#because it has been so fun being miku since she released the other day. i love miku....my dear friend from the early yrs of youtube....

[mariska]

hi everyone just wanted to let you all know that i gave my fortnite miku a huge knife to use in the regular battle royale game mode. thanks for your time

[jamiepaige]

Constant Companions Closeup #11: MACHINE LOVE

(also on bandcamp and spotify!)

Welcome back to the Constant Companions Closeups - a series of in-depth dives into the songs off of my latest album, Constant Companions! Yesterday was the title track, My Darling, My Companion, which means today is the final track on the album - a song about the truths that lay in hiding within artifice, and a computer falling in love - Machine Love!

Before we get started on this particularly long closeup - I'll be doing a follow-up post after this one, answering various miscellaneous questions I've gotten over the course of writing these! If you've got anything you wanna hear more from me about, album-related or otherwise, feel free to reply to this post or send me an ask! It may very well end up part of the bonus closeup :~)

---

Let's circle back to the very first track, Dyad.

In that track's closeup, I mentioned the main sonic touchstones of this release relative to my previous ones being guitars and vocal synths. The whole guitar rock thing I think I've gone into detail enough about, what with all the inspirations I've rattled off in other posts, but there likely is still a burning question for some long-time listeners.

Why vocal synths? Why am I not singing on like half of this album? I thought you were a singer, Jamie Paige, so what is this Hatsune Miku robot Vocaloid crap?

Truth be told, the Vocaloid scene and community has always been a massive source of inspiration for me. So much of my favorite music ever, music that inspires me or touches my heart or makes me go apeshit, has been sung by synthesized vocalists in a language I don't even speak. I grew up with it, and it's grown up with me - music just as intricate, mind-boggling, twisted, fun, and ridiculously creative is being put out every single day by vocal synth producers, and nowadays it's coming from English speaking musicians in droves!

Before this year began, I'd made at least one major contribution to the culture, but in spite of my genuine adoration of everything vocal synth related, I felt like I was just looking in from the other side. Caught between worlds, existing outside of any communities, simply gesturing vaguely towards what I wanted to do.

But I wanted more! I wanted to make the same kinds of things that stirred my heart and made me want to write! I wanted to sing with those same voices! I wanted it to be true - to be like you!

---

I won't lie to you and tell you Kasane Teto has always been my favorite vocal synth. That title used to go to GUMI, and in general, I wasn't particularly attached to any UTAU voicebanks as a younger vocal synth fan. (Nowadays, I genuinely open up OpenUTAU just as much as SynthV because I've fallen deeply in love with Adachi Rei, but that's a story for my next album.) Obviously, I knew of Teto, and found her presence in things like Triple Baka delightful, but for the most part, she was mostly something of an oddity, a wayward piece of vocal synth history that had her Fans like any other.

However, there was one Teto song I've been inexplicably attached to since the moment I first heard it - Song of the Eared Robot, by nwp8861. I was introduced via this particular cover, which I love, but I quickly gravitated to the original. Something about the warbly, childish nature of her very first voicebank, the ambitiously orchestrated and unabashedly digital instrumental, the lyrics referencing fundamental frequencies and Markov chains and compiling code all just spoke to me!

That song stuck with me, laying in a part of my heart that had been collecting dust, all the way to April of 2023.

Now, yes, Teto wasn't always my favorite, and I had other vocal synths I was attached to, but I don't live under a rock, and I still understood how monumental the announcement of Kasane Teto's Synth V voicebank was - to the point that I interrupted a call full of FFXIV-playing friends who knew barely anything about vocal synths and gave them an impromptu TED talk because I was so excited.

(An excerpt of a summary of that night's events, written the morning after. i was up my own ass a little bit but in my defense Kasane Teto had just been announced for Synthesizer V)

I was watching, in real time, a dream made manifest. It's literally one of the Bits with Teto! That she'd be a Vocaloid one day too! And here she was, on the fan favorite engine, sounding genuinely fucking incredible. Especially in hindsight, it's such a beautiful and perfect twist of fate for her.

I saw myself in her. A weird little outcast, explosively reborn and thrust straight into a community's open arms with love. I wanted it to be true - To be like that, too.

It didn't fully hit until later, hearing another cover of a song I'd almost forgotten.

Machine Love, my love letter to the entire world of unbridled creativity and artistry surrounding vocal synths filtered through one sentimental little song, was fully written by the start of May, maybe 4 days after I had gotten my hands on Teto SV and long before a certain compilation album was even a glint in my eye.

If you haven't heard DAEMON/DOLL yet, you really, really, really should go listen to it - yes, I mastered this album, many of my friends and collaborators are featured, and I have two entire songs on it, but I genuinely mean it when I say I believe it's some of the best fucking music that's come out this year in general. In many respects, it also feels like a companion (hah) to Constant Companions.

I had finished writing Machine Love by this point, but it was working on this album in its entirety - discovering artists like Anh Duy, Eggtan, and beat_shobon through it, and hearing everyone in top form making this twin-drilled chimera fucker sing her heart out - that not only made me confident in my decision to go down this artistic path, but that made me fall completely in love with Kasane Teto. And honestly, how could I not? She feels like a microcosm of everything that makes vocal synths so special, this community of creatives all leaving their marks and touchstones along the trail of a great big shared folk mythos. Yeah, maybe the folk hero we're all collectively mythologizing is an anime girl, but yknow maybe Odysseus could take some branding cues from hatsune miku idfk

Basically, even if he says he wants to kill me, I owe fucking everything to rice for inviting me to work on DAEMON/DOLL.

---

On that note, my vision for Machine Love's MV was pretty clear from the beginning.

the actual factual setup for the above shot, which was done entirely in-camera with my laptop, a tv, and two video files manually synced using VLC

The fundamental idea was always there - live-action shots of animation playing back on various screens, edited together to feel somewhat seamless. However, I really struggled with what exactly was going to be on said screens for a while; Big commissions were very far out of my budget, but I knew this song needed something grandiose.

Ultimately, what I arrived at was exactly the kind of scrappy, DIY bullshit it was always meant to be.

I asked my Twitter mutuals for help. And spent a couple months in Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion hell turning all the Teto art I got into a bunch of tiny little mini MVs, some of them parodying real vocal synth MVs, some of simply just evocative of vocal synth MVs, all of them painstakingly edited by yours truly and filmed with the help of some friends over the next couple months across two states and many more cities just to be painstakingly edited and synced up again by yours truly.

THE NEXT MV I DO WILL BE SMALLER IN SCOPE

---

And with that, I believe that's the album!

There's a reason it ends with Machine Love, and not with the title track. I do think that in some respects My Darling, My Companion would have made a better closer, but that song only really resolves one of the thematic strands running through the album.

