Sunday Spotlight has turned out to be a great way to feature fundraising campaigns I wouldn’t have the chance to cover otherwise, so this week (despite it already being Monday in Australia) I’d like to turn your attention toward a BL visual novel on Indiegogo called Monstrous Lovers!
Monstrous Lovers is about a government employee whose job is to ensure the peaceful coexistence between monsters and humans, which of course leads to him falling in love with one of four different monster boys. The game will be made available in both English and Spanish and even include Spanish voiceovers, something you don’t see too often in indie visual novels!
Unfortunately, the Indiegogo campaign finished its initial fundraising period without reaching its goal, so the developers have opted to extend it so that this rad-looking game can get the funding it needs to be made. If you’re a fan of BL or romance visual novels, be sure head over to the Indiegogo page to check out the demo and help this game get over the finish line!
Sake Kit Kats are the latest in Japan-exclusive Kit Kat flavors, and after covering them back in February, I simply had to get my hands on a box! Not only did I get one for myself, but I also got one extra to give away to a lucky reader! Check out my Apricotsushi Samples tasting video to see what I thought, and if you want to give sake Kit Kats a try yourself, enter the giveaway using the widget below!
The giveaway is open worldwide and ends on April 25th at 11:59 pm EST. Don’t forget to do the daily entries for more chances to win!
After two and a half years, webcomic Hotblood!has finally come to a conclusion, and creator Toril Orlesky has launched a Kickstarter to celebrate! If successful, the Kickstarter will fund an omnibus release of all four chapters of the comic, including new a new prequel and epilogue. As of this post, it has already reached its $24,000 goal, but if you’re a fan of Hotblood!, centaurs, the wild west, or just great comics in general, you’ll want to get in now to grab some of the awesome Kickstarter-exclusive rewards!
Toril’s comic about centaurs in American the Old West takes inspiration from a variety of sources, including est em’s centaur manga, which happens to be the subject of my upcoming paper in New Voices in Japanese Studies. It goes without saying that I was immediately smitten with Hotblood!, and I’m honored to have been able to chat with Toril a little more in depth about est em and the centaur aspects of Hotblood!
A: I’d love to hear more about your inspirations for Hotblood!. What initially drew you to centaurs? Why did you include centaurs in your story and not other mythical characters?
T: I’ve loved horses since elementary school, so I think that’s a big part of it, haha! I still remember my neighbor showing me how to draw a horse in third grade– that was the first time I wanted to learn how to draw anything. I’ve also always been into Greek mythology, I saw Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron in theaters when it was released, Black Beauty was one of my favorite books growing up… when I started planning Hotblood! I was very into shows like Suits and Hannibal… that is to say, morally ambiguous stories with crime and homoerotic relationships that ultimately failed to deliver on the homoeroticism. I was particularly affected and annoyed by BBC’s Sherlock. At the risk of over-educating anyone, in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing, James Moriarty has a right-hand man: the veteran sniper Sebastian Moran. He appears in only one story– The Empty House– but I became fascinated by the character. I started drawing him as I imagined he would be if he was written into contemporary London and, yes, shipping him with Moriarty. Other members of the Sherlock fandom had similar ideas, and to make a long story short I lost interest, but I still wanted to explore the boss-subordinate/romantic relationship dynamic between two morally ambiguous criminals. That’s where my protagonists, Asa and Rook come from, although Asa is nowhere near as clever as Moriarty.
As for the centaurs… I wanted to write historical fiction, not fantasy! I wasn’t interested at all in developing a system of magic or changing the rules of the world beyond the immediate infrastructure and social adjustments needed to accommodate a race of quadrupeds. I chose centaurs over werewolves, satyrs, dragons, or anything else because horses and Westerns go hand-in-hoof, as it were.
A: You mention in your FAQ that est em’s Hatarake, Kentaurosu! and equus were influential to Hotblood. Aside from the obvious fact that they also feature centaurs, what was appealing to you about these works?
