stupid, stupid, stupid!
Why did i watch Air ep 6? Am I a raving idiot? Have i no sense of responsibility for all those Megatokyo readers who want their comic tomorrow? Dammnit to bloody hell…
I can’t really say more about how i feel now, because it’s more than how i reacted to this this episode than how much it upset me. For some reason, it unlocked something, something i think i’ve been struggling with in relation to one of my own stories.
It was kind of disturbing, honestly, to see such a close reflection of some of my own words in this episode. I think that seeing this really helped clarify something for me. Not in showing me the similarities between what i want to do and what the folks at Key have done, but the differences.
Oh, while you are at it, you might as well go here.
i can’t explain how it feels, honestly. (sigh) there are times i wish i didn’t want to write stories, and that i could just enjoy the works of others.
- pirotunes: Farewell song from AIR ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (DISC-1)” -
February 13th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
I just watched Air ep.6 myself…
There was a warning at the start to go get a box of tissues… I didn’t pay any attention to it…
That was my mistake…
I’ve watched quite a wide range of anime, but only a few have actually stired my emotions like Air has… (’few’? Chobits, Kanon and Air… that would be ‘three’ then…)
Yeah… I can see the similarites… But the key thing is that there are differences! Keep up at it! And do your best! Warmth looks really good, and I can’t wait till you start working on it again!
February 13th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Well, I can see THAT I REALLY NEED TO SEE THE ANIEM.^_^ I dont no where to get it besides suncost. Cant download it from Kazaa.:( Man
Any ways, al-my-god. warmth looks really cool and I cant wait tell you start working on it. ^_^ I hope its soon.
February 13th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
“(sigh) there are times i wish i didn’t want to write stories, and that i could just enjoy the works of others.”
Strange. There are times when I wish I wrote more, instead of just taking in the works of others.
I’m not quite sure what has happened, but I can see that it has affected you a lot, I hope everything turns out alright.
Oh, and it’s good to see warmth stuff, even old stuff.
February 13th, 2005 at 6:33 pm
It is a bit weird to finally see them in English after seeing the Japanese version over a year ago.
I am surprised the Minagi/Mitiru arc over so soon, and despite knowing it was coming it still hit me hard.
February 13th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
Ep 6, hmm… I’m a couple behind.
Still, it’s nice to see any Warmth stuff, never did manage to find Amerimanga over here
February 13th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
ack… maybe I’ll defer watching it til I get over spending $7K on a new engine for my van. It seems that particular engine is *very* sensitive to any delay in oil change (>2500mi == bad) and the interior surfaces become enameled with sludge. Toyota refuses to call it a design flaw.
(sigh) That was our Japan vacation nest egg… so it looks like I’ll get extra time to learn Nihongo.
February 13th, 2005 at 8:32 pm
Hai, I did warn you!
I thought it may affect you. While I was watching I did see a lot of what you write about in it which was surreal.
It was almost like I had watched it before in a way.
Nothing like deja vu…but a sense of something.
I went through 4 bars of chocolate the day I watched it >.>;
*nods* and don’t worry about being late. We will live
Looking forward to seeing how warmth goes. Keep up the good work
February 13th, 2005 at 9:33 pm
ah, the whole “dream” thing…
Well, you did say you didn’t understand the entire thing with the original game AIR, so I guess it is kinda freaky…
Yeah, I didn’t pay attention to the whole “tissue” thing either… Wish I did… Makes me remember when Makoto went away… *sob*
But don’t feel too bad about watching AIR 6 today. I was watching it yesterday and my update schedule said I had to update it today, but I managed ok… But ya know… Friday you did a later update than usual, but I think it still went fine. But if you’re insistant on thinking it was a mistake, nobody is perfect. I know it’s kinda cliche, but it’s true once you think about it.
February 13th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
^_^ Just wanted to say that I took a look at your artwork in the links you put up–and as always, it’s amazing. But I wanted to add how I really like how you capture the scenery. That’s the hardest thing for me when I draw–the scenery.