There isn't really a definitive answer to the specific question "Baby, do you know what you wanna hear?", but it evokes a theme running through the entire album - wanting something, knowing that you want something, and simply needing to find the courage to do it or say it or be it. My Darling, My Companion is in many ways a declaration of intent, an acceptance of what needs to happen, but Machine Love, to me, is that action being done. The words being said!

And now, if I may give this a somewhat selfish tint - with the explosive response my works from this album have gotten, my contributions to things like DAEMON/DOLL and Flavor Foley, the collaborations I've done and that I still have in the pipeline, the friends I've made and the community I've found a spot for myself in, and the newfound voices that I can lay my heart bare with -

Well, shit, I know what I wanna hear, and I've gotten to hear it. I'm a vocaloP. It's real!

Thank you all so goddamn much for reading and listening. I'll see you back here either tomorrow or Monday for the bonus AMA post thing!! Make art and be gay, motherfuckers.

❤️💚

[project-sekai-facts]

This post is going to be a very brief overview of this year's April Fools Day event. I'll only be looking at content that has been posted on the official social media accounts for now, which isn't much but it's what I can access at the moment. Home screen translations from @/pjsekai_eng on Twitter were also used. Next year I'll do a much more detailed analysis because things like Area Conversations will be more readily available.

Summary

For April Fools Day, a new school called MIKUdemy has appeared in Shibuya, which all the characters in the game, including Kanade and the main Virtual Singer(s) for each unit, have been invited to attend for a year. The school's headmaster is Mikudayo. A new song called Be The MUSIC! was released, featuring all 26 main characters.

The characters were all placed into classes of six or seven students. These classes were as follows:

Pure Heart Class

Students: Ichika, Shizuku, Toya, Emu, Kanade, Miku (N25)

Pure Heart Class, a heartwarming and peaceful space ♪

A comfortable class with a calm and fluffy atmosphere. Do other classes worry for them because "There's no Tsukkomi!"...?

Other info:

Ichika feels a bit embarrassed about being called “pure”. She also finds being in the same class as older students to be strange.

Shizuku feels that N25!Miku is like a little sister, and keeps checking in on her.

Since Shizuku and Toya both like reading, the former asks the latter for recommendations. Toya tells Shizuku about Where’s Wally.

Toya thinks that he might be able to compete in the school’s ball game competition if he takes part in the (alcohol free) Dizzy Bat game.

Emu arranged an anime screening for everyone. She also wants to try playing a conch since the school has one in the music room.

Kanade wonders about how everyone is able to handle going to school in daylight. She also wants to talk to Toya about music composition.

Solid Heart Class

Students: Shiho, Airi, Akito, Nene, Ena, KAITO (WxS)

Pragmatic and stoic! That's Solid Heart Class!

This is a class of pupils who are calm and objective. For some reason, they seem to care about the Pure Heart Class students...

Other info:

Shiho understands why Ena and Akito aren’t fond of being in the same class and she is glad she didn’t end up in a class with Shizuku. She likes her class because it has a lot of stoic and independent students.

Airi is worried about Shizuku’s class because they don’t have anyone to play the role of tsukkomi.

Akito is annoyed that he is in the same class as his sister, partially because you can’t tell who’s being spoken to when their last names are used. He thinks Toya’s class must be nice but admits it doesn’t suit him.

Nene is a bit nervous about being in the same class as upperclassmen. She also mentions that Akito and Ena fight like children.

Ena says that WxS!KAITO makes her uncomfortable because he is so much nicer than N25!KAITO. She also worries about being able to wake up in the morning, and decides to let Akito wake her up in the worst case scenario. Airi tells her to not do that.

Passion Heart Class

Students: Saki, Minori, An, Rui, Mizuki, Rin (MMJ), Len (VBS)

When you have an idea, act on it immediately! This is Passion Heart Class!

This class is full of action-oriented students! When walking by the classroom, please watch out for flying drones and energetic students.

Other info:

Saki thinks the named classes make the school seem fancier. She says that at Mikudemy, you can find “something special”, and she wonders what it might be.

Minori wants to invite Rin and Mizuki to attend the Idol History class with her. She also decides to complete in the school’s dizzy bat competition to get better at variety show activities.

An thinks the lessons at Mikudemy are really fun and she thinks she wouldn’t mind studying for exams. She is going to compete against Haruka and Mafuyu in basketball for the ball sports competition.

Rui says he never thought he’d see the day he felt comfortable at school. He quickly befriends VBS!Len because of his similarities to WxS!Len. Mizuki mentions that he’s unexpectedly a good big brother-figure.

Mizuki wins some discount coupons for an ice-cream shop and invites Saki and An to go with them to buy some.

Cautious Heart Class

Students: Honami, Haruka, Kohane, Tsukasa, Mafuyu, Luka (L/n), MEIKO (VBS)

Thoughtful yet firm! They're Cautious Heart Class!

The pupils in this class have outstanding leadership skills. Their warm compassion towards others is remarkable.

Other info:

Honami plans on making the most of her year at the school by studying hard. Tsukasa thinks she would be good on the kick rounders team, but she’s not so sure.

Haruka wants to try out dizzy bat at the upcoming ball sports competition.

Kohane says that having someone as mature as MEIKO in her class makes her shy.

Tsukasa thinks being invited to Mikudemy is a sign of destiny. He invites Mafuyu to have lunch with the rest of the class, and she thinks he’s really loud.

Mafuyu thinks it’s nice that she got to try out some instruments in the school.

[apurikottotii]

may song recs!

i think this month has not been going well and FINALS ARE ABOUT TO HIT ME LIKE A TRUCK BUT THAT'S OKAY. I think I went from denial, anger, and bargaining, rn it's depression. but uhhhh it's fine. i'm hoping that i will find some more faith (in humanity, others, and myself) soon.also i need to find some hobbies because apparently you cannot be happy if you study for 10 hours every day.

--- kimagure mercy - hachioji-p

i was listening to the milgram playlist on spotify like normal. since i'm a peasant, i don't have premium and spotify adds random songs in it. the mmj cover comes up and i think it's yuno's cover of sticky bug for some reason. i go, "damn sticky bug sounds a lot better than what i remember". i google translate the title, realize it's the famous kimagure MERCY, and then proceed to loop it for days.

the vibe is so fun! esp while watching the mv and seeing miku bounce her leg to the beat and stuff. is it a stereotypical romance break up song? yeah. if it was in english would i hate it? definitely. however, because it's vocaloid, the lyrics and beat work so much better.

personal favorite lyrics include: "'demo ne', 'datte'" (the way miku sings it is so asdifnasdifnsadfi omgggggg. she's like imitating her bf with that indifferent...? pleading? voice), "come on, you’re not into me at all / i’d say the one you like is yourself, yeah!" (STOP BEING RELATABLE), "be my boy, you baby spoiled rotten / and hug me tight!" (fuck the expression she makes in the mv is so CONFLICTED ASJDNFASUDNFASDFU), "even if I cry and beg you not to go, nothing can possibly change!" (i'm gonna leave if there are more relatable lyrics), "but I get lonely sometimes too / so come for me!" (i'm leaving), "i’m a lonely girl. Hog me all to yourself, baby" (this is getting cringe).