T: I love est em’s style of storytelling– it’s slice of life, but more importantly: the vignettes in her books are about character relationships above anything else. Sometimes an entire chapter is just one conversation, and I really respect how much emotion she’s able to convey about her characters in a short amount of time!Of course, I also admire her technical skill and her use of negative space.
A: est em and a number of other recent manga artists (for example Kei Murayama’s A Centaur’s Life, Okayado’s Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls) have written stories featuring centaurs in everyday and/or otherwise historically accurate settings. Hotblood! is very similar in this regard. Why do you think the juxtaposition of mythical centaurs in otherwise normal situations is so appealing?
T: The same reason stories like Spirited Away, Teen Wolf, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and so on are wildly popular… people like fantasy, but it’s far more relatable when the fantasy elements are juxtaposed with a familiar setting. It’s one thing to read a myth about centaurs from ancient Greece, but quite another to read about how one might commute to work in present-day Tokyo! Centaurs are especially fun because they’re truly strange– it’s not just a matter of avoiding humans on a full moon, they’ve got to deal with being literally half-horse every day. You can’t hide that! The mundane details of how they would function in society– standing desks? Farriers? Can they fit in a subway car? Is it appropriate to ask a centaur for a ride?– that’s what interests me.
Kentarou from Hatarake, Kentaurosu!
A: Do you plan to write further stories about centaurs after Hotblood!, or are you looking to move on to different types of projects?
T: Initially I was determined to leave centaurs behind after Hotblood!, but these days I’m open to the possibility that I might draw some short stories set in the same universe, either with the existing cast or brand new characters. I won’t make any promises, though– I’ve got a a queue of fan comics and other projects to take on first!
Well, I will always be ready for more centaurs! Thanks again to Toril for chatting with me and offering so many interesting insights into Hotblood!. You can read Hotblood! in its entirety for free online, but if you’d like to get a physical copy of the omnibus or the exclusive companion art book containing character material, world building, and more, be sure to back the Kickstarter before it concludes on May 15th!
Disclosure: I am a Hotblood! Kickstarter backer. I mean, homoerotic centaurs… How could I not?!
For this week’s Sunday Spotlight, I wanted to do something different and highlight a Kickstarter that needs your help! Pied Piper, Inc. is passionate about bringing the classic shoujo anime Skip Beat! to a wider audience with an official North American DVD release, and after a rocky start as an Indiegogo campaign, the Kickstarter now has a little over $16,000 left to reach its goal with 6 days left before the campaign closes.
Skip Beat follows Kyoko Mogami who, after being snubbed by her childhood friend and pop star crush Sho, decides to get revenge by entering the show biz herself. If you’re looking for a series with a lot of heart and a strong heroine, this is it! Ann of Pied Piper, Inc. is adamant that without this Kickstarter, Skip Beat! would remain locked in TV Tokyo’s back catalog with no official North American DVD release, which would be a crying shame. The Kickstarter seeks to provide the best DVD release possible, with all-new subtitles and a star-studded English voice actor cast including Vic Mignogna, Robbie Daymond, Grant George, and Erica Lindbeck.
I spoke with Ann about the possibility of other shoujo anime Kickstarters in the future, and she was confident that “if this campaign is successful, we will have demonstrated that fans will rally together to create a high-quality release. There are other shoujo titles in need of rescue. I’m not at liberty to gives names, but I do have my eye on a few titles.” So, if you want shoujo anime like Skip Beat! to see more recognition, be sure to help make the Skip Beat!North American DVD release a reality!
Skip Beat! is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.
This review was made possible by Gredlen! Purchase an item from my wishlist to support Chic Pixel and have the review featured on the site!
Welcome to Chic Pixel’s first ever drama CD review! While I’m sure some of you are familiar with audio dramas, it’s an area of nerdy Japanese media that generally gets much less coverage than anime, manga, or video games, so allow me to provide a little background information before I dive in. I’m not a huge expert in this area myself, though, so feel free to chime in with any additional information you might have in the comments!
