Writing introductions is a bit tedious so....just take a look at my first post if you want to know more....

....and if you get curious about the name of this World or my posts, check out the second one.

The Shooting Star Project 2 (Tattoo On The Sky)

We had a mini tropical storm last weekend. It was a typhoon at one point, but by the time it reached Shizuoka it was just slow rain and whistly wind. It still made me happy though. And as it was finishing...

...this giant (double) rainbow was cast over my building. I went out in the parking lot and took about 8,000 pictures of it but most of them aren't any good. I took an umbrella since it was still raining a bit, but it got turned inside out in the first minute I was out there so I just put up the hood on my sweatshirt and rubbed the raindrops off my camera lens after every shot.

The rainbow was next to impossible to capture, but the post-typhoon sunset cooperated quite nicely.

I love when we have typhoons here. I know I've mentioned it before, but it's the one thing that reminds me of home in a way that makes me happy. Not to say that other things remind me in a sad way or anything, just that it's not a homesick kind of reminder when we get those little not-quite-hurricanes. It makes me think, "aww! It's just like I'm in Florida now!" but doesn't necessarily make me want to go to Florida, just happy that there's something similar to it in Japan.

A lot of things have been making me happy lately. Hachi said she'd cosplay with me this winter (still not saying who we're being though!) so we're going shopping on Thursday. It's gonna be awesome. I love dressing up even if I'm alone, I always have, but this past summer when Hachi was taking pictures for me & I was running around talking to Naruto & Hetalia cosplayers that I didn't know...I felt a little...lonely?...mmm...isolated?...ish....for the first time in a while. I kept thinking, "I wish there was someone else who was as excited about this as I am..." I really thought she would say it was too much money/preparation or too embarrassing or something when I asked her but she didn't so now 冬コミ is pretty much all I can think about. Ahh, ok, let's be serious, it was all I could think about before too...

I drew a few more pics of Arthur to practice on. I think I'm getting better...

...but I still think I'm making him look too young...

...particularly here, but it's mostly b/c his head is too big. That one was done while bored in a meeting so you can kinda see the Japanese from my work stuff that's on the other side of the page...damn my strong scanner! Anyway, I think I got him close to right in this fanart though.

Still watching Star Driver (which, it turns out, is a Studio Bones original) and I think I'm liking it more now. Haven't been able to watch Darker Than Black b/c I'm kinda busy, but I'm not that sad about it for now. It's November, and it's getting cold and dark, but I don't feel too bad about it just yet. I hope I can keep that feeling going for a while this year. Halloween passed rather quickly, but at least I went out in the end. My brain is starting to move in hyper speed again I think, but that's not such a bad thing either, not this time. I'm actually going to use it for something for a change.

The clearer your dream is the easier it will be to reach

Not Perfect is Good

So, I have to amend my last post....Heroman isn't a Studio Bones original. It's written by Stan Lee. And while that's totally freaking awesome, it kinda takes away from the, "Oh they did a good job being accurately American!" factor. Oh well, I still liked it. Second episode of Star Driver was kinda ridiculous, but I'm gonna keep watching it for now. Also, they had another series that I can't believe I forgot about, Darker Than Black...

...which I didn't get to watch when it was first out for some reason, and then couldn't find when it came time for the second series and the OVA. A teacher (yeah....) gave me DVDs of the whole set a couple months ago so I'm finally getting around to it. Only 2 episodes in so I can't say much about it, but it has the typical depressing Bones feel so I think I'm gonna like it...

I didn't get to draw as much this week as I wanted to, but I felt so good about my Alfred from the other week that I drew Arthur without any reference too.

He looks too young & I still can't do much more than his face, but I've decided on a way to work on this stuff so hopefully there will be progress this fall.

I met some otaku in a bar last night who have cosplay/dance/anime song events at a club near where I live every other month. That was kind of crazy. But also, really great. I'll probably go to the next one at the end of this month.

There was something I was thinking about this week (weekend?) that seemed like it was important for writing about, but now....it's gone...I hate when that happens...Halloween's coming soon and I have no plans. That's nothing new of course, but I wonder if I even want to have any? It seems like every year I think I don't care about it & then it gets to be about a day or so away & I wish I had cared sooner. I wanted to do a Halloween themed page for my school's art club magazine too, but the kids said they haven't been putting it out recently. I can't find the inspiration for exactly what to draw anyway so I guess it's a good thing...