But,I think you really captured a part of Japan that no too many people see in your drawings. Everyone knows Tokyo with it’s lights and busy streets, but there are more peaceful looking places too. I have family in Sapporo and seeing the kind of winter-ish rural neighborhood and city kind of reminded me very much of it ^_^
I’ve seen lots of drawings of different parts of Japan–but yours capture the atmopshere like not too many other people can ^_^
Keep up the good work~!
February 13th, 2005 at 11:03 pm
waiii!!!! some warmth!
frankly it was quite a puzzle for me as to what warmth was, i thought it was your published manga, already completed, till i read otherwise.Sounded like a real nice concept to me
Waiting for m megatokyo fix ( hope you dont mope around all day like i did after 6).
February 13th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
Dude, I’m totally in love with Warmth now. Really, really beautiful. I’ll be waiting ’till you set aside time to work on the project some more.
-tET
February 14th, 2005 at 2:10 am
just wanted to ask you where are the good places to go in Japan for anime? Also do you know if they are starting to release them with english subs? Im an American spending the next 2-4 years here in japan; i love anime and the culture but its hard to bring it all in for my own art work. i have never been good a drawing bodys but im pretty good at drawing the bust of a character. do you have any recommendations to go to get art supplies or places to visit where i can take digitals of the area for refrences? thanks for the help if you can get the time to answer. and i think your art work is great so keep it going strong.
February 14th, 2005 at 2:11 am
just wanted to ask you where are the good places to go in Japan for anime? Also do you know if they are starting to release them with english subs? Im an American spending the next 2-4 years here in japan; i love anime and the culture but its hard to bring it all in for my own art work. i have never been good a drawing bodys but im pretty good at drawing the bust of a character. do you have any recommendations to go to get art supplies or places to visit where i can take digitals of the area for refrences? thanks for the help if you can get the time to answer. and i think your art work is great so keep it going strong.
February 14th, 2005 at 4:47 am
just read wormth, and it was nice! far far better than what i expected, the chapter caught my interest straightaway, and the ending was great as well. it will be a great manga if it ever comes out to print or as a webcomic, though its nature is not exactly the ‘comic strip’ type.
So, will warmth see further work, now that u have piqued our interests?
Oh, and i loved that cat in the first page ^_^
February 14th, 2005 at 7:39 am
Your drawing are very good. I like it very much ^^, and I want drawing like you, but I’m bad at anime ;[
February 14th, 2005 at 8:15 am
Yeah, I got a bit misty eyed watching Ep6 yesterday. I have a feeling I’m gona be balling by the end of the series. I think I may have to rewatch Kanon after all is said and done.
February 14th, 2005 at 8:49 am
This stuff worth it? (Air I mean)
btw. is this random american guy a homage to your own experience with coffee in sendai? (sp?)
February 14th, 2005 at 8:52 am
“So, will warmth see further work, now that u have piqued our interests? ”
This seems to be a common question, but as busy Fred is, don’t get your hopes up too much. We’ll see it when we see it.
“Its nice to think about… but I wouldn’t want to spoil it by getting my hopes up…” - Piro - Megatokyo comic 489
February 14th, 2005 at 9:14 am
thanks kane, i am new here, so am rather uninformed.
Now all i can do is hope ^_^
February 14th, 2005 at 10:49 am
Just to clarify - the link above is to what was printed back in 2003 - i haven not released any new material here, i just figured i’d let people read what is now out of print.
As for Warmth itself, I *am* working on it again, and its a heck of a process getting it going again. I did a lot of thinking recently, and we decided that the best way to do this was to release Warmth as a high quality doujinshi available thru the MegaGear store. That gives me reasonable reason to spend the massive hours on it, and reasonable goals for release. I am still not officially announcing this because i want to have it well underway before i do, but that’s the plan.
my goal is this summer
February 14th, 2005 at 10:53 am
I haven’t had the opportunity to see Air yet, but I did have a good cry this weekend. I was reading Fruits Basket vol. 7 and I’m not sure why, but near the end it made me so sad.
