The con of putting the main characters of your unfinished novel in Tomodachi Life is getting attached to the child of one so much that you start making lore.
This was supposed to be a one-off novel. Now I want to make a sequel for this kid's future son.
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From the Vault: 100 questions for Tora Amano (Givuss edition)
You probably know that before Tora and Shou were in Alice Nine, they were in a band called Givuss, which lasted for about a year. During that time they performed and released some songs, and apparently gave some pretty ridiculous interviews, as evidenced by this gem of a questionnaire I stumbled across recently....
This interview is from the now-defunct Ark Project web site, an online/mail order style visual kei magazine. The last update to the site was in 2005. You can see the site (Japanese only) here: http://emily-net.no-ip.info/ark
This was originally posted in 10 parts on my personal blog since it wasn't technically Alice Nine-related, but wanted to post it in full here for all Tora fans, to see how he was back in the day. At this time Tora used his last name Amano as part of his stage name. This has been translated to the best of ability, but his answers may or may not make sense... at any rate, enjoy!
1. Please give us your name and your position in the band. --Will someone hurry up and kill that Tora Amano guy and break up Givuss? Eeeeegh.
2. What’s your birthdate? --9/17~12/3.
3. What’s your height and weight? --More than you think.
4.Where do you live? --My parents’ house.
5. What’s your ‘theme color’ (preferred color)? -- I’m not telling you.
6. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? --“I don’t wanna grow up!” is what I ‘wanted to be.’
7. Please tell us about your first adventure. -- Indies—>Major Label—>Tamori (celebrity)—>Where are they now?! 8. Is society harsher than you thought it would be? -- It’s normal…society as it is…
9. What age were you when you first tried alcohol? -- Elementary school kids are cool. They’re cute.
10. If you could have more of just one thing and it would make you happy, what would it be? -- Not money.
11. What about your adolescence? Is it over for you? (have you become an adult yet?) --Shut up.
12. What's your favorite type of alcohol? --I hate beer.
13. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? --Nothing.
14. Tell us your best love story. --I'll save that for last.
15. What anime or drama has had the most impact on your life? --Slam Dunk.
16. What do you think of when you hear 'masculine' and 'feminine'? --Sex appeal.
17. What attracts you to the opposite sex? --Bony places.
18. What is the most relaxing place for you? --zen mall, NYC.
19. What's one tv show you just can't miss? --I don't watch tv.
20. What's a word or phrase someone could say that would make your heart skip a beat? --I'd rather die.
21. Do you think education is essential? --Not for me.
22. What are your favorite live venues? --Tokyo Dome, outdoor festivals.
23. How long do you want to wait until you get married? --Until 30. And then I'll do it with that person...
24. How many children do you want? --I don't want any. Okay, no more than 5.
25. Who do you consider your rival? --KORN, and Charlotte, and semen* (*This is written in plain hiragana as しーめん , so honestly it's a little hard to discern whether he means the bodily fluid or a noodle dish, or something else entirely.)
26. Have you ever wriggled around in agony hearing the voice of a favorite celebrity on a local late-night radio show? --No.
27. "Otaku" or "maniac," which sounds better to you? --Nera! (Slang for 2chan fan)
28. Which do you prefer? Lolita, or gyaru? --B kei (rap/hip hop lifestyle enthusiasts)!! The V kei fans can be so freakin' obnoxious.
29. You've been asked to go on television. What would be your asking pay rate? --2nd line. (Tora's referring to a sort of pay rate in which the celebrity asks for a higher amount than usual so the extra money earned goes to pay fees and taxes)
30. What's your age range for dating? (How young or how old could someone be?) --No such thing (as a specific age). (I like) Tomoko Kawase (the brilliant green, tommy heavenly6, etc), Wakana Sakai, Yoppi, BoA, Yoon Son-ha...
31. When you feel nothing good has been happening to you recently, what do you do to lift your spirits/change your mood? --Pay respect to leaves.
32. How do you get rid of unwanted body hair? --I don't have any unwanted body hair. Are those leaves over there?
33. What do you focus more on, a girl's face or her personality? --Unwanted body hair, and smell.
34. What is the number one thing you don't have enough of? --Looks, unwanted body hair, amount of nerdiness, cell phone overages...eh, cell phone in general.
35. Which is worse, a girl who just bitches all the time, or one who brags all the time? --An ugly one.
36. If someone said, "cry and I'll forgive you," would you cry? --Yep.
37. Can you kill with your eyes? --Stinky little shit.
38. How far could someone go until it's considered cheating? --Maybe up to 3 songs. Anything after that and it's a total rip-off!
39. Can you recommend a favorite diet plan? --Puke.
40. How many piercings do you have? --This is annoying.
41. You see your girlfriend cheating on you! What would you do? --Grin and rev the engine on my bike.
42. Name something that you want to be able to buy more of. --Milk tea. I don't need condoms.
43. Do you like breasts? --I love them! I REALLY LOVE THEM!
44. Is marriage different than being in love? --I dunno. Someone marry me.
45. Is there a time when you are thankful that you were born a man? --No.
46. On the other hand, is there a time when you wish you hadn't been born a man? --No, 'cause if I wasn't I couldn't meet Tomoko Kawase.