Aha! I knew if I waited around long enough I'd remember what I wanted to say! I talked about Bakuman a while ago...

...it's got an anime now! Watching it reminds me of why I had a hard time liking the manga at first. Waaay too many gender role stereotypes. But now, it's almost entirely focused on manga writing so it's a lot better. I love the way that every time they talk about a certain writing or drawing device they actually start using it in the manga itself. It's definitely a cult manga b/c of that though. I'm impressed that it's so popular, but then again, there are a ton of Japanese kids who dream about drawing manga for a living (and adults, and non-Japanese...) so I guess it's not so surprising. I've found that whenever Mashiro-kun is having drawing issues his answers always help me with my own work. I'm guessing I can't be the only person this works for either. When he realized his drawings were too dark I noticed the over-inking in some of my own. Currently he's working on speed. I've been worried about my own speed for a while now so I was really happy to see it in the manga. First b/c it was reassuring that it's not just an amateur who never went to art school (although, neither did he...) who has this problem & second b/c the conclusion he came to (don't put all the details in the pencil sketch) was the same one I did! It was really cool that he got the idea from his assistant (esp. b/c Shun is sooo adorable!) and I was even more reassured by the fact that Saiko realized he couldn't do it quite so bare-bones as Shiratori-kun, and set about finding his own sketching limits.

Kids, and sometimes teachers, ask me a lot of questions about drawing. Not just, "why do you like to draw?" or, "how long have you been drawing?", but serious ones like, "when you draw where do you start from?" or, "how can I get better at drawing?" At first it was hard for me to answer them since I felt like I didn't have any real expertise in the area, so I just talked around the issues or said I didn't really know. Eventually I started explaining the way I do things, but I still always tell them, "That's what works for me. You should try and find the way that works for you." b/c I like to think that there's no "right" way to do it. I'm sure someone out there would say differently, but I've always been big on doing things my own way. And letting other people do things their own way. It works best if you figure it out yourself after all. Just keep drawing and drawing, even if it looks bad at first, if you don't try....well, you know...

Rather than not doing it so that you'll have regrets, it's better to just do it.

Gray Wolf, Red Blood, Black Clothing, White Bone

WARNING: There are spoilers ahead that will NOT be blacked out b/c otherwise this would just be a black box and not a post....

Once a long time ago I made a post that was titled something like, "Studio Bones hurts me...". That was back in the days when I was still going by sailor firestar and I'm not motivated enough to search for it, but I feel the need to talk about them again. Studio Bones is, among other things, responsible for both versions of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime, and I'd say it was right up their alley. Their original stuff is almost always a bit of an emotional rollercoaster to watch too. First there was Wolf's Rain...

...in which all the characters die in the end. Everyone searches for this "Paradise" which only the wolves are allowed to enter, and inevitably, they can't get there. Along the way the wolves get attached to, try to save, or are attacked by the other characters repeatedly, and in the end, they all die too. It seemed like maybe the 4 of them were reborn, but the new world they existed in didn't seem any different, or better than the original one. Then there was Eureka 7...

...and while none of the main characters died in this one, they still went through all kinds of horrible stuff (which I'm not going to detail here b/c I'm sure I did it before...) and in the end it turned out that the "strange" planet they were living on was actually the same Earth their ancestors had been forced to leave after nearly destroying it with their negligence. Somehow people had found their way back, but the planet still wasn't happy with them and the creatures it gave birth to with the intention of protecting itself nearly destroyed it again thanks to more crazy humans trying to exterminate them.

I think Bones' writing staff may have some issues...

Earlier this year a new series called Heroman started airing.

I didn't want to watch this when it was first advertised in Newtype b/c it looked like it was some kind of stereotypical show about "America" which would drive me up the wall with it's cliches. And then I looked a little closer at one of the articles and realized it was done by Bones. And I had to watch it. They've changed a bit since their angsty Eureka days. For one thing, the story moved really fast, and there was never any explanation of why Heroman came into existence. Some things were still the same though, the hero was kinda wimpy at first, the girl was way out of his league, cities were destroyed and tons of people were killed without a second thought. One touch I really liked was that Heroman never spoke. He was a robot, and that was all, but he could understand Joey's feelings and they could still work together. I didn't realize that stuff till later on though. In the beginning it was, oddly, the American stuff that made me like the show. It was obvious they put a lot of work into making it accurate instead of just going with the typical Japanese perception of the US. Down to the lockers in the hallway of Joey's school. It made me so happy I was almost homesick. I'd say they were dead on about 90% of the time, which is pretty damn good. It ended with a good setup for a possible second season, but in the meantime Bones is working on Star Driver, which I decided to take a look at last night.