Oh! and I picked up vol. 3 on sunday and I love the Endgames comic at the end. I also liked having Grand Theft Colo in order, it makes a little more sense to me now. Thanks for all your hard work!
February 14th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
hmm… never seen AIR…. sounds like it…eh….”affected” you, i guess… dunno what other term to use. and as someone else mentioned in their comment, i wish i could write more of my stuff down instead of reading so much of other peoples’ work… but that’s your feelings, obviously
i’m not much of a help, lol. i loved the ‘warmth’ stuff, by the way… it looks like it’s going to be excellent. hope you do really well with it!
February 14th, 2005 at 3:44 pm
ahhh…. man. does that mean we would not find it in store and only on megagear? and if you are going to put the comic out so soon, that sound like you are not going to do the online comic of warmth. is this so? if so, im sad ;( i wanted to read it online like megatokyo. i mean, this is the comic that i have been waiting for.^_^
please… dont let us down fred.
February 14th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
Fred,
are you going to release it in dead tree format? If so, are you going to self-publish or do you have a small volume printer in mind? (like Plan9 or some such).
Just a warning — a lot of my Plan9 published books have *not* held up over time. The DarkHorse books appear to have more durability.
(I’d ask about electronic formats — but I haven’t found any format that protects against unlimited copying)
February 14th, 2005 at 6:17 pm
Oh, i plan on having them printed myself, high end printing, actually, like a quality doujinshi. I’d never ever use Plan 9. Why would i? I could just have Dark Horse print ‘em
I can’t really release warmth as a online comic because the story wont work in the same format as Megatokyo, and (as much as i hate to say it) as a work it has to support itself. I want to keep it indipendent, at least until it has proved itself.
Like everything, this will be a bit of an experiment. We’ll see how it goes.
February 14th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
ok… i see what you are saying. so if your going to leave warmth as a indipendent comic (untill you can see how it goes), then that still leave the question open for the next comic.what is the next comic after megatokyo? im just getting the feeling (and probably others)that this fredart/online comics are going to be ending soon… like in the next two or three years.and i dont think that any one is wanting that.but
i do get what your saying about warmth, if it stands out on its own… then it will become a online comic… at least thats what i picked up.
later
February 14th, 2005 at 8:11 pm
it’s pretty stressful doing a comic like this, you know. When MT ends i might do another webcomic, i might not - it all depends. I wont ever forget my webcomic roots, dont worry about that - MT will always be online and free. The next one, if there is a next one that would work the way MT does - that could be a webcomic too. Other things, who knows?
I have no problem doing free entertainment as long as i can survive doing it (and im not talking financial here either - doing mt is a lot of stress, three times per week. Its like doing a live show 3 times every week. no one gives you a break if you have an off week or two, and if you have an off month… thats a lot of stress, you know
February 14th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
ok… i feel a litttle… better. ^_^
thanks fred.
later
February 14th, 2005 at 9:10 pm
o0o KYAA~!
Talk about a happy Valentine’s day!
I got to read Warmth! It’s off to a great start, Piro. And the coffee part made me giggle. Writing from experience, huh? I really like the characters so far, and the story has the kind of angsty plot I’ve been looking for. ^^ Reading it made me really happy. *hug* Thank you, Fred, and wonderful job!
February 14th, 2005 at 10:48 pm
Aiiee!~ Warmth!
I really like it so far. The story interests me, and the writing is wonderful! You must finish it quickly!
*goes off to do Fanart*
February 14th, 2005 at 10:54 pm
I’m probably in a different cheering sector. I’d rather see what Fred can do with a traditional manga delivered by chapter bi-weekly or monthly. I think Warmth will be interesting to watch from this perspective.