While many existing media properties often get audio drama reproductions or spinoffs, there are also original drama CDs marketed toward women known as otome-muke, or just otome drama CDs (that’s the same otome as otome game!). In these CDs, often one or more voice actors will speak to the listener as if you are actually there, making for a rather… intimate experience. There are also otome drama CDs with multiple characters that do not necessarily involve the listener, but Noble Lily: Boku no Fiancée is in the former category, so that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
The premise of Boku no Fiancée is that you, the daughter of a duke, have been betrothed to a boy named Bernard Walden (voiced by Itsuki Katou aka Ishii Kazutaka) since you both were young. Now that you’re all grown up, you’re soon to be wed, and it’s time to sort out your real feelings for one another.
If the title of this post didn’t make it clear, this is an adult romance CD, so it’s recommended for ages 18 and up and includes sexual material. Obviously this is all in the form of one-sided audio, as Bernard is the only voiced character. But still, despite doing a thesis on boys’ love manga and having reviewed BL for Chic Pixel before, talking about a CD where half of the audio is kissing and sucking noises is somehow extremely embarrassing. But I shall persevere!
Head to the official website to hear a sample of the audio but be warned, the second clip contains those erotic noises I mentioned earlier. Like many otome drama CDs, this one is best listened to with headphones so you really get the sensation of an anime boy whispering in your ear.
I didn’t actually read up on the premise of Noble Lily: Boku no Fiancée before adding it to my wishlist, but as my first full 18+ otome CD, I was pretty happy with it! Bernard is a bit of a tsundere type who obviously cares for you but is somehow too stubborn to let you know until the final tracks. To be honest, I was surprised at how much of the audio focused on sexy encounters – the 3 longest tracks on the CD are pretty much entirely devoted to that, with only some short situational padding in between (the CD clocks in at 76:86, and a whopping 53:02 is said encounters).
The first encounter features you and Bernard sneaking into his older brother’s room to surprise him (why an 18-year-old would think this is fun, I don’t know). Of course, you get yourselves stuck in the closet while his brother and his fiancée have some romantic alone time… then, after watching them, Bernard decides to emulate what he saw with you. This is definitely portrayed as both your and Bernard’s first times, making this CD even more embarrassing to listen to while washing the dishes.
The older brother also has his own CD available, presumably featuring the sex scene alluded to in Bernard’s story, but aside from that these are the only CDs in the Noble Lily series. Though it is all really just an excuse for some exciting sexy audio, I quite enjoyed the focus on nobility – there’s even a ballroom scene!
If you can’t tell, I’m having a really hard time writing this review without any caveats (I’m not that weird! I promise!), but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any fun. I’ve generally stuck to all-ages otome CDs in the past, and while I think I still prefer them, Noble Lily: Boku no Fiancée turned out to be very cute despite the fact that I wish there was a little less simulated sex. Personally, I find it hard to take seriously… But if you’re a fan of tsundere characters and would like to give Noble Lily: Boku no Fiancée a try, you can purchase it on Amazon Japan!
We’re already three days into April, which means we’re well into the Yuzo Koshiro Community Game-Along! After the Yoko Shimomura theme back in December, I wanted to make sure to feature another video game composer, and who better than the man of Ys, Streets of Rage, and Etrian Odyssey fame?! Though I can’t take full credit for the idea – Nitro of the MDisk Playlist podcast had me on to discuss Yuzo Koshiro a couple weeks back, prompting me to tie in April’s Community Game-Along theme. Be sure to give the episode a listen for an awesome overview of his impressive career!
March is nearing an end, so that means it’s time for a OyatsuBox Premium review! Without giving too much away, let me just say that my initial impressions were extremely positive – this may be the best OyatsuBox I’ve received to date!
