Monday, November 7, 2005
	| First| Prev | Next |Last | Experimental Comic Kotone #420 "Prelude #3" (Story Arc: Prelude) | First| Prev | Next |Last | "Prelude #3" by Akira (2005-11-07) Continuing with Laika's (pre)story arch from 2004/04/07. It feels so great to be able to draw freely, without copying drawings of famous artists. I think I had enough of drawing practices with parody strips for now. It was really fun studying other people's art styles. I might draw more parodies after I finish current mini story arch. My drawing level recovered enough to be able to continue with the main ExCoKo story arch. Although, I still can't believe 19 months has passed since I drew last ExCoKo main story line ^_^; Character design (Laika in this case) might look different because of the long break. Her personality might also be different because of the long break... ^_^; Geez..., what's wrong with Laika? For this comic strip, I used both G-pen (for thick lines) and maru-pen (for thin lines). Using two different pen tips gives more variety/expressions to the lines and I really like the effect. It takes more time, but I think I'll continue with this style. By the way, I love Han Solo. Please write your comment to this strip at pOnju forum

	Tuesday, November 8, 2005
	"Denpa" by Konstantin (2005-11-08) To continue from last week's rant, I thought I'd talk a bit more about denpa music. The official Japanese term for it is "denpa song", since by itself the word denpa literally translates as "radio wave". In Japanese fan jargon, though, it usually refers to insanity or things causing insanity, this usage aparently originating from Leaf's first visual novel Shizuku, which featured mind-poisoning radio waves that turned people violently insane. So in this context the term is rather appropriate for music whose main features are chipmunk-pitched voices, ultra-sugary melodies, brain-draining lyrics, and tendency to get stuck in one's head for days or weeks. ^^ The genre has emerged from the Japanese moe subculture, the songs originally being used in erogames and later spreading into anime, and as such tends to reflect its values and preferences. Similar to Europe's happy hardcore, the songs typically feature fast upbeat tempos, mostly electronic instrumentation, and almost exclusively cute female vocals. Arguably the two best known denpa singers are KOTOKO (though she has done both denpa and regular pop while working with I've Sound and has abandoned denpa entirely for her major label stuff) and Momoi Haruko, whose career appears centered on becoming the embodiment of all things moe, singing included. Denpa songs, with their manic energy and extreme catchiness, have also become popular targets for parody flash animations, similar to the fate experienced by Dragostea Din Tei, as described by Akira in an earlier rant. Some of the most popular ones are Troubled Windows (set to KOTOKO's Sakuranbo Kiss and featuring the infamous OS-tan characters, originally from nijiura-os.hp.infoseek.co.jp) and the various renditions of Miko Miko Nurse. Please write your comment to this strip at pOnju forum