The end of last month hit with some tough news as the world learned that Matsumoto Leiji had passed away at the age of 85. I’m still thinking about what an end of an era that is, and I’ve been spending time with his works. In addition to finally watching more Space Battleship Yamato 2202, I decided to revisit my favorite anime of all time, 1979’s Galaxy Express 999. It’s as gorgeous as the day I first saw it.
This month’s Kio Shimoku tweets are a real treat, as he’s been posting a bunch of old Genshiken art without any text, including at least one piece that’s never been released widely see above)! Genshiken was also trending on Japanese Twitter thanks to being spotlighted on a TV show!
On Duck King’s birthday, Kio mentions that he used to play Duck King. He could do Duck King’s command throws from jumping or out of a block, but never from standing.
In response to a Kim Kaphwan player, Kio refers to Kim as a “demon.” Another commenter replies with “Obenjo Baby!” (Toilet Baby)—a mishearing of one of Kim’s attacks. Kio jokingly says he never could figure out what Kim was saying, so he’ll accept this interpretation
Kio bought a Playstation 5 and Elden Ring despite a lack of free time. He also wants to try SEKIRO.
A long-time fan asks him to please not die without releasing any new works because he was playing nothing but Elden Ring. Kio says he’ll be careful. (Others in the thread do not mind encouraging him to play more.)
Kio accidentally misplaced some parts for a model kit. Manga artist Ikuhana Niiro and Kio talk about how this sort of thing makes them grateful for the quality of Gundam kits.
Kio showing the parts he’s built. When asked if this is a garage kit, he says that it’s technically an action figure kit Kaiyodo used to sell, but it’s functionally a garage kit.
Kio built one of the kits from the box in this older tweet: Knight of Gold from The Five Star Stories. It turns out one of the parts that went missing earlier is actually for this.
Kio learns that Genshiken is going to be on the TV show Sukkiri the next week, on the segment “Hot Comic.” He’s excited about this, and naturally receives a bunch of congratulations from fans (too many to list in this post).
I will make an exception for this one person who says they love Ogiue and Sue. Kio responds “OgiSue! ……Or Sue/Ogi?”
Kio has been so busy with Spotted Flower and other things since the end of last year that he hasn’t had time to work on his ero manga project. Even though it’s the same amount of work that he had when doing a monthly series, it somehow feels unsustainable these days.
Kio posts this old drawing of Madarame and Jin, to which someone responds that they wish they could see both Genshiken and Hashikko Ensemble continue. Kio thanks them, and says he’ll continue to work hard on Spotted Flower.
Another older drawing, but this time someone shows Kio that they have the hot-spring bathing Ohno bust that came free with an issue of Monthly Afternoon. Kio calls it a fine product.
An Ohno fan says they loved Ohno so much, they ended up with a girl like her, and that Kio is responsible for this “severe” crime. Kio jokingly says that’s unforgivable.
A fan mentions that he used to be embarrassed to say the word eroge before Genshiken. Kio replies that they actually checked if there was any issue using it for the anime, and the response was “none at all.”
Kio finished watching Sukkiri. He jokingly equates hearing all the old lines he wrote 20 years ago to humiliation fetish play, and says he’s happy to see it regarded as a story not merely about otaku but about human beings.
Kio feels the depiction of otaku in media has changed since then.
Director Mizuhima Tsutomu (Girls und Panzer, Shirobako) mentions working as staff on the first Genshiken anime and the Kujibiki Unbalance stuff in there. He also worked on the Kujibiki Unbalance light novel as part of the group called “Yokote Michiko and Her Pleasant Companions.” (Yokote Michiko is a writer who’s worked on Genshiken.)
Singer Atsumi Saori talks about how if it weren’t for Genshiken, she wouldn’t have wrote the ending theme for it, “Biidama.” She’s grateful to the series for that reason.
Kio thanks her back, and talks about how he likes the fact that the song contains both happiness and sadness.
