Hi everyone, WOW it’s been a long time!
So, some people have written to me between 2018 and now, and yes, I’m totally fine, I just had a major life change. So, I went to Kyoto Seika University from 2014-2019 and studied writing/drawing gag manga (Moto Hagio’s translator Rachel Thorn was one of my professors, how cool is that??), and then, in about 2018, I became really obsessed with movies. I wrote a feature-length screenplay, then another, then a third, I made a 24 minute film called Inevitability, and the scripts and the film started winning awards! legitimately! I wasn’t sporty growing up, so awards are a totally new concept to me (many of you, I’m sure, can relate).
Since you all know how much of my life I’ve poured into manga, especially of the vintage shoujo variety, I don’t have to tell you that that is a MAJOR influence on my filmmaking. Right now, I’m fundraising to make my latest short film, which I’m hoping to shoot in December in London (that’s where I’m at now but it’s also not where I’m from lol), called We Are Bleach, which is about two pansexual punk rockers in a toxic relationship. The aesthetic of the film is very 70s, even though it’s set in the present day. The band, which doesn’t exist in real life, plays original songs in the movie, very influenced by visual kei, especially Hide & Hyde. These days, pansexuality as a concept feels really like it’s at the core of the moment we’re living in, but I just keep thinking about old shoujo manga, in which EEEEVERYONE seemed to be pansexual, there just wasn’t a really good word for it. I always loved reading Tomoko Naka’s manga, so I think I’m very influenced by stuff like Fashion Fade, Funwari Karyuudo, Hana no Bijohime, Lyceenne Desho!?, Champagne Sorbet, etc. all that fun stuff, in everything I make. Now that I think about it, what is more Tomoko Naka-esque than a story about a fabulous rock singer with addiction problems who’s cheating on his BF with a lot women, his BF, of course, being the band’s drummer and a deeply romantic novelist? Or maybe this is more of a Ryoko Yamagishi Green Carnation type situation. TO-Y by Atsushi Kamijo is definitely a HUGE influence.
I wanted to share the kickstarter for the project I’m working on right now, in case any of you are feeling very generous. Please share with anyone you think might be interested, or just in general, please share! It’s going to be an AMAZING movie!
Also, one last thing, somebody asked me if they can share stuff from this blog on twitter, and I would like to say to everyone, PLEASE go ahead and share anything you like, just always credit the artists so that everyone can know who made these gorgeous works!
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