There are a lot more girls in that picture than there were in the first episode which worries me a bit since I'm really not into the recent "harem" anime fad, but some of that is probably inevitable since their working on it with/for Bandai. There were a few things in that ep. that seemed reminiscent of Code Geass too, like the mysterious main character who appears out of nowhere and has a power the others have been trying to achieve, or the happy-go-lucky gakuen life storyline juxtaposed with some secret war going on (literally) underground. I'm not so sure I like the mech designs in this one (never really been into the female body type robots...) but I'm gonna give it a chance, b/c despite being emotionally exhausting (or maybe in part because they are...) Bones' shows are always amazingly well made. The stories are always something new, something different from what everybody else is doing and there's never a boring episode that you can tell was just thrown in to take up time. The characters actually grow and change and not just in the typical, "It's better to make friends and work together!" kind of way. They're a lot more real than other stuff that's been out recently.

Winged Eagles

I went rollerblading today. I haven't been in a while, but it's not so hot now so I don't have to worry about my skin breaking out in all kinds of itchy weirdness. Once I do it, I always wish I was doing it more. It's one of those Newton's law things again, I love skating, I always have, but I love other stuff too and it's hard to do something that's not a part of your routine. OK, I'll admit my decision to go today (and at least once a week for as long as it's not too cold) is partly b/c of the nurse at my health check freaking over my blood pressure. After checking it 3 times she was convinced that it had less to do with my panicking over them taking my blood, and more to do with me being generally unhealthy, despite looking perfectly fine. Which I probably am, malnutrition born fingernail ridges and all...and, I'll admit she might be right. Also, I'm not quite sure I'm skinny enough to do a good job on the character I want to cosplay at 冬コミ. I'm not saying who it is yet, but I think based on the kind of stuff I've done in the past, people will be surprised by this one.

So I went out, ignoring the old ache in my knee that has come back with a vengeance thanks to the mild weather, Linkin Park and Owl City shuffling on my iPod, basketball player mouthguard that's supposed to keep me from losing my front teeth (again) making it impossible to sing along. I forgot to count songs so I have no idea how long I was out, but it's ok. It was a while I'm sure. I couldn't really fly like I like to for most of it, the blocks are too short and there's a car coming around the next corner at least 50% of the time, but that's ok too. They're always repaving the roads in Shizuoka and it's awesome when I find that one in my neighborhood has been done when I wasn't paying attention. Those are the best places to just ignore the old people loitering and staring and skate up and down the same block over and over, faster and faster. At times like that though, I really miss my dad's old neighborhood. Rich, suburban, sunny, north-central Florida. Miles and miles of clean, wide road with nothing lining it but big houses and green green grass. No railroad tracks or stoplights or random factories making who knows what with big trucks coming out of them.

(No, I'm not cosplaying Sakura, she's like....10 years old, it would look ridiculous. That's a rollerblading picture you idiots.)

Last weekend Hachi and I finally saw the Gundam00 movie. I say finally, but really it had only been out for a week at that point. Still, fans should go the first day! We had a good reason for waiting though. We managed to get tickets to a special showing at which the director and 5 voice actors (the 4 main pilots and Graham Acre!) would appear live after the movie to talk to the audience. (For only $2 extra!) I'm not super obsessive about any of the voices in 00, but it was cooler than I expected. Two of them seemed really smart, which impressed me of course. Setsuna's voice actor was kinda young and it showed in his responses to the moderator's questions, but it was cute in a way. They talked a lot about the message of the movie and what they hoped people would take from it, and it seemed like they all really believed in it.

sign announcing the event at the theater

they had all 4 meisters lined up, but...yeah, I just wanted him...