Manga creator Shikizawa Kaya describes Genshiken as if actual real people were chiseled and dug out for it. Spotted Flower uses an even sharper chisel, and results in something very thrilling. Kio responds with gratitude.
A fan didn’t realize that the name Genshiken Nidaime is in part a reference to the second club president. I.e. Madarame. Kio responds that this was one thing he considered when naming the series.
A Japanese model, Ikeda Miyuki (aka Michopa-san) said something along the lines of it being weird to experience works from an era before the concept of otaku had proliferated in the culture. Kio agrees.
Kio thanks the host of “Hot Comic” on Sukkiri, actor Okayama Amane, as well as the staff for talking about Genshiken.
He then promotes Spotted Flower by calling it “What-if after-story, or maybe a spin-off, or maybe a parallel world—even the author isn’t sure.” He then shows the above drawing of Not-Sue and Not-Ogi and says “Characters like these show up.”
The cover of Genshiken Volume 8. Also, it turns out that my Twitter mutual and fellow Ogiue fan Noori actually went to the spot referenced in the cover! Kio thinks that’s probably the place?
Kio responds with a “Nice!” to someone telling him that they grew up wanting a senpai like Madarame, and eventually found one after they started working.
Ritsuko from Kujibiki Unbalance in a school swimsuit, from the back cover of Genshiken Volume 2. When shown a sealed figure of the same character, Kio points out that the figure in question is based on an illustration by Yagumo Kengou (who illustrated the light novels, and was later in charge of the designs for the anime).
A commenter mentions to Kio that the Midnight Blissed version of Hydron (Nool) from Capcom Fighting Evolution is clearly based on Ritsuko from Kujibiki Unbalance, and not only does Kio know that, but the artist who made those drawings has also made a Ritsuko doujinshi.
Title image from Genshiken Chapter 9. Kio notices that the colors seem different on Twitter compared to how they actually are, and one commenter replies that it might be because they need to be converted from CMYK to RGB for viewing on screens. Kio realizes this is the case and proceeds to repost many of the earlier illustrations.
Kio bought a plastic model of Super Sasadango Machine, a wrestler from the comedy wrestling company DDT. He’s a parody of Super Strong Machine from New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Kio explaining about how the first anime had a special addition with the Kujibiki Unbalance OVAs, and this is what led to Director Mizushima helming the TV series.
The cover art of Genshiken Volume 3. Kio also replies to a commenter talking about how he thinks the quality of the old Genshiken trading figures is really high for how small they are.
February has arrived, and that means new Precure, of course. It’s this odd exception in that February debuts have been typical of the franchise, so I have it on my mind—especially because it’s the 20th anniversary [I’ve been informed that Precure is actually only 19, so oops.]. I still remember seeing the original Futari wa Pretty Cure being mentioned in an English-language anime magazine, and noticing the large combat boots and floppy socks they wore. It’s been a part of my fandom for two decades now, and while I don’t have plans to write a retrospective, I wonder if I should. At the very least, expect a review of Delicious Party Precure.
Moving on from a two-decade-old magical girl juggernaut, I’d like to thank my Patreon subscribers!
Many VTubers have extremely busy designs, but one notable exception comes from a surprising source: a Japanese beverage company.
Kio Shimoku
Kio actually retweeted one of my posts this month!!!
Closing
I learned along with everyone else that Love Live! School Idol Festival is shutting down to make way for the sequel game. Given this information, it’s all too perfect that I finally managed to achieve my goal. Will I play the new game? I really don’t know—it depends on how much time I have and what the gameplay looks like.
In amazing news for people who run blogs called Ogiue Maniax, Kio actually retweeted one of my blog posts this month! He also drew a bunch of Year of the Rabbit bunny girl art and went to an Animage exhibit at the Ghibli Museum.
Kio’s 2022 included the end of Hashikko Ensemble at the beginning of the year, which resulted in him taking it fairly easily for the remainder. In the morning, he’d wake up and notice no dark circles under his eyes. But because he’s been doing stuff like practicing ero manga, he’s itching to get back into things.