MT is great, I love the characters but it lumbers about because of the constraints of time and space — I also tend to think of it as an exercise area for Fred to test ideas out…
I suppose in an ideal world, MT would see the airwaves twice a week and once a month we’d get to buy the latest chapters from his current manga.
((the preceding is simply my opinion and probably has no bearing on Fred’s actual plans for world domination))
February 14th, 2005 at 11:06 pm
yah… ok… i like that idea too… its seems cool. more time to put in the drawing and art. ^_^ yah, i like that too.
cool:p
February 14th, 2005 at 11:27 pm
I’m not familiar with ‘Air’. The closest thing I have with it is an article in Newtype magazine about it. After that, I have no clue.
I really liked that preview site for ‘Warmth’. I was going to print them out for my friends to see (they LOVE your work!) but I’m out of paper. The thing I love - so far - about ‘Warmth’ is that the story is so deep. I’m intrigued by Saeko.
I wish to see more in the future (”,)
I do not know what had upset you, but I wish that you will feel better soon.
Oh yes, a Happy Valentines Day to you Mr. Gallagher!
February 14th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
To get fansubs of Air, the best way is to use a tool called Bit Torrent, learn how to add it to your browser, and google about for torrent websites to download the files using this shared protocol.
If that’s a bit technical, then I’d recommend Anime-direct.com for a location of much fine anime including Air) fansubs. For $10/month, they provide .avi files of anime fansubs to download and run.
The idea behind anime fansubs is that loyal fans add English subtitles to the shows (often better than professional) for Japanese-challenged fans to watch… but you are on your honor to not distribute them after they are officially released locally. Preferably you support the creators by *buying* the product when it becomes available locally.
American releases of anime are often poorly handled (very poor english dubbing, for example) and its a shame the creators don’t just contract with some of these fan groups who do superb work in translating and subtitling.
Air is really really good (not your stereotypical Pikachu anime) and fairly deep. It isn’t for kids (subject matter concerns complicated and troubled characters).
February 15th, 2005 at 12:04 am
I’m not supposed to say anything about where to get fansubs and whatnot - there is a whole series of honor bound things that must be considered with it, etc etc… but the simplest thing is to go to animesuki.com. And you didn’t hear that from me.
Oh, and for some reason i really like the Koi versions of Air. They do a nice job.
February 15th, 2005 at 12:42 am
Yeah, not to mention they seem to be working on the subs faster than the others.
February 15th, 2005 at 1:00 am
I’d be perfectly happy *buying* this stuff right off the bat and the creators surely know there’s a target audience here. Not really expecting an answer but:
1) Why is there such a lag in distribution of official product?
2) Why do the creators use such abysmal voice talent in dubs… or mediocre english subtitles … over and over and over? What? Is it some sort of mafia thing? Every anime I’ve purchased uses the same 4 or 5 voices and they are *terrible* voice actors. Hire Rob Paulsen, Jesse Harnell, Maurice LeMarche, Tress MacNeille… sheesh.
Agreed — Koi’s work is superb. Lunar does good work as well though they take longer.
February 15th, 2005 at 1:48 am
Since I can’t edit… let me clarify I’m talking about the English dub voice acting. The original Japanese voice acting is usually superb and well casted as well as any animated feature. It just makes the English voice acting stand out as that much more terrible.
February 15th, 2005 at 9:53 am
*Sniff*
*Sniff*
*Cries*
February 15th, 2005 at 2:03 pm
agreed, official english dubbing mostly sucks, though there have been exceptions, like cowboy bebop (and some voices in kenshin…perhaps). Even their subs suck often, usig jaggy, grammatically wrong and ugly looking text. I once bought the full X series (by clamp), and it was horrible enough to make me cry, with an average of one mispelled word every 3 secs…(not to mention it got me in trouble at an airport….some idiot guard thought it was a porn dvd….!)