--- aitai-lians - deco27

ofc being the #1 deco27 hater i had to check out his new release to make fun of him. OBVIOUSLY. and then i fell in love with the 2nd half of the chorus. like wtf. “hello earthlings, Aitai-lians, we are / blackholes for hearts we carry, aliens from afar, we are”. IT'S SO GOOD, especially the "we are" syntax works so well. i think what makes this song special is the beat, which is that like club party beat. i don't know what being "green-eyed" means but i'm gonna guess it's jealousy.

--- cinderella - deco27

i hate deco27. i hate deco27. WTF. this song is so catchy, and yeah it's part of the stupid mannequin album BUT. i really think that deco's in his element when he writes complex songs about love, which this is. it's just really, really catchy. for some reason, the 2nd half of the chorus (which starts out the song and IMMEDIATELY got me hooked) does not sound like it's part of this song? is there a meter change?? is that why??? the chants of "hey" in the verses is weird but... oh well. seriously, i really recommend this song, it's just really fun. on a scale from hibana (lots of emotion/soul) to vampire (no soul), i'd say it leans hibana (unlike the REST of the album).

fun fact: i checked this song out because someone on tumblr said that this could be muu's t3 cover song.

--- help me, erinnnnnnnn! - COOL&CREATE

this song is SO FUN. it's long as fuck but it's still engaging and fun to listen to. i found it bc of a muu and haruka edit at like 12 am and it was stuck in my head all nice. i really love the vocaloid cover for pjsk too, the tuning is just so FUNN!!!! i too want to shout and dance when i hear it.

--- another day of sun - la la land

do i know what la la land is? no, not really. my friend remixed this song for her physics final which is how this person who knows nothing about pop culture found out about this song. no but it's so fun and sweet?? the instrumental break is so whimsical and i love the brass instruments.

--- 折风渡夜 - (i seriously can never find the chinese composers)

gives of 科目三 vibes. maybe i'm racist. actually.. it might be the bass/percussion rhythm. no but wtf chinese opera + cpop is such a good combination. always, traditional musical styles + modern pop always works so well. i don't know why the youtube remix is in vietnamese but that's okay bc that remix SLAPS. idk the lyrics but i cried to this. the way the singer sings just sounds like she's longing for something, and idk man. ESPECIALLY that bridge in the youtube remix. it starts so quiet and in this hushed tone... and that BASS. wtf!!!

--- alter ego/silence - caramel column

seriously, awesome game. the reviews on the app store scared me on how overwhelmingly positive they were, but i can't say that they're wrong. it's kind of cathartic, clicking on speech bubbles for 10+ minutes that call you lonely and depressed. es is a really great character, and honestly a good reflection of ourselves.

about the music.... it's so contemporary! they really represented the calming yet brooding atmosphere of the game with just two tracks. but seriously, crazy meter changes (or wack-ass rubato), long pauses, weird ass accidentals, lots of jumps. yet, it really works out and never fails to calm me down.

honorable mentions: all of haruka's songs. seriously love this man's va.

[x0401x]

Music Natalie Interview with Jin

The reason why he took the span of five and a half years to “reload” KagePro.

Jin announced a new album on November 7th, Mekakucity Reload. Mekakucity Reload is the latest work of the multi-media project developed by Jin, Kagerou Project. This album is a work that he is releasing about five and a half years ever since Mekakucity Records went on sale in May 2013. Why did Jin, who had declared the completion of Kagerou Project back when Mekakucity Records was released, create an album with the name “Mekakucity” at this timing? Here, Ongaku Natalie has asked Jin himself the motive behind his producing of KagePro music once again with the new work “Mekakucity Reload”, which looks back at the walk of five and a half years.

Translations Index >>

“There was simply not enough music for KagePro.”

──In the interview from when the album Mekakucity Records hit the shelves back in May 2013 (see: Jin (Shizen no Teki-P) Mekakucity Records Interview), Jin-san, you announced the conclusion of Kagerou Project’s music compilation.

Yes. It’s already been five years and a half.

──At first, I was dumbstruck when I heard that Jin-san had released an album with the name “Mekakucity” in it.

After I finished making the two other albums, Mekakucity Days and Mekakucity Records, I thought to myself about quiting making music for once. Thankfully, even as KagePro’s musical compilation had ended, the novels and comics were still on-going, so I thought of concentrating on the literary field and on writing, and that’s how I spent these five and a half years. And so, I’d been experimentally writing a light novel that I hadn’t yet announced to everyone and making a series with a mangaka sensei (see: NIRVANA, A JinxSaiyuki Talk). As I progressed with writing the continuation of the KagePro novel editions, I started thinking that there was simply not enough music (for KagePro).

──In the interview from five and a half years ago, Jin-san, you said that you “weren’t thinking about publishing any more volumes of the novel or manga”, but in the end...

I didn’t finish them back then at all, huh (laughs). I ran and ran, yet I didn’t get any closer to the goal I had planned. I also got asked stuff like, “Won’t you make music anymore?” whenever the novels or comics came out, and I had the feeling that the number of things I could express through music increased as the story went deeper. So the truth is that I had been thinking, “I want to make ‘KagePro’ music again” since about two years ago, but I wasn’t able to arrange the environment or conditions for it at all. Once they were ready, I completed “Mekakucity Reload”.

──The light novel version of “Kagerou Daze” ended as its eighth volume hit the shelves in December 2017, and the completion of the comics was already announced as well. I got a devilish impression when you revived the music version of KagePro in that timing.

Hahaha. That’s indeed true. It just happened to be this timing simply because I thought I should properly move the pivot leg from literature to music once I got to the stage of finishing writing the novel. There was also the fact that I didn’t have enough skill to properly make music while writing the novel, and that I wanted to focus on the songs and only write lyrics if I was going to do music.

──After taking five and a half years concentrating on the literature, were there any changes when you turned towards the music again?

I think the portrayals in the lyrics changed a lot. Everything, even descriptions, are part of the work in a novel, but in lyrics, you don’t need to explain every single thing like, “I did that” and, “This happened to you”. Within the way of expressing words through lyrics, which doesn’t have a right answer, I reflected really hard about how to express what I deem as the right answer.

──You say that, but you were still able to write lyrics five and a half years ago, right?