Kio was into the Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere anime, but wasn’t interested in the original light novels at first. However, a few years ago he bought all of them and became a fan.
Someone replies that the books look intimidating even without opening them, to which Kio agrees. (Note that the Horizon novels get very lengthy, with my some exceeding 1,000 pages in Japanese.)
Something that appeals to Kio about Horizon is that it’s a world without any knowledge of its own history—an idea that has always appealed to him. He recalls the author being a huge history buff too, to the point that he read history books every day prior to starting Horizon. It’s something Kio wants to try but has never done.
He’s also done Horizon art for a comic anthology book, but nothing beyond that.
Painting his The Five Star Stories model kit using the Citadel Colour system. Replies congratulates him for finishing, and he says Citadel is great for small details like this.
Kio getting overwhelmed with nostalgia seeing the Animage Ghibli Museum exhibit, pointing out that these are exactly the magazine issues he remembers from that time. (The Nausicaa manga started in Animage and the time Kio got into drawing because of Miyazaki, per his interview with Luis Cammy.)
Kio (and Rakuen magazine) retweeting one of my blog posts!!! “Hmm? Oh, what’s this?” Except he’s making a pun based on oya (parent) and oya (oh?) because it’s about Not-Keiko from Spotted Flower being a mom.
It might be obvious, but I’m very happy that this happened.
Kio bought the March 2023 issue of Weekly Model Graphix, which has a cover drawn by the manga artist Kusada. Kio mentions to Kusada that the magazine definitely stood out in the store.
After seeing a demonstration of how 3D graphics can be used to create background and reference images in manga, Kio laments that he’s gonna have to learn 3D if he wants to keep drawing alone.
Someone in the replies points out that Clip Studio Paint has 3D reference objects as part of the program, and Kio thanks him while saying that he’s only just started using ko it.
Kio talks about how great it would have been to be able to use 3DCG models for Genshiken, and for anything involving Tokyo Big Sight (the venue for Comic Market). That said, Kio has collected tons of reference photos of Big Sight, so he can draw the place relatively easily.
Some fans talk about how they love Kio’s analog background work (with one person calling it his bathroom reading material as a compliment), and Kio thanks them for their compliments. Kio does enjoy drawing analog backgrounds, and he used to be able to draw Genshiken backgrounds from memory (but not anymore).
Yesterday, I watched the Hololive COUNTDOWN LIVE 2022▷2023. It involved 3D concert performances by a variety of members including two of my faves, the currently COVID-stricken Haachama and the on-hiatus La+ Darknesss. I highly recommend it, especially the crossover sections between the girls of Hololive and the boys of Holostars. This clearly takes some inspiration from Japan’s long-standing end-of-year musical event, Kohaku Uta Gassen, but I’ve never actually watched it.
Looking back, it didn’t hit me how long the past year felt until I saw Kio Shimoku mention that Hashikko Ensemble concluded back in January of 2022. At times, it’s like the days move by all too quickly, and other times, it’s like they slow to a crawl. I can’t tell at this point how much of it is the prolonged funk of the pandemic and how much is just me getting older.
But here we are at the start of 2023 and the Year of the Rabbit, at least if we’re going by the solar calendar. Whenever I think about it, I find myself remembering a certain old flash video from the 2000s. Thankfully, someone uploaded it to Youtube, so I can inflict it on a new generation.
January’s Patreon subscribers are looking good. Thank you, everyone, and here’s to another fine (?) year.
This is partly an analysis of how different fans have different expectations for their VTuber faves, and partly an excuse to post more videos of La+ Darkness’s amazing dancing skills.
At the start of the year, I feel myself wondering if I should be doing more both with Ogiue Maniax and outside of it. One thing I’ve thought about is starting a Substack, but I have no idea how I might divide my writing. In my head, there’s no real differentiation between “regular” posts and “premium” ones, and I’d probably have to figure out some way to make it worthwhile. One possibility is to break off the VTuber stuff into its own dedicated area in case it’s becoming too intrusive, but I don’t think it’s that bad currently.