Frankly i cant understand, if fansubbers can do quality fansubbing for free, why do these companies not put even a smidgen more ffort. When have u seen official stuff have extras like karaoke openings, which is the norm in almost all fansubs.
on another topic, i would really prefer warmth in a chapter by chapter format, and i dont mind paying for it. I only shudder at the delivery costs added on for us international fans.
February 15th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
oh, and one more thing…does anyone have an idea whn the movie “beyond the clouds, the promised land” will be released? it was supposed to come out in 2003…i really look forward to it, as hoshi no koe remains one of my favorites. A very simple story told in a beautiful way with an ambiguous ending that was rather brilliant imho.
February 15th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
Finally got to watch Air ep. 6 … … …
… …
I’m not sure I’d recommend watching this one alone.
I do see the complaint of some though, the epilogue seems rushed and thrown in as a blindside and one is not even sure what the problem is..
The shifting realities of the world portrayed show an integration between reality and fantasy that might be hard for untrained western sensibilities to process.
February 15th, 2005 at 5:40 pm
im using bittorrent to download air. i got cabel and its moving really slow. i looked at some files on the net to see how to get the thing to move a little faster and i cant find nothing. i have found that you can move the little bar up at the top from left to right. but that does not seem to be doing anything. is there anything that i could do to the settings to make it download faster? and it cant be the person im downloading from… its doing the same thing too all the files that im downloading from different people.
i want to see air… please help
later
February 15th, 2005 at 5:52 pm
Bittorrents are generally slower than other downloads… But it all really depends on how many other people are uploading/downloading (you also upload as you download) A more popular torrent will have a faster dowload speed…
Sorry, that’s all I got… The bittorrent I use doesn’t seem to have any settings I can change, so I can’t tell you anything allong those lines…
February 15th, 2005 at 6:01 pm
Well I use Azureus as my Bittorrent. I didn’t know that AIR was available though.
February 15th, 2005 at 6:05 pm
yeah, if you’re used to instant feedback, it can be a drag waiting (about a file a day) but it keeps your bandwidth usage from choking if you have an unfriendly ISP like I do (what? you actually want to *use* the service?)
There’s no way to speed up bit torrents that I’ve found… most of the internal settings allow you to choke or slow them down for traffic management (in linux implementations).
Your other alternative I stated above: anime-direct.com for $10/month provides http downloads (and they have all the Air eps). But… their servers don’t always get along with some users — I had to stop using them because I’d download a file supposedly 180MB… it’d show complete (I even watched the packet transactions with a sniffer) but I’d look and have a 120MB file or some partial. So you’d just have to test them — when it worked it was fast and great.
I suspect the problem lay in the way my satellite ISP handles packets and their assinine “fair access policy” clamps.
February 15th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
‘animesuki.com’
Haha I was gonna suggest there but I didn’t want to get attacked by people apposed to downloading so I kept my mouth shut ^^;
The amount of seeds on a download will indicate how quickly it will download. Try aiming for downloads that lots of people are sharing
February 15th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
ok… i got it to download… its going at about 25-35 kb/s, so yah… thats good.
cool, now i will get to see air, and see for myself why people say this is such a good anime.and see what every one is crying about. ^_^ yah, im not going to cry… im a man. :p
— lets make a new comments record on fredart 50+ post. —
(i think thats a new record) is it?
February 15th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
*clicks on preview link and reads*
…….
Fred? This is really, *really* nice. I know you don’t plan on using it for the new version of ‘Warmth’, but I highly suggest you hang onto it. Who knows, you might yet be able to use it for something, maybe even just to show how the concept began. It’d be a shame to let that work go to waste, anyhow.
February 15th, 2005 at 8:15 pm
Oh, and just because I’m lazy and easily amused — yay, post 50! ^.^b
February 15th, 2005 at 8:17 pm
Normally for me, if the episode is pretty new, I can watch the episode within 2 hours of clicking the torrent. If its about one week old, it takes me about 4 hours or so. But yeah, it really depends on how many people are seeding the torrent, not just leechers.