47. What's a sexy gesture a girl could make? --Put an octopus in her miniskirt. (Tora is referring to an incident involving a celebrity named Masashi Tashiro, who was arrested for voyeurism. More info here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Tashiro#section_3 )
48. What would you do with clothing you had bought but realized later it was a mistake? --Don't put it on.
49. Do you have a favorite phrase? --"Do you know?" (said in English)
50. What would you do if the world was going to end a week from now? --Take my time to pay my respects.
51. Do you reply to fan letters? --No, I don't, I'm sorry.
52. How do you spend your days off? --I don't have a day off! I'm not a kid (I'm always working.)
53. What do you remember about being 17? --Eh, any way you look at it, when I was 17 I had a shaved head. (Literally said 'bouzu,' which means shaved head and in this regard part of a 'bad crowd,' as that style was common among delinquent school kids.)
54. What are you doing when you get that feeling, "Ah, this is the life/this is what it means to be alive!"? --Lately, I haven't felt that at all. I wanna die. I'm a wrist-cutter! A wrist-cutter!!
55. If you had one dream come true, what would you wish for? --I'd wanna become part of the X-Men. Not 'sex-men.'
56. Are you the type who wants to love, or the type who wants to be loved? --Is that really a thing? I'm the type who wants to have sex.
57. If you could change one thing about your appearance, what would you change, and why? --Shut up!
58. What would you like to float while in the bath? (i.e., a toy, etc) --Nothing! Maybe ramen.
59. What types of situations are you bad in? --One-on-one battles in parks.
60. What is the best job you've ever had? --At Sun Hoseki (department store), but it wasn't in Kurokawa. (A town in Kawasaki.)
61. What is the worst job you've ever had? --Kentucky Fried Chicken.
62. You failed an interview! What would you say? --Thanks.
63. Have you ever lied about yourself when writing a personal history? What did you lie about? --That I've been eating "Prince of Curry" brand curry since I was one year old.
64. How old do you think your soul is? (How old do you feel inside?) --35.
65. Do people think you look younger than you actually are? What age do those around you mistake you for? --23.
66. What store has the cutest workers' uniforms? --I don't have one...but the girls at Rokumei (restaurant) are cute.
67. When you hear the word "nurse" you think of... --Porn.
68.what about "princess"? --Porn.
69. "Magical girl"? --Porn.
70. What's your favorite line from an anime or drama? --'Let's do it.'
71. Give us one word that describes you at this moment in time. --Tiger.
72. Do you have a personal theme song? --The Hanshin Tigers theme song.
73. Do you have a crazy lifestyle? --Oh yeah, I throw up blood, I headbang a lot...
74. If you had to choose between love and money, what would you choose? --Money.
75. Are you close to anyone who has both brains and beauty? --Take-chan. (Not quite sure who take-chan is)
76. Do you use emoticons a lot? --Take-chan does.
77. Do you wear makeup even on regular days? --Take-chan does.
78. What do you think of a girl who does her makeup while on the train? --You know what I wanna doooo.
79. If you had to give up either smoking or drinking, which would you choose? --Leather pants.
80. Can you write the kanji for "depression"? (Utsu, which is difficult to write at 29 strokes--most of the time I see it written in hiragana alone) --Take-chan can.
81. What's a part of you that makes you think, "this is definitely genetic!" --My status as a guitar king (master of playing guitar)
82. What would be a good age to start your life over? --Hey, Inuyasha!!
83. Doraemon has shown up at your house! What do you do? --Beat the shit out of Take-chan.
84. Who is the real star of the series, Doraemon or Nobita-kun? --Take-chan.
85. What would you say to a girl who is using her charm to try and get her way? --My hand is getting tired.
86. What would you say to a guy with puppy dog eyes? --Shake, shake! (Literally said HAND, HAAAAND!)
87. If you ever met yourself as a child, what would you say to them? --Make sure you become a guitar king!!
88. Have you ever shouted out a profession of love while drunk? --Nah, (if) they're a virgin, I probably shouldn't. (Tora used the kanji for 'virgin' that is usually used for boys, and in some cases can mean a Catholic nun....)
89. If you were the child of a big-name actor, and blessed with s nice appearance, would you also go into show business? --Would this involve 'shake, shake'?
90. What do you think of Internet idols? --They kinda creep me out.
91. Are you pure? --It's to sell Givuss. Okay, maybe just me...
92. Are you the type who wants to be sweet, or have someone be sweet to you? --I'm the type who knows what I want to do.
93. What would you do with items that remind you of an ended relationship? --Yeah, I don't really have anything that would remind me of an ended relationship... Oh, maybe a plasma tv?