I could also do premium posts on Patreon, but that sort of runs into the same issue. If anyone wants to see that sort of content (or if you even hate the idea), feel free to leave a comment. I think I care less about the money at this point and wonder more about how to promote Ogiue Maniax in 2023. All the old ways seem to be vanishing (and Twitter is constantly on the verge of collapse because of its moronic new boss), and I still haven’t caught up.
Whichever ways things go, though, I hope you’ll keep reading.
Kio got out his disk copier to make a copy of the 2018 World Cup games he recorded. He’s also impressed by Croatia’s hard-fought win in overtime over Japan. Kio wishes he could have seen Japan in Top 8, though.
Kio is building one of his The Five Star Stories/GothicMade kits, and shows the parts. When asked if it’s the Kaiserin, Kio answers that it’s the Empress.
Someone asks where he got a certain kit he showed back in January 2022, but Kio responds that it was a present from a reader and no longer available for purchase.
Kio responds to someone who has the same Empress kit from an old Wonder Festival, and how the knees make it hard to pose standing. However, someone else shows what they’ve managed to pull off, which impresses Kio. He also agrees with someone who finds that the way the pieces are arranged in the box is similar to Tamiya’s motorcycle model kits.
Not a Kio tweet, but note that there are special web chapters of Spotted Flower out this month! They feature debut of Not-Sasahara’s sister, Not-Keiko.
In response to the Rakuen account saying, “We want to see you do this from the bottom of our hearts!” Kio writes, “This is editorial saying this to a manga artist.”
Kio was thinking about the career of Lionel Messi after Argentina’s 2022 World Cup victory all throughout lunch. He remembers a young Messi moving to Spain, contrasts with Maradona, how that World Cup trophy eluded him, and how we can finally call him history’s greatest footballer. (If it isn’t clear by now, Kio is definitely a fan of soccer/football).
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.
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.
In contrast to last month, Kio Shimoku tweeted up a storm in November. The big topics: Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise, drawing characters playing baseball, and…sketching out manuscripts for pornographic manga?!
Kio announcing that Chapter 41 of Spotted Flower is out. He mentions that the way the image is cropped unintentionally makes it look more improper than it actually is.
Kio finally got the chance to see the theatrical version of Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (which had recently been playing again on the big screen). He didn’t even know about it back when it first released, though he’s seen the TV-broadcast version tens of times. In fact, he’s seen it on TV so much that seeing the scenes cut from that version added back in felt kind of weird. The full theatrical version adds a lot of nuance to places missing from the TV version, but Kio still has an affinity for that one, and he thinks they did a good job with the edits. He talks about how nowadays, it’s unusual for people to want to watch cut versions, but he still loves it nevertheless. He doesn’t have the TV version, and Wikipedia doesn’t even mention it at all. Kio wonders if anyone actually remembers it.
A follower also talks about the cut TV version of Castle of Cagliostro, which Kio also has a recollection of. Others chime in that they have seen Royal Space Force on TV, including one person who remembers Anno Hideaki providing commentary on it for an airing on the program Friday Roadshow (which airs movies on TV). Someone else chimes in that they can remember Anno explaining a few things. Namely, how good the scene is where Marty says 「誰かが必要としているからここにいられると思っている」[If anyone can provide a translation with proper context, that’d be a big help], and how the TV version uses monoaural sound, so it couldn’t replicate everything, like the way the sound changes as they go up into space.
“I think I’m here only because somebody needs me.”
The saga continues: Watanabe Shigeru, the editor of the TV version of Royal Space Force actually replied to Kio! In a rare instance, we get to see Kio fanboying over someone. Watanabe mentions that while he’s an anime producer now, back then he was a mere tradesman. Kio asks if there’s a betamax version, but Watanabe says there isn’t, and the TV version was basically a “necessary evi.”
Watanabe also recalls that they had Okada Toshio and Yamaga Hiroyuki (also of Gainax fame) for the TV broadcast as well.