That’s right, but before I would write the lyrics occasionally thinking things like, “There might be better words for this”, and continued making songs while shaking off this kind of anxiety. In contraposition, I’m proud to have written the lyrics of this album with words that I myself am satisfied with. Of course, it’s placed as one of the works of KagePro, but I believe it’s also a work that people who are discovering KagePro will be able to enjoy. If I were a listener, I think I would end up keeping a distance because you can’t quite have fun with it if you don’t know the previous songs. But each of the songs recorded into this album are properly established as a single song, and I feel that I was able to manage this because I focused on my writing work.

“Hatsune Miku probably hates me.”

──Jin-san, during the period of five and a half years in which you have been devoting yourself to your writing work, there were several changes in the scene that had NicoNico Douga as its center, such as the alteration of style in the media mix works that represent KagePro and the uprising of Vocaloid culture during the tenth anniversary of Hatsune Miku’s selling. How do you, Jin-san, view these kinds of movements?

As a user, I really like NicoNico Douga, so of course I’ve always been keeping up with the trends. There’s something I’d wanted to tell Natalie-san regarding Hatsune Miku’s tenth anniversary of two years ago. To tell the truth, I got an offer for an interview from Natalie-san of the “Hatsune Miku’s 10 Years” project (see: Hatsune Miku’s 10 Years ~The New Sights She Has Showed Us~), but I ended up declining it...

──Why did you decline?

The contents of the interview, as the name of the project says, were to “talk about Hatsune Miku”, but in the first place, I thought Hatsune Miku probably hates me.

──What do you mean?

Putting it in a simpler way, the community of Hatsune Miku culture probably doesn’t think well of me. I actually didn’t even have an account in NicoNico Douga until just before announcing KagePro’s first track (“Jinzou Enemy”, which was uploaded to NicoNico Douga in February 2011). For starters, I didn’t have a computer and didn’t have contact with the internet at all. When my band broke up and I was left with no one to sing even though I had the musical compositions, I began using Vocaloids, which a friend of mine had taught me about. From that point on, I prepared the original story and characters, used Vocaloid and announced the series, and that was a differing stance from other Vocalo-P’s (Vocaloid producers). Something I myself noticed upon coming in contact with NicoNico Douga is that Hatsune Miku exists in the heart of Hatsune Miku Culture as a character. But at the heart of my series, there was no Hatsune Miku.

──Jin-san, this is because your series has Vocaloids singing the songs of original characters, right?

Yes. That’s why, even though I use Hatsune Miku, I wonder if I have the right to say anything about Hatsune Miku culture, and I really had the feeling that I’d be raining on the parade if I said anything. So I declined the offer. The only thing I wanted to put out there is that, while staying active as “Jin”, I came to really like the video submission site culture in which I started using Hatsune Miku. I also enjoy it a lot as a user, and many writers whom I admire are there. Of course, I read all of the reports of “Hatsune Miku’s 10 Years” (laughs).

──Thank you very much. During the interview, including the parts that were not in the manuscripts, you often became the topic, Jin-san.

I won’t dare ask in what context I came up (laughs), but I’m extremely honored. After all, I myself have received motivation from my Vocalo-P senpais, so I thought that it’d be great if I could grant some sort of motivation to other creators.

“I don’t want humans in ‘originals’.”

──Regarding stopping your literary work for now and resuming your musical activities, the way that you are now, Jin-san, I think you also had the option of making a series other than KagePro with your music.

I felt that I wouldn’t be able to make KagePro stuff anymore if I ended up starting something new. Even though I’d said five and a half years ago that I was going to “finish KagePro”, there are people who have always continued to cheer for KagePro in this five-and-a-half-year period, and I was simply able to discover countless ideas for songs while writing the novel. So I wondered if making KagePro stuff to my utmost wouldn’t be one of the logical choices. There are indeed things I want to do other than KagePro, but I can make them happen another time.

──Anything you obsess with when using Vocaloids? Your own play-and-sing is included in the Limited Edition B of this album, so you have many forms of expression now, right?

When I’m making KagePro songs, as expected, the image that first comes to mind is of Vocaloid. The uploaders of “uttattemita” videos on NicoNico Douga call their own melodies “originals”, but I have this feeling that I “don’t want human beings in what I call ‘original’”. Like, as long as there’s just a story, characters and philosophy, I don’t need anything else. For example, if I were to play and sing a song settled for the protagonist, there’s an instant in which it sounds to me like I myself am the protagonist. That’s not what I want to aim for.

──Then, Jin-san, what are the intentions behind your presenting of play-and-talk livestreams?

That’s kind of a secondary work (laughs). After all, I sing songs that already have their proper originals. Also, the ways you convey things between when you have people watch videos and when you have them listen to you live in a broadcast are completely different. This is something intuitive, but the feelings of “thank you” that I receive after people listen to my own songs become even stronger. Because of this as well, I tried including my own play-and-sing to this album as an extra.

“Additional Memory merged the philosophies of the two of them.”

──Please let us hear about the songs included in Mekakucity Reload. The musical composition of the song Additional Memory, which has already been uploaded to video sharing sites, has turned out as a mash-up piece of the KagePro songs that had been published in the past, which has been making the fans smile from ear to ear.

Additional Memory is a song I started making out of the thought of creating a work that would blend Lost Time Memory, Ayano no Koufuku Riron and Summertime Record. Specifically speaking, when I thought of the next stories of KagePro, there was a need to cross Lost Time Memory with Ayano no Koufuku Riron. It’s not in the sense of making the two characters meet or something like that, but I started wanting to make a song that merged their philosophies. As I did this, regarding the sound, since Lost Time Memory doesn’t have piano in it, I felt like creating a dialogue between it and the piano sounds that were the main feature in Ayano no Koufuku Riron.

──Then, what was the reason for you to think of adding Summertime Record to this?

The season pictured in KagePro is summer, so when I thought of inserting a phrase that would give it a summer feeling, I came up with a melody that was a variation of Summertime Record. After all, Summertime Record is a song that sings memories of, “Our childhood was fun, huh”, and if anything, Additional Memory is a song about regret. I used it while sprinkling a bit of dark taste to the originally bright melody line.

──Each character in KagePro has a song with them as motifs, so weren’t there any difficulties in combining them?

I solved that merely with subtraction. This also has to do with what I discussed just now about “concluding things with a single song”, but I think having countless characters showing up in one song causes quite a bit of anxiousness to the people listening as well. I was certain that there were things that could be conveyed even without saying them, and Ayano-chan is the only one who appears in Additional Memory, so I wrote the lyrics by cherishing a simple love letter-like image. I’ve been checking the reactions of everyone with my heart racing ever since the video was uploaded, and there are lots of fans who properly read between the lines, so I felt that what I’d wanted to convey was transmitted to them.

──It’s not just in the sound, but in the video as well, several parts that link up with the past KagePro were provided. What kind of advance arrangements did you have with Sidu-san, who produced the video?