94. What gift have you been happiest to receive so far? --I was given a guitar pick. I think from Kagrra!
95. Do you regularly visit Kitsune on 2chan? --Take-chan wouldn't watch that, I don't think. Because V-kei has already stopped being on there, right? Oh, but is it true that there's a lot of dating service type things on there??
96. Please give us some lingo from 2chan. --Take-age, Take-sage, TAKE-MOEEEEEE, also 'I LOVE TORA-SAMA!' That's the only stuff I've ever written.
97. Do you go online often? --I just have my cell phone right now. I can't look at any adult sites. I just look at stuff (comedy duo) Kokoriko has been in.
98. What's a website you recommend? --Tommy Style. (Tomoko Kawase's website)
99. Why is that? --Because I love her! TOMOKO, PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME! I LOVE YOU! no, seriously.
100. And for the last one, something for your fans: --Really, thank you, so very much, always. But, I think there needs to be a bit more exposure (get myself out there in the media). Hm, and I think (I) should stop wearing leather pants. 'Cause Bon Jovi ain't even wearing them right now. The sunglasses are okay, I guess--oh, did you know they're knock-offs? 'Cause 'Rayban' isn't written anywhere on them!! Oonishi-san even pointed that one out. Ah, looks like they found out I spilled the tea. That sucks.
Translation by robin edwards. http://ryuuenx. tumblr.com http://alisteners.tumblr.co
The fact that this was discovered on Tumblr last week, codifies what people who are either suspicious or outright against The Arkh Project. It has nothing to do with the characterisations, gender roles, racism or sexism that the project are trying to break out of. Yes, there are a few peanuts that will hate this project specifically because they are small minded idiots who will focus on those points. Heres the thing though. Most of us aren't hating on this project because of those things;
We don't like the project because it smelt like a scam, and because of the previous line-up of people promising what they cannot deliver, and the link above highlights that key people have tried to run this before.
Let us get something out of the way. The Arkh Project have been desperately trying to separate Kinougames from itself because of a certain toxicity. Lets call that bullshit right the from the start. You can't switch them to consultants and pretend they have no input or part of the team, and key personnel are still right in the thick of things doing the same shit.
So the first thing is Kinougames are flogging themselves as an International company, then in the same sentence that they are all students with business acumen, like investors are dumb enough not to figure out its a bunch of people using IM or Skype. Kind of like the last year project at College or University to be honest.
Then some weird stuff about how anime has had a rough road getting into American or global markets like 20 years ago. Umyeahno! Pretty sure I was reading and watching adult Japanese content in the late 90's, and that publishing companies were going to great lengths to translate and publish print material. I know you have to...you know...embellish a few things with your potential investors, but wow, really?
Quote: Anime-style has clearly skyrocketed; people want to see it. However, the cost to bring it over from Japan is often a huge dampening on it really blossoming in our country, and because most American attempts are made by fans who simply do not have the same quality of work, they fail.
So there is huge money to be had in anime for any investor, but bringing it over from Japan is so costly that theres no market for it? Well actually huge publishing companies are ignoring Anime and those multi-million dollar revenues because its too Japanese, so it is only done by fans? No professional studios or anything? Of course now Kinougames are the only ones who can bring these things to market, and want to bring anime and anime games to a specific market of fans that would enjoy the type of stuff they publish
Heres the rub;
They have Japanese speaking team that can get the contacts in Japan.
They have interest of 14000 people, which is impressive. 14000 specific registrations of interests? not like website hits or anything?
But they need $25,000 to develop their OWN anime and games and money to attend conventions.
Turn Japanese Anime made by Americans for Americans (Cultural appropriation huh?)
Outsource and recruit volunteers
Well hey, it has been previously proved that Kinougames and Arkh align their products that are not for ALL Americans, so thats obvious. But beside that, they are actually demanding $25,000 from investors so they can draw their own stuff and cosplay at anime conventions? This just reeks! And the funny thing is that Kinougames said they started both their game titles four months prior to that post in November 2010 so..July 2010 making static games using off the shelf development software and still nothing apart from artwork and shockingly poor sprite battles.
What does this have to do with The Arkh Project? Well lets look at the pitch so far.
Target a minority subject
Say that the team are the only ones that can either bring it to market or address the subject.
Say the end product will be groundbreaking and open the floodgates
Say that large corporations are actively ignoring or supressing millions of dollars of sales and merchandise..in their own field of expertise such as game development.
Make a large dollar target
Outsource and recruit volunteers
You will get something from Arkh, but it certainly won't be what is promised
Just like Noah who saved the animal species in his ark, this project will try to rescue the ones surrounding us today inside this book, thanks to the work of some of the most important and talented visual artists, illustrators and contemporary designers.
A project by DGPH
The idea was to create an animal bible showing the different species around the globe through the eyes of artists from each corner of the planet. Each of them selected a creature — an animal or species — to represent their birth place, which will be added to the Ark.