Someone else mentions that there’s a scene with the characters drinking milk that was included in the laserdisc release but according to Kio, it wasn’t in the theatrical re-release. Watanabe chimes in again and explains that this extra scene wasn’t shot on 35 millimeter so it didn’t look good when upscaled. However, it’s included with the blu-ray as an extra.
As a follow-up to last month’s trip to the batting center, Kio has been drawing Hashikko Ensemble characters playing baseball. There’s also some discussion about the characters and how
Vai fazer um ano que @kioshimoku1 encerrou Hashikko Ensemble (em 8 volumes) e até agora nem sinal do lançamento do mangá no ocidente. =( pic.twitter.com/ncA7g21p7d
— Diogo Prado – Skull-face (Comic) Book Editor (@didcart) October 31, 2022
As an aside, my friend Diogo Prado (and a Patreon member of Ogiue Maniax) got retweeted by Kio!
A fan apologizes for discovering Hashikko Ensemble too late, and asks if there’ll be a sequel (like Genshiken Nidaime). Kio says not to sweat it, and that everyone discovers works at their own timing.
Kio also went to see a new theatrical run of GOTHICMADE. Much of the story has also been told through the manga, but the last part of the film has still yet to be adapted.
Someone replies to Kio’s preview of Spotted Flower Chapter 41 by saying the meme line, “But he’s a guy” from Stein’s;Gate. Kio replies “They’re both,” to which the replier apologizes. However, while the replier assumed he meant that Not-Kohsaka (depicted there dressed like Not-Hato) was nonbinary, what Kio meant was that both characters are guys.
(I guess this answers the gender identity of Not-Hato).
Kio reacts to the official Twitter account of Kumamoto Castle tweeting a saying popular among idol fans and the like: You’ll stan the ones you stan when you stan (the actual word being oshi). It’s basically saying you’ll know who’s your favorite because it’ll come out from you.
Kio went to see Royal Space Force in theatersagain! This time, he noticed a sound similar to a baby crying that had never registered to him before while watching.
Kio mentions Ueda Masashi as one of the all-time greats of 4-panel manga, and writes about how even these simple characters could be portrayed as having unseen “adult” sides to them. He even used Ueda’s work as a basis for a scene between Not-Ohno and Not-Tanaka in Spotted Flower Volume 5.
Sometimes, Kio sketches out ero manga manuscripts, but finds striking the right balance between elements difficult. Moreover, he feels that the order of priority is different for ero manga: Instead of paneling -> text -> images, it’s the other way around. After all, you can’t tell if something is gonna be hot just from a barebones layout. (Note that Kio had previously praised ero manga artists for their talents—this seems to be a follow-up to the idea that it’s not that easy.)
When asked what he’s drawing, Kio says it’s new and original characters. He’s also entertaining the notion of quietly putting something on the adult website Fanza.
Kio watched the first half of the Japan vs. Germany World Cup 2022 match and went to sleep early assuming it was all over for Japan, only to wake up to headlines about the upset.
He planned to watch the second half once he got home, wondering if player Ito Junya went wild (which Kio later confirmed).
After retweeting a bunch of plastic-model-related tweets, Kio says he really wants to build plastic models, and remarks about the “big wave” of model-building hitting after all this time. Author Ikuhana Niiro encourages him to do so, to which Kio responds by wondering whether he should finally open all the cardboard boxes that hold his model kits.
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.
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?
Kio had a dream where he was going to school again. As is typical of such dreams, he was late to school, he forgot his textbook, he couldn’t find his classroom, etc.
Kio finds a livestream featuring manga artist Kuroi Midori, analyst Koizumi Yuu, manga artist Hayami Rasenjin, and editor Iida Takashi to be quite powerful.
Kio went to a batting center for the first time in about 30 years. The speed of the balls was scary. Though he did play in a softball club as a kid and was pretty good at it, it also has been almost 40 years. He did manage to hit a home run, though!
OGIUE MANIAX 