It had been a while since the last time I had Sidu-san make a video, but we didn’t talk about revisions of what had happened until that point in our preparatory meetings. It was like, “Let’s work together again with a new song.” and, “Yes.” (laughs). I felt Sidu-san’s fervorous feelings for KagePro even without her putting it into words, so I basically requested her, “I think the videos have Sidu-san’s worldviews, so I want you to pull it along”.

“If it were five years ago, I most likely wouldn’t have written this.”

──Amongst the recorded songs, there are many that connect with the novel version and the manga version of KagePro, such as Shissou Word and Wasurete Shimatta Natsu no Owari ni, and only Remind Blue has a slightly different disposition, right? Its musical composition seems to look back at the story of KagePro, and the viewpoint is portrayed as from the future.

Up until now, the KagePro songs have been cherishing the subjectivity of children a lot. They were the world as seen by children, and sang the emotions of children themselves. What’s clearly different in Remind Blue is that it sings as if from the position of an adult recalling the past. There’s always been the feeling of “wishing to properly turn the Mekakushi-dan members into adults” within me, that’s why I’d wanted to show this side of it to everyone through the song called Remind Blue.

──Speaking of which, the song Summertime Record, which is included in the previous album Mekakucity Records, also has lyrics of which the contents reminisce to the past, right?

Summertime Record has an image of growing up but remembering the past while still being in one’s young years. In contraposition, Remind Blue looks back to one’s youth after it ended completely, you see. My intention was that I wanted to write about how the characters also properly grow up. But I think that, in majority, I became able to write about it because I myself properly turned into an adult. If it were five years ago, I most likely wouldn’t have written this.

──Remind Blue is a song that has one of the Mekakushi-dan members, Shintarou, as its protagonist, but will the grown-up figures of the other characters also be depicted from now on?

I still can’t talk about it for certain, but what I’m thinking is I want to show everyone a story that will be like a “future saga”. I believe I’ll most likely be able to write a novel of it and we might make a manga as well. I also have ideas for a KagePro spin-off and I wanna make a series of videos... Of course, to match up with these, I’ll create a new album too.

──You already have plans for a media mix project.

Yes. In order to develop the next conceptions, with the current timing, in which the novel and the manga have ended, I’ve brought in the song Remind Blue. I’ve reloaded it with this album, so I want people to look forward to the “gunfire” that is to come from now on.

“I was able to create this work because I had my own experiences.”

──The one in charge of the art of the manga annexed to the album’s Limited Edition A was the other member of ZOWLS, Saiyuki-san, who is making NIRVANA together with Jin-san.

There’s a proper meaning to the theme portrayed in this manga and in the fact that I had Saiyuki-sensei draw it. About three years ago, I was really depressed, and there was a time in which I could no longer see any meaning in creating works. During this time, I had a talk with Saiyuki-sensei. Saiyuki-sensei is someone who works with Comic Gene, which serializes the manga version “Kagerou Daze”, and I had read his series, so of course I listened to his talk. Back then, Saiyuki-sensei invited me like, “Why don’t we do something together?”... At that time, my emotional condition that was enough to make me think that I’d “end up being hated by the whole world”, so I was really saved by him coming to talk to me. I truly think that my being able to create music like this right now is thanks to Saiyuki-sensei.

──You also talked a bit about that when mentioning Hatsune Miku, but Jin-san, why do you end up thinking that you’re “hated by the people around you”? Seeing it from the sidelines, you’re a creator who has achieved great success with the media mix “Kagerou Project”, so I think many people have approved of your series.

I wonder why (laughs). I know that there are many fans who cheer for me. Still, I’m a person who was pretty negligent with my surroundings in order to create my work; for example, I haven’t been keeping in touch with my friends from the countryside for the longest time and am not called over to graduate’s reunions, and even having said so, I don’t have that many friends... Sorry, this kind of turned into a depressing talk.

──No, no.

After I started KagePro, I became able to sense that the people surrounding me were keeping a little distance. As the project gradually turned into a big deal and I became busier by the day, there was a time when I thought, “The only one within a 2m distance from me is my pillow”. If I went outside of those 2m, there would be a lot of people and I’d probably have been able to make lots of friends, but I somehow had a sense of estrangeness and wasn’t the one to reach my hand out to others.

──And then Saiyuki-san was the one who extended his hand to you.

Yes. As soon as he talked to me, I asked Saiyuki-sensei, “I’m bashed by a lot of people, you know? Are you okay with that?”. Even so, Saiyuki-sensei said, “Let’s do something together”.

──So, after this invitation, the manga NIRVANA, which Jin-san and Saiyuki-san are writing as the unit ZOWLS, was born, right?

Yes. NIRVANA was a story in which the protagonist, Hitotose Yachiyo, set out on a journey to gather companions named “The Twelve”, but this time, the contents are aware of the subjects from the manga that I had Saiyuki-sensei draw and of the connections between people. The contents are about each of the Mekakushi-dan members are thinking, “What is a friend?”, and I think it’s a manga that I was able to write because I had my own experiences. It’s a very worthwhile reading, so I want the people interested in it to read.

“I’ll write the best melodies in the world.”

──From what you have said, Jin-san, I got the impression that your situation is doing well obviously because you have arranged yourself an environment in which you are able to focus on your productions.

I’ll say this because I can now: the truth is that I created Mekakucity Records in a really tumultuous period. I’d wanted to take more time to make an album, but the adults around me would say things like, “Compromise is necessary in order to publish your work”. Back then, I thought, “It’s definitely not like that” (laughs). I was certain that one can definitely take time to create a work without compromise that would leave them thinking they did everything they could, and I believe I actually managed to do that with this work, Mekakucity Reload. At present, I can say for sure that I’m unable to create any works beyond it and I could muster all that’s important out of me. I think it turned out as the best album, full of songs I myself like.

──You said you were devoted to your writing, and the strength of your characteristic melodies did not weaken at all, but rather, they even gave off a feeling that they became more powerful.

It might sound cheeky of me to say this, but deem myself to be the human being who writes the best melodies in the whole world. It’s not like I’m saying that I’m awesome, but that I’m the one who knows my own taste best, so if I’m able to write melodies that fit this taste, the best melody should be born from that.

──I see.

I’m merely making melodies that I myself like the most into songs and having everyone listen to them, right? As I made music like this, I met lots of people who had me thinking that their hobbies are the same as mine, so as long as those people are looking forward to it, I believe there’s meaning in my continuing to make music.

[venus-says]

Symphogear AXZ Episodes 09-13

When bonds become miracles.

And we finally get at the end of the road on this marathon!

These past 2 weeks have been a wild and fun ride. I’m a mix of exhausted, happy, sad, and excited to close this project, so let’s dive right into it because I have lots of things to say!