Alleluia's voice actor seemed kinda cold, but I don't really like his voice so much anyway, just his personality(s). The movie itself was really amazing though. So much so that I might just have to go again. There were some parts where I kinda missed what people were talking about due to being fascinated by the flashy space battles (hey, it's gundam, what do you want from me?) The message was really good though. Also, there were aliens! And that's something different from any gundam movie or series to date. At first I wasn't so cool with it, but as the movie went on it became obvious why they did that. I think I like Setsuna's character a bit more after seeing it too. Not that I didn't like him before or anything, I just liked Hallelujah and Alleluia best. I still do, but...yeah, I can relate to Setsuna more now. I remember being impressed during the TV series run by how current the issues seemed despite being a space drama set 300 years in the future. I had that feeling about Seed & S. Destiny when they were on 5 or 6 years ago too. Looking back, I expect Wing, & the first Gundam series (as well as it's follow ups Z and ZZ) were probably the same for their time. Anyway, this movie did a great job of sticking to that theme.

Funny, I saw that movie just before getting the new Linkin Park album and now I can't help but think it was for a reason. Eh...it's probably just a coincidence, or one of those weird connections that I make in my head due to circumstances, but....yeah, the message is almost the same. It's pretty fucking awesome actually. I really like watching (hearing?) a band "grow up" and they certainly have. My brother said people were comparing this album ("A Thousand Suns") to Nine Inch Nails's "The Fragile" or Radiohead's "Kid A". I don't know about all that, but I do know they're trying to say something big. It's impressive when a band can make an album that really says something. Not to say that if your album doesn't then you've failed or anything, of course musicians say things with their songs all the time. They tell stories with them and make people feel things, and it's really great, but it's one thing to write a song that means something, and then put it on a cd with a bunch of other songs that mean something and have a collection of meaningful songs. It's another thing entirely when all those songs that mean something, when put together in the right order mean something more. One of those "the whole is greater than the sum of all it's parts" kind of things. Uh....it sounds cheesey now that I write it out...but anyway, the point is it's one of those albums that's meant to be listened to from start to finish, as a whole, not just for the "good" songs that occur between the "just alright" ones.

...hold on, the weight of the world will give you the strength to go...

Creeping Limit

It's almost October. Somehow when I wasn't listening the nighttime sound of cicadas has been replaced by crickets. The sun suddenly seems to be down more than it's up. In the space of a week I went from not wanting to open my balcony door due to the heat, to wanting to keep it closed for fear of getting cold. It would seem that fall has come to Shizuoka....damn, and here I was hoping it could be summer forever...

Beth came and went. Three wonderful days of that familiar fighting and not making up b/c we don't need to. It was.....[insert meaningful adjective here].....to think about the ways in which we've both changed in the last year since she went to Australia, 2 years since we saw each other, 3 years since I came to Japan, over 10 years since we graduated high school, nearly 15 years since we met....they all blur together...

In some ways we were becoming (have become?) each other, possibly to the point that we've traded certain parts of our personalities. It's weird to think, "Oh, I used to think that way. I wonder when I stopped and she started? I wonder which way is better?"

I finally went to see the modified Gundam (since it's been in Shiz for nearly 2 months now...I'm such a bad fan...) and didn't really stay as long as I would've liked. There was just something weird about doing it in the place where I live...

Oddly, I feel almost no stress at the start of the new school term. Suddenly my anticipated busy fall schedule seems to have a lot of free days in it. All the things I thought would take a lot out of me back in the spring seem like nothing. Not "nothing" in the way that I'm super confident and just know they'll go well. Nothing...in the way that I barely even think about the fact they're going to happen anymore. It's not as though they've become unimportant, I'm sure I'll still sweat a bit when the time comes, but I've lost the feeling that I constantly need to try hard to make things go well.

It's the first sign of boredom. Beth said she thought she could understand why I wanted to live here after being in Australia, but she also said that after thinking about it she'd still be terrified to move to a non-English speaking country. And then she said that was the difference between us, "Katy needs a challenge." Funny. My mom always put it, "You can't be happy unless you have something to fight against."

huh....

I have some fanarts I need to post, but I'm being...lazy? nah, I'm being sneaky is all, waiting to post three at once for the popularity boost. Yeah, I'll admit it. I was drawing at an incredible rate in the end of August/beginning of Septemember, but then I caught a cold, and Beth came to visit, and....yeah, I got lazy for real. Time to get back on track. It's alright though, fall's good for that kind of thing. It makes me want to decide big things.

Don't be focused on what's at your feet, look above you...