This is my second general post, detailing what I have been doing, and my plans for the near future. It is similar to my first general post, and will largely talk about the same things. Be warned, though, there will be spoilers for Innocence Seekers ahead.
Innocence Seekers
For Innocence Seekers: The Black Rose, I’ve been focusing on Akari of the Light, Mimori Flower Club and April Light. For Akari of the Light, I’ve decided to add a fifth chapter to solve the “cosmic deadline” problem. Adding a full chapter allows me to resolve all the witch battles by the end of chapter 4, allowing me to focus on Gakran for chapter 5. I’ve made some progress on the battle system, but it is far from finished (I haven’t even implemented player and enemy positions yet). For Mimori Flower Club, I’ve only been working on the plans sporadically, and the ideas which have come up in my head are for singular episodes of different chapters. However, the last chapter will be a prelude to April Light, and will feature a story based on it.
Innocence Seekers: April Light is where I’m putting much of my effort in right now. As part of the plans, I’ve conceived an alien precursor race named the Donsilans (pronounced /doʊn.ˈsɪ.lənz/ in English). The Donsilans had inhabited the galaxy around two million years ago, and possessed incredible magic power and technology. For some reason, though, they suddenly disappeared from the galaxy. The first signs of the return of the Donsilans come in Akari of the Light, but they don’t become important until April Light. In the story, a rogue Donsilan faction attempts to use the World Orbs of an uninhabited planet to wipe the galaxy free of humans (and other intelligent beings) so that they can reclaim it. Initially, their purpose is left unclear to the protagonists; in the first episode, Uzuki fights a servant of this faction (said servant being a monster, not a Donsilan), who is evasive in answering Uzuki’s questions on its purpose.
I’ve also worked out plans for the Likkran and Namari spaceships. Each nation will have three spaceships. The Likkran spaceships are named the Eternity (the flagship), the Huang Long and the Susano’o, while for the Namari spaceships, the flagship is the Himiko and one of the other ships is the Amaterasu (I haven’t decided on the name of the third ship). The name “Eternity” is meant to be a reference to my cancelled project The Eternal Diary, which had a spaceship with that name in the later sagas.
For anyone trying to figure out the significance of the Latin quote on the April Light wiki article, it refers to the fact that all World Orbs are needed to sustain a world, but it takes only the addition or removal of just one World Orb to throw off the balance and cause disasters potentially leading to the destruction of the world in question.
Yume ni Aruku and related projects
I haven’t made much progress on Yume ni Aruku, but I have conceived of a sister project to this series. It will be set well over 20,000 years after the events of Yume ni Aruku, but will be connected in some way. This new series, whose name I haven’t completely decided yet, will, like Yume ni Aruku, feature three different stories from three different perspectives, followed by a story which unites the three groups of characters. The main difference is, while Yume ni Aruku features its main characters coming from the same school, the new series will feature its main characters coming from different planets.
From the Scattered Petals, to the Blooming Flower
I haven’t made much progress on Chitasaku, as I was busy with other projects (not to mention getting distracted by video games, anime, manga, and TV Tropes). However, in working on the new series mentioned in the above section, an idea popped into my head to unify not only this universe, but the Innocence Seekers and Yume ni Aruku universes, through a “great evil” who may appear in all three universes.
Anime and manga
This section will detail some of the anime and manga I’ve watched or will watch in the near future. With Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars restarting broadcast (hopefully with improved quality), I may consider picking this up. Other than that, I’ll give my in-progress grades for the three anime I’m currently watching:
- Love Live! Sunshine!!: A
For the first seven episodes, this felt too much like the original Love Live!, what with the constant comparison between the members of Aquors and the members of μ’s, and even with the school being shut down, like in the original, and the only way for the school to remain open is through winning Love Live!. However, episode 8 allowed me (and many others) to see this entry as a standalone story (especially since Aquors, unlike μ’s, won’t get an easy path). My rating may improve as the final episodes are aired. - New Game!: A
What I like about this anime is that it is, unlike many Manga Time Kirara manga/anime, a workplace comedy instead of a school-based series. With the setting being a video game company. Of course, some aspects seem (I use the verb “to seem” instead of “to be” here) unrealistic, such as the main character entering the company straight from high school with no 3D experience. However, I believe that, in Japan, that is how it works (sometimes the only requirement is to be part of an art club, or something). Some people have criticised this anime for only using the video game development as a background, but they have missed the point of a slice-of-life/iyashikei show (which is driven by character interaction, not events), not to mention that this does go into some detail on professional video game development. - This Art Club Has a Problem!: AIn some ways this manga/anime has some thematic similaritites with GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class and Hidamari Sketch, due to all three having art as a theme. Some of the character interactions which I like is the fact that the main character seems to be in love with the boy who only likes 2D waifus and is oblivious to her love. There is also the foreign girl with an active imagination, the club president who spends most of his time sleeping, and a bunch of other wacky characters. From one of the recent episodes, it appears that the art club has always been this quirky (what with the two busts which have been painted (the old one being a clown, and the one Colette drawn on, well, “Amigo!”) and the porn magazine). There are also the references to other manga and anime.
The following Autumn/Fall anime I’m interested in are listed below:
Highly interested:
- Magic of Stella (it’s a Manga Time Kirara adaptation, and focuses on dōjin game development as well)
- Magical Girl Raising Project (a magical girl story with a twist, and may end up being the first light novel adaptation I watch in full; also, the studio in charge did School-Live!)
- ViVid Strike! (being an entry of one of my favourite franchises, I am very interested in this)
Interested:
- Girlish Number (I liked Seiyu’s Life, so I don’t see why I would not like this)
- Sound! Euphonium second season (I should watch the first season first, though; I’ve only watched the first episode up to now)
- A couple of magical girl shows which are airing in this season, because I enjoy magical girl shows.
So far, the only Winter anime I’m even remotely interested in is the Urara Meirochō adaptation (as it is a Manga Time Kirara adaptation). However, it’s too early to know what will be airing that season.
As for manga, I haven’t picked up any new manga series. Most of the manga I’m interested in (predominantly from the Manga Time Kirara magazine series, but I also keep an eye out for Manga 4koma Palette manga, and am also following YuruYuri) do not have official English translations or even any scanlations. If I do find something that is scanlated, even if it is something like Kiniro Mosaic, often only a few chapters are scanlated (note: Kiniro Mosaic has been licensed by Yen Press, so if you’re considering reading it, please buy it from them; I may, if I can bear the shipping costs). I could buy directly from Japan, but then I run into the problem of having to translate the original Japanese.
P.S. I just noticed that I share the same birthday with Minami Kaburagi of High School Fleet.
P.P.S. Oh, and Sora Tokui was in Melbourne, attending the Madman Anime Festival.