So these first episodes (9 and 10) are a continuation of the “new combinations” mini ark that started in the last episode. And I kinda regret that I didn’t do any research beforehand because I could’ve planned these posts more efficiently, but oh well. XD

I’ll try to start with the things I didn’t like so we can move forward to the final ark on a good note.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but I have a serious love and hate relationship with Shirabe and Kirika. It goes more to loving Shirabe and hating Kirika most of the time, but this isn’t what happened in this ark.

Shirabe was very annoying in episode 9, and I think the writers did her very dirty for that episode in specific. They try to play out that because of the walls she built for herself she’s not so open to others and this affects her on battle because Kirika is the only one she can work along with. But that’s not really the truth because we’ve seen her work and get along with the other girls so why would this make her so uncertain about the whole situation? Like, even if you say you can’t make it work, it doesn’t mean you can’t even try, especially in the situation they were at that moment. Maybe it’s just me, but as I was watching every time Shirabe says she can’t work with anyone other than Kirika just sounds like jealousy and it just doesn’t work.

I believe the last minor thing I dislike in this part is Tiki. She’s annoying as fuck and she was getting on my nerves in these two episodes 

Thankfully, as a counter-point to Shirabe annoyance, Kirika and Hibiki’s combination was very fun to watch, and even their interactions as civilians were pretty good and it gave a bit of lightness to such a dense period of the story. And I’m surprised how they managed to put things together to make such a beautiful moment in the end when Kirika jumps to save Hibiki and Saint-Germain, Kirika has already more than once talked about her birthday so when she falls out of the attack and let Hibiki knows why her birthday is so important the moment suddenly gets very emotional and it just works so beautifully.

Talking about the fights on the two episodes, as much as I like Tsubasa and her cool motorcycle their Fast & Furious fight was just so boring, and the way they didn’t even wanted to hear what Prelati had to say just made me roll my eyes even more. The fight against Saint-german was pretty cool, though my favorite part of it was Hibiki being Hibiki and trying to talk with her. If this was any other show I’d probably think this is dumb, but this is symphogear a show about people connecting and I just love these moments.

The last thing I have to comment on this little block, probably my favorite thing about episode 9, I believe they tried to set up a connection between Shirabe and the bunny shrine and I’m very excited to see if they’ll dive in Kirika and Shirabe’s past in XV.

The final ark had its ups and downs, but overall I liked pretty much all of it.

Episode 11 was pretty much just action, and it was pretty good, the choreography for that fight was pretty interesting and it was very good seeing Saint-Germain and Hibiki working together, I don’t know why but I had this “this is very satisfying I wanna see more of you” all the time while watching them fight Adam.

And speaking of him the revelation of him being a puppet was pretty shocking. I didn’t expect that at all, it was a good surprise.

If I have a problem with this episode in specific is that the solution of Gungnir being a philosophical armament was kinda a Deus EX Machina??? Like it came out of nowhere?? I believe they’d know about since they have Gungnir for years, even prior to the current events. I also didn’t like this because it makes that Hibiki is the only one who can truly fight this treat and it makes things less interesting. But they had some form of secrecy about the identity of who was helping the S.O.N.G. team and I wanna believe this is something relating to the next season so I’ll let it pass.

Also, they kinda turn Hibiki into a God and that’s a fucking big deal so...

I like the poetry of making all of the final events play in Hibiki’s birthday, especially if you consider that she was kinda reborn after being released of the God’s power and all. The whole plan to set her free was pretty interesting as well, I wish that the secret weapon they had relating to Miku was giving her Sheshoujing back so that she could get near “God Hibiki” and talk to her more directly, but it still worked fine (besides the moment when they throw the anti-LiNKER in the two buttcheecks of the manifestation of a God).

And it is here where we reach the highest point of this finale when we get to see that, in Genjuuro’s words, people can connect and work together as one. And the big climax moment isn’t against a villain but is the villains getting redemption in a pretty good way. I did dislike the fact that neither Cagliostro or Prelati were actually dead, I think it’d make a better thematic rhyme if in that moment it was just Saint-Germain and the other two manifested near her because of the resolve in her heart and by the influence of heavenly power around her, but nonetheless it was still pretty good, and it somehow brings us back to season 1 finale that I loved.

Sadly this isn’t the end of the season because we didn’t get to use the opening as an attack yet.

And the first part of episode 13 broke the mood for me. Adam revealed a beast form, and once again the final fight isn’t a direct straight forward combat where both sides are trying to argue to finish the situation in the best way possible, just a big fight.

But hey! They turned Hibiki into a Gold Saint and she finished Adam off with a Pegasus Meteor Fist right in his monstrous stomach. At that moment I was just clapping in standing ovation because is so absurd.

The final slice of life part of the episode was pretty good, even Tsubasa’s grandpa being a major dumbass I enjoyed. Of course, to me, this would be even more perfect if we’ve had cut from the alchemists saving the city direct to this more normal environment, but I still like it.

We have Maria feeding Tsubasa and the latter being out of her character because of tomatoes. 10/10 high-quality content.

The post-credits scene was quite interesting and i’m very glad that I’m watching this one day before the new season comes out because it’d kill me all the questions they’ve dropped on top of my head like if it was nothing. Is Miku free from Balal’s curse? Does she also have the ability to be a vessel for divine power? Will she ever get her gear again? What does all of that mean??? I NEED ANSWERS.

Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have some of them. I don’t know when I’ll be able to watch XV’s first episode, but as soon as I do I’ll post a review so be in alert for it!

Before I go, I’d like to once more thank everyone who stuck with me during the past 12 days. If everything goes right this week I’ll try to get more active in here again and I hope I’ll still have you all with me. Thank you and see ya~

[askneruandhaku]

NOTES

This is a long one

1. I have to clarify that the 2ch thread is set up and didn't happen in this timeframe but in a span of days. All the messages are real and existed but they're stringed together from different unrelated days. This is because there were multiple threads about this since they kept getting maxed, and the ones with "Neru's" messages weren't archived and have been lost in time (though you can still find remains in the archive i found). We only have a post quoting them from a previous thread so i had to mix them in with replies from the archived one. Yeah this was really difficult to pull off lol and my translations are probably not accurate.

BTW, it's not important if you're not able to read that particular page well, in fact i almost was going to leave it in Japanese. But i found the comments so amusing i decided to try to translate them. That's possibly the most unreadable page so i rrreeally beg you to open them in another tab to see them closely. I know it's a pain in the ass, sorry;; i didn't expect tumblr to make them so teeny.

2. DEN2: For those who didn't know, yes, "DEN---" is part of the name of a publicity agency, and i'm pretty sure the "2" comes from 2ch. That's what's imprinted on Neru's arm. I won't say which agency it is and i erased it from the thread even in Japanese because it's still unknown if this "conspiracy" was even real or not (google claimed it was a tech error and wikipedia said Miku's page was deleted due to copyright issues), but it's super easy to find the name of the company Neru supposedly worked for.