Oh, and is it just me, or does Fred have a VAIO on warmth instead of an apple?
Oh right… this was made BEFORE he made the switch… silly me… -_-;
February 15th, 2005 at 8:37 pm
I have never heard of Air. ‘_’ I have a question: How do you do the story for Mega Tokyo? Do you write it out in script form or regular story form or what? >< I have started mine and I write mine in story form first…just wanted a mangaka’s opinion. Thanks. ^_^
February 15th, 2005 at 10:59 pm
bwahahah…. and you thought no one reads this Fred, I say 53 posts counts for something…
And yay for for warth! as others have said, it’s great to see what’s been talked about for so long…. and yah bi-monthly chapter format available for either download or purchase through megagear.com would be great!
February 15th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
Terra Sekora,
I don’t know if you’ve read this or not, but I somewhat remember a rant by Fred saying something about how he wished he had everything scripted through for the next few comics. Which of course, he doesn’t. Don’t remember when I read it though. But you know, although planning is somewhat important, remember the roots of Megatokyo. It wasn’t meant to last as long as it has. He did it just to shut Rodney up. Sometimes the unexpected is important.
February 16th, 2005 at 6:47 am
al-my-god. air is soo… cool the animtion is so cool and flows so nice. i cant wait until i get #2 this afternoon. ^_^
ok off to school.
later
February 16th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Like everyone says, grab a tissue box as it moves along — it isn’t your typical slice-o-life story. Things irrevocably change.
Damn thing keeps blindsiding me at least.
February 16th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
Is Air really that emotional? I had never heard of it ’till Fred started talking about it. I’m starting from ep. 1 and it’ll take a while to download, around 4 or 5 hours. oh well, time to go jogging, and maybe pick up a tissue box from next door……(I never buy them :p).
February 16th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Air is a pretty good anime from what i have seen so far right now im downloading ep. 6 through bit torrent so im just waiting to see it
February 16th, 2005 at 8:08 pm
yah… air is one of the top anime so far, from what i have seen. i have only seen ep. 01 and i might see ep. 02 tonight if it gets done on time. ^_^ the anime is got some of the top animation/graphics that i have seen when it comes to anime, that and ghost in the shell: stand alone complex. but thats beside the point.
i really like how the anime was done. i like how the background flows and i really like the eyes, how they are so glassy like and really colorful. the intro and ending are cool to. ^.^
i got a question, does anyone no how many ep.’s there ar?. i have only come across 6 ep.’s. if that is it, will there be more later?
im also thinking about getting Xenosaga: The Animation
i love the game and i cant wait to get ep. 2
later
February 16th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Its (I guess) being broadcast right now in Japan — afterwards the fansub groups grab it, add the happy english dubbing (Koi is very good mostly … there were a few awkward sentences in the last two episodes) and then add it to the torrent list.
I’ll repeat - we’re kind of on our honor to stop torrenting them whenever they’re released for sale in Region 1 and there’s much dispute about whether even what the fansubs are doing is “ok” … but dammit if that’s a problem, contract out with one of the fansub groups and *release* the goddam things internationally…
((I’ve about had it with this corporate “we want globalization — but only our in our own balkanized way” bullshit))
February 16th, 2005 at 8:58 pm
sorry.. went off on my soapbox and forgot to mention.. yeah, there’s currently 6 episodes available — I *think* there are supposed to be 12 in total but a lot of the fan groups were hoping for 14 to give each story arc its proper coverage.
February 16th, 2005 at 9:22 pm
i just wondering something happened here in my post i didn’t write all that stuff about xenosaga or stand alone complex even though they are great. but did someones post get crossed over with mine or soemthing? maybe i just blacked out
February 16th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
heh.. it was your evil personality that takes over while you daydream…
No idea … but it depends on how robust this blogging software is…
I’m now trying to locate the PC game version of Air — apparently there’s an original version and new (more PG)version. Either one a-ok but any clues would be appreciated. So far googling hasn’t helped much.