening. Kio recalls grinning so hard he could die at “Naatu Naatu” from RRR, and wonders if the old men dancing to “Plazma” could beat that. 

Despite a busy schedule, Kio went to the Hirano Kouta Super Expo gallery, featuring the work of the Hellsing author. He thought it was fantastic, from the way it showcased the power and insanity of the work, to the choice of manuscript pages to feature, to the way it showed off what makes all the characters great.

He wanted to listen to the audio guide by the Hellsing characters Luke and Jan, but he didn’t realize that he needed to connect to it through his smartphone, so he ran out to get some cheap earbuds.

Kio wears bifocals, but he likes to look at his work with the naked eye. However, when he does, he risks getting headaches and has to take Bufferin (a brand of aspirin).

Kio is happy that after a day of intently painting erotic naked skin in grayscale, he then gets to watch trailers for the new Ghost in the Shell and Steel Ball Run anime.

Kio checked out a special for How Do You Like Wednesday?, The Conquest of 21 European Countries in Our 21st Year.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights July 2024

New chapter of Spotted Flower came out at the end of last month, which is now followed by a new volume of Spotted Flower too!

New chapter of Spotted Flower!

Kio’s tortoise will just walk around his room and randomly poop and pee, so Kio got it a diaper made for cats.

Kio retweeted a t-shirt of the Fantasista mascot Sistan, which has art by Koume Keito (who worked on the Kujibiki Unbalance manga. Sistan thanks Kio, who responds that this makes him happy.

Kio attended an event of “like-minded people,” and went to the afterparty despite initially being hesitant. Turns out he enjoyed it.

The tortoise keeps waking up one hour earlier, messing up Kio’s sleep. He can hear it walking around and breathing.

Kio wishes manga artist Kusada a happy birthday.

The electricity and water were out in Kio’s apartment, so he went to a super sentou (large bathhouse) and had a good time. Kusada and him talk about how losing power and plumbing should be a bad thing, but the bathhouse makes for a great way to relax.

Kio contributed art to a special Rakuen: Le Paradis 15th anniversary exhibition (and you can buy a replica if you’re in Japan!). He also realizes that he’s been a manga artist for 30 years, and half of that was with Rakuen doing Spotted Flower.

30 pages inked (out of 134) for the sequel to Kio’s 18+ doujinshi.

Kio rewatched the live-action version of his doujinshi, appreciating how the second half is original material that deviates from his version.

Spotted Flower Volume 7 on sale 7/31 (That’s today!). Kio recommends reading it together with Volume 6.

Kio agonized a lot over what to do for the jacket and the underjacket cover of his artbook. 

After retweeting the announcement of the upcoming Ranma ½ remake, Kio thinks the series might be a major influence on why he’s into trans characters.

Kio concurs with Kusada about how great it is to draw the part of the pelvis that sticks out.

Kio thought he managed to get a manuscript done, but it was only one page’s worth of progress.

Kio is reviewing the interview included in his artbook.

Kio is saddened at the death of Ohara Noriko, the original voice of Nobita in Doraemon and Conan in Future Boy Conan.

Kio mentions something vague about remembering something huge and is worried about making it in time, but manages to do so.

The layout and comments, plus the interview page, are all set for the artbook.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1818478710523338920

Spotted Flower v7 comes out 7/31 (that’s today!). Note that there are a number of Japanese stores with exclusive bonuses.

Kio managed to get past a part in (I assume) Elden Ring that didn’t have anything to do with gestures or outfits or story stuff.