3. "But Akita Neru was born November 1st and in your comic she already existed".

In my... askblog... headcanon... world? Vocaloids (which are androids, not virtual beings) don't have birthdays on the day they're activated or something. Their birthday is celebrated on the day they were first released to the public, with exceptions. This explains why some Vocaloids may already exist design-wise or demo-wise (like currently Kizuna Akari, Mo Qingxian or Moke) but their birthday is celebrated on the day they’re finally released. In SeeU's odd case for example, the company decided to set her birthday the day she was "created" (design reveal), August 30, instead of the day she was released, October 21st.

For fanloids, their birthday to me would be celebrated the day they first introduced themselves into the other character's "life" or "world". The day they're noticed by the Vocaloid fandom, and content of them starts being made.

4. MOST IMPORTANTLY I know this will be insanely obvious to most people, but last time i uploaded a comic people started spreading it around the net without context and it created a fuss.

All of my comics are my personal headcanons, though some might have some elements of reality they are NOT trying to pass as the true stories for Neru or Haku (or anyone else). These comics are canonical for my askblog alone, so for the Neru and Haku in this askblog they are true, but they're not true for the real Akita Neru/Yowane Haku. It's up to their creators to decide their backstories, and you can look back to CAFFEIN and Smith Hioka's old comics and blog entries to know a bit more about them. The comics posted here are made for you to know the Neru/Haku of this blog and their world, because every single askblog has a little "world" and backstory set up.

Lastly, i found old comments about my comics like "this is bs, this character would never say this". None of these characters have a set personality. I got this complaint the most for portraying Miku being rude to Haku in the past, even though i already explained Miku was a confused character swayed by her producers until she learnt to harmonize all the contradicting thoughts that would rush to her from different humans. Just because someone has a bad day and you get only that one day of their life portrayed in a comic doesn't mean that's their set personality forever. This is why i didn't like when people removed context from my comics when reposting; i think if you read my blog you get a pretty good view of how i write these different characters but if you're only looking at the comics... yeah i can see why people thought i hate Miku (she's one of my favorite Vocaloids, by the way).

tl;dr don't judge my comics as if they're trying to be canon content, that is NEVER my intention. Comics are a very personal thing to me. I wish i didn't have to add my post but i had a pretty bad experience last time jkdfgh i found a fan animation of my comic on youtube and... vocaloid youtube comments says all.

(Fun fact: the title seems random but it was actually a reference to a song that accompanies a Miku/Neru PV, and i’m 1000% sure i mistranslated it and it makes no sense now because i’m hella tired. Not that this is a ship comic but i thought it was a cute reference)

[montydollcrew]

I-Doll Fukuoka 8

This is kinda late but a few people said they did want to see a report, so here is a small one! I-Doll was on October 9th on a Monday - it was a public holiday, but unfortunately because not everyone got that day off and Doll Show in Tokyo being on the same day, there were less vendors than usual. However, Dearmine attended as a vendor for the first time which I think more than made up for that. I hurried right over there as soon as I got in because I knew they’d get swamped with people quickly and it would be hard to get photos, and there was already a line. They had the samples of their newest dolls on display and available for preorder - these ones aren’t out yet. 

Those blond ash-skinned DearPets - Oz and Storm - sure are cute in person, I do kinda wanna get a DearPet one day.

They also had a whole load of other dolls - mostly from their DearBeans range - including previously released limited colours and some that were limited to this event. I had been lining up just to get close enough to take photos, but when I saw all the Beans there.... well, I was worried that when I got closer I didn’t want to be the person who left the line without buying anything, but then when I got even closer and actually saw all the Beans up close I realized that I probably wouldn’t be able to leave without buying one even if I wanted to ._. Looking at them on the website is one thing, but seeing them right in front of you...

I actually took a really long time to decide, though, and I ended up letting 3 of the people behind me go first. I was waffling between one of the grey ones, the event-limited yellowy one or a black one, but as you may already know, I got this dude. He was displayed in a pink nightgown (you can see him in the photo) but was slightly cheaper without it so I got him naked, as I wanted to buy him clothes at the event itself anyway.

Rachel and Angelica were stunning in person, too...

Dearmine had real cute bags, too! Anyway One of my twitter/insta mutuals choco.tan was also there selling a bunch of cute 1/12 miniatures she’d made, so I got some pancakes.

She’d also brought along her adorable Rudy, who I am a huge fan of and always make sure to take a pic of when I see her! Rudy is a honey delf Corni, another doll I really want. (I want both Kid and Honey delf Cornis, but I have different plans for each)

(I got a pic of Apollo with Rudy back at Doll Friend earlier this year!)

The teeny little dealer shop Fukuoka has called Doll Shop Eden also had a booth there with some of the newest dolls they’d gotten in. I really like that special grey-skinned Dollzone Miss Kitty.

A bunch more sellers - many had Halloween-themed items.

^^^I really like the spooky faces on those ones!

The custom Houzuki is pretty cool too.

A whole load of cute little custom heads!

That little coffin case for 1/12 dolls is cute.

Some cute furniture here.

I really liked these cute little cats this person was selling! I didnt look too closely though cos I spent all that money at Dearmine already 8′)

I’ve seen this person at a few different events, they sell feather-wigs.

That’s the booth of another mutual, I always get a cute hair accessory when I see her. I got a bunny-shaped one this time.

Not all the ‘big’ dealers went to Doll Show! I got that sailor dress from them at May Dolpa.. I really like their clothes but thanks to Dearmine I was just looking now.

It’s always fun seeing how dealers decorate their booths. This one has a YoSD Kanon sitting up there next to the pink star...I was really tempted to enter the lottery for her back in May along with Renee to be honest, she’s pretty cute with different eyes (I’m not really a fan of the dull-looking eyes Volks gave her).

The heads/eyes of those two girls were for sale...tempting.

So many tiny clothes! I got Jasper’s (my new Dearmine) from here. You can actually see the set in this photo if you look closely...  There was another set I wanted but I didnt have enough for it, although its probably for the best that I got the one I did because the pants are stretchy - they’re made for obitsu11 but dearbeans have bigger thighs and non-stretchy pants might not have even gone on.

Nekomasshigura was also there selling some eyes,

and some custom heads,

and also showing off ‘Vivimol’, a Nekomasshigura original head-sculpt.

These chairs are cute!

I was also surprised that Sen came here, considering they’re an actual store in Tokyo so it seemed weird they’d come all the way down here when Doll Show was much closer. They had some nice stuff and it looks like they brought a sizeable load of their inventory but as before, I didnt want to look too closely as I’d already spent enough money today.

There was some obitsuroid shenanigans next to Dearmine’s booth - I’m not 100% sure if Dearmine were running this too or not.

On to the collection area! It’s very, very small compared to other doll events - especially Dolpa, where the collection area is almost as big as the dealer area, but there was still a lot of dolls set up - most of them MDDs.

