Gosh, i really love listening to Velvet Acid Christ. Track 2, "Dial8" on Twisted Thought Generator has 'Miho' written all over it. :P I've been bouncing back and forth between this disk, "Kita E" White Illumination Pure Songs and Pictures, Richard Humpty Vission's Damn, that DJ made my day (i have got to do something about my recent House obsession, this isn't healthy), and Tonde Burrin Bu no ni. By the end of the day i'll be sketching a cute, enigmatic girl humming a highly distorted industrial/EBM "Ba Bi Bu Be Buurin~" to a tune of funky house/backbeat tracks while surrounded by dancing pigs. Like i said before, you don't really wanna know what goes on inside this beanhead of mine sometimes. ^_^

Yet another quick update regarding the Megatokyo Store. - I added more bucket cap designs to the stores, because people requested them - to the 3V1L L33t store, the b4k4^2 store, the Clocked store and the Baka^ni store. I have one of these, too - it looks really dopey on me, but that's kinda the idea. I sometimes wear it in public just to embarrass Seraphim. :P

The most shocking thing to happen this week was the fact that i (gasp) was on time and on the correct schedule for the first time in months.... granted, it's the temporary Tuesday/Thursday schedule, week 2, but it sure made me feel good. I think the quality of the comics is staying decent as a result, and it really IS giving me some breathing room. It's good for the easy-bake oven in my brain, you know.

Part of this downtime was spent zoning off and watching some of my anime backlog. Five episodes of "Galaxy Angel" very pleasantly mulled my brain into a viscous little pasty substance. It's an adorable show that is very well animated. I think what is most curious about the series is just how well designed the character's faces are. The eye designs are particularly appealing (for some odd reason, i find Rahra's character fascinating - mostly because her character has some of the most interesting and subtle facial expressions in the show). Oh, and Vanilla-san? Yet another Ruri-chan clone. See? I'm not the only one who does it :P Oh, and in case you didn't know, "Galaxy Angel" is produced by the same folks that brought us "Digi Charat" ^_^

The other show i watched with interest was Niea under 7, a show about a poor girl struggling to get thru college, who unfortunately is plagued with an annoying and rather useless roommate, who also happens to be an alien. This show is by the same guy who brought us Serial Experiments Lain, and is quite a bit different - on the surface. Watching Mayuko's character carefully, there's something interesting there that i can't put my finger on. Maybe it's just me. I'll have to finish watching the subbed version to figure it out.

As usual, it's been very interesting reading some of the supposition and thoughts that people have regarding the direction and coming events in the story. People keep noticing the relative absence of Kimiko compared to the other characters. Well, if you must know, i've been building up to the point where she becomes more a part of the story, things have to happen in order. After thinking about it, i think i may have realized why it's been difficult for her character development.

One of the difficult things about fleshing out kimiko's character and personality is that her character is like a real live flesh-and-blood girl from a ren'ai game, in much the same way that Yuki is a personification of a character from a TV anime. Fleshing out a ren'ai-inspired female character is harder than i thought it would be.

In most gal games, you learn about the female characters thru the eyes of the protagonist - the games are really first person simulations - you play the protagonist, and you live vicariously thru this interaction with the computer to interact with the girls. There really aren't many 'third person' events, like Yuki contemplating her looks - it happens all the time in anime and manga, but not in ren'ai games. You only see the girl characters when the protagonist does, you can only find out about her personality by how she interacts with YOU. Obviously, since the chances of Piro being bold enough to dig out Kimiko's personality in this way is about zilch, it presents a real problem for me - but perhaps that's the real grist of the challenge - can i really make this work? should i? What is really going to happen? Is kimiko really a red herring? Largo tells me he could care less, and that it's my problem - throw her down an open manhole and get rid of her. He is SUCH a bastard. :P

A lot of people have pointed out some 'similarities' between Love Hina and Megatokyo (we've seen so many comments to that effect that Dom is getting violent about it ^_^) The truth is, i didn't see any Love Hina or read the manga until Megatokyo was well under way. The only real influence it had on Megatokyo is that it inspired the move to manga-style format. So why the similarities? Well, because Ken Akamatsu and I are spoofing the same stuff - Both Love Hina and Megatokyo are parodies on Anime and Gaming culture in japan - there are bound to be similarities. Naru-chan, just like Kimiko-chan, is based on designs and concepts found in ren'ai games.

If you've ever watched Love Hina, have you noticed that everything is mostly shown from Keitaro's point of view? Naru remains pretty enigmatic for much of the series. Keitaro has a distinct advantage over Piro - He lives with the girls in an all-girl dorm with a hot spring. Oh ya, like you can't get some distance out of THAT plot vehicle. ^^;; For me, Piro and Kimiko barely know each other, and the strings that connect them are very tenuous. Piro knows Erika better than any of the other girls at this point, because he works with her... or does he? He hasn't been trying to find out her deeper, inner thoughts. He's too busy catching up on back issues of Nakayoshi. Basically, piro is getting nowhere.

Interesting, isnt it? ^_^ Perhaps it speaks to how more fantasy-oriented ren'ai games are than anime, in all it's forms. From the beginning, i've implied that Piro and Kimiko are the destined pair in the story, but most of you are wise to me by now to know that you can't assume anything will go the way you think it will. There are no guarantees. The only goal i really have here is to bring Kimiko to life, not tell her what she should do. I'm not going to twist things around so that Piro and Kimiko get paired just because i feel like it. Life isn't like that, and neither is this story.

we're not the only ones who have to bridge this gap of getting to know the girls - comic-piro does too. We've had the benefit of being privy to Yuki's thoughts, but he hasn't. In the store he's been keeping to himself, and we're pretty sure he's not chatting up Erika :). Basically, he knows just about nothing about all the girls around him.

I guess Piro isn't really very good at this Gal-game stuff after all, is he? His inability to play the game that is going on all around him in real life sure doesn't help me out, either. ^^;;

Maybe it's piro i need to dump down an open manhole... :P