Many like these are familiar faces at most doll events in Fukuoka.

Some fancy gents chiling out over here...

(ilikethechapwiththeglasses)

aaaah a Prisma Illya...she’s got such a cute head, I want her head so bad.

But not as much as I want Arle’s head...and this repainted one was so adorable ;_;

A Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu to Mukuro Miku! Very very cool.

A Cirno and a Kudo too? What is this, MDDs Torino wants and can probably never have day? 

There’s this one guy who goes to every doll event with a giant suitcase full of Azone50s, I’m pretty sure these are all his.

A nice little Dearmine collection!

The little blue kitty is one of my fave Dearmine dolls...

Two very cute DearPets!

I-Doll is organized by the same people that organize a ‘hand-made’ fair called Hand Art Marche, and its typically on the same day close by. During I-Doll in Tokyo, Hand Art Marche is usually also at Big Sight but in a different hall with a separate entry fee. Since Fukuoka’s one is smaller, they put both I-Doll and Hand Art Marche in the same hall, and a ticket for one gets you free entry to the other. I didn’t take any other photos except for this one but they always have a lot of interesting crafts and stuff there - and there’s usually a bit of overlap between the doll and craft people. Anyway, that was I-Doll Fukuoka 8! It was a little smaller than previously, which worked out well because I spent so much at Dearmine. I’d like to see I-Doll Fukuoka get more companies to visit in future!

[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 5/3/17

SEAN: It’s May, and a young man’s thoughts turn to … well, hopefully things other than manga. But if you want manga, we have you covered.

ASH: I always want manga.

SEAN: We also have light novels covered. J-Novel has the debut of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest. It’s one of the most popular “isekai” titles out there, and unlike most examples of the genre we’ve seen lately, I think it plays it perfectly straight, for good or ill.

I was blown away by the readability of In Another World With My Smartphone, though I would not remotely call the book good. Vol. 2 is out next week, and I expect to be equally entertained.

ANNA: Well, things don’t have to be good to be entertaining!

SEAN: Kodansha has some more old Del Rey titles out digitally. Alive 14, Pumpkin Scissors 12, Yokazura Quartet 10… and sadly we can’t count down by 2s any more.

In new Kodansha digital releases, we have the 3rd All-Rounder Meguru and the 3rd (and final?) Museum.

In addition, Kodansha schnookered me with a last-minute title. The 3rd Wave, Listen to Me! is already out. I was not able to inform you a week ahead of time. I am filled with shame.

MICHELLE: But a hearty “Yay!” anyway.

ANNA: Arrgh, haven’t even read the first volume.

SEAN: And in print Kodansha news, a 4th volume of Cells at Work!.

ASH: This series is ridiculous fun. And informative, too.

SEAN: I’ve been waiting for this one since it was announced. Pantheon has the debut omnibus of My Brother’s Husband, a manga by Gengoroh Tagame about a Japanese man whose brother passes away, and the brother’s Canadian husband then moves in with him and his young daughter. It runs in Fuitabasha’s Manga Action, and I believe just announced it’s finishing with 4 volumes, meaning we should get a 2nd omnibus at some point. Go get this release.

MICHELLE: So excited for this one.

ANNA: Sounds great!

ASH: This is absolutely one of my most anticipated releases for this year. I’ve been collecting the Japanese volumes, but I’m so excited that it’s being translated and will definitely be picking up the English-language edition.

MELINDA: So very much on board with this!

SEAN: Seven Seas has a quartet of titles, starting with the 10th Arpeggio of Blue Steel.

Dreamin’ Sun is their first debut, and any other week it’d be the title I’m most excited about. It’s by the creator of orange, and is the title she had success with before that one. It ran in Bessatsu Margaret, a Shueisha title. Yay, shoujo!

MICHELLE: !!!! How did I miss this?! I loved orange and usually love things that rain in Margaret or its offshoots.

ANNA: Woo hoo for shoujo!

ASH: I loved orange, so I’m looking forward to giving Dreamin’ Sun a try.

SEAN: Another Hatsune Miku spinoff comes out, as we get Vol. 1 of Bad End Night. This seems to be Hatsune Miku meets Alice in the Country of, and it ran in Zero-Sum Online.

And there is a 2nd volume of Magical Girl Site, no doubt featuring more dead young girls, because that’s what kids like these days.

Vertical has an 8th volume of Nichijou, and this is the volume where the plot really starts kicking in… OK, not really.

And the rest is Viz. Anonymous Noise gets a second encore… I mean volume.

ANNA: I find this title both entertaining and frustrating, but I keep getting drawn in by the stylish cover art.

ASH: I feel much the same.

MELINDA: Yep. I guess we’ll see if it gets less frustrating, eventually.

SEAN: Bleach has a 19th 3-in-1.

Guess what’s back from the dead? That’s right, D.Gray-Man, with its 25th volume out a mere 2 and a half years after its 24th.

And speaking of necromanced properties, we begin the release of Dragon Ball Super, taking place sometime after Z but before its epilogue, and apparently being more of a tie-in to the anime than anything else. Which is to be expected given it runs in tie-in paradise V-Jump.

It’s not a Viz release party without a Haikyu!!. Here’s Vol. 11.

MICHELLE: Woot.

ANNA: Woo hoo vollebyall!!!!

ASH: Yeah!!

SEAN: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continues its hardcover release of what is becoming its most boring arc, though I’ll keep trucking along. Have the 3rd Stardust Crusaders book.

ASH: Just you wait, Sean, things will start to pick up again.

SEAN: Last time I said we got the penultimate Maid-sama! omnibus, showing I can’t count. Instead THIS is the penultimate volume, and I expect we’ll get the last in August.

MICHELLE: Actually, I had it in my head that the series was 16 volumes long, too, so you’re not alone.

SEAN: The 8th My Hero Academia will show off more Superhero School, as they try to pass their finals in the most awesome way possible.

Speaking of penultimate volumes, here’s the 2nd to last My Love Story!!. Just typing that is making me sad.

MICHELLE: Me, too.

ANNA: NO, IT MUST NEVER END!!!!!

ASH: My Love Story!! has been such a treasure. I love the series so much.

SEAN: Nisekoi continues to trundle towards its ending as well with Vol. 21.

One Piece’s 82nd volume will hopefully tell us what’s going to happen to Sanji, though knowing Oda no doubt it will be drawn out.

Toriko has ended in Japan, and its schedule is slowing down here. This is the 38th volume.

MICHELLE: Someday I really will read this.

SEAN: And what would a list of Viz releases be without a Yu-Gi-Oh volume at the end? This is the 10th 3-in-1.

Do you feel the PASSION pouring through your veins? BUY SOMETHING FROM THIS LIST!

By: Sean Gaffney