March has been a big month for Kio, as Spotted Flower Volume 6 just came out today, the 31st! Not only that, but he’s been posting lots of high-quality art from the original Genshiken run, particularly about Kujibiki Unbalance.
Spotted Flower Chapter 42 is out.
Front and back covers of Spotted Flower Volume 6. Like all volumes, the underjacket cover features the characters in their underwear, and you can just barely see it peeking through.
Kio stepped away for a brief moment, and in that time, his tortoise claimed Kio’s electric hot water bottle.
Clean version of the title page image for Genshiken Volume 3.
A commenter talks about how the line “You have a nose hair sticking out” comes to mind. Kio replies that such a line would be in a Saki route, and it would lead straight to a Bad Ending.
Kio has finished the manuscript for his first ero manga, clocking in at 50 pages.
A model kit of the Knight of Gold (K.O.G.) from The Five Star Stories that Kio built. When asked if the kit is lacking a Buster Launcher (a standard weapon in that universe), Kio replies that there actually aren’t many design specs for the K.O.G., and modelers had to use their imagination to make these kits. Likely, the K.O.G. doesn’t have a Buster Launcher because it would need a counterweight to balance it.
Unfortunately, the head portion might be warped a bit, and might need some epoxy to fix.
Genshiken Volume 3 extras: Artwork from Unbalance Fighter, a fictional Kujibiki Unbalance doujin fighting game. Kio notes that while Berserk Tokino is based on Berserk (Orochi) Iori from King of Fighters, all her attack names are based on NECO from the game Zero Divide.
The strategies as they’re written in the volume are inspired by the guides from the magazine Gamest.
Starting from here are “screenshots” from Unbalance Fighter. Here is Renko and Yamada vs. President (Ritsuko). Supposedly this isn’t an unblockable, but it is an incredibly strict high-low mixup.
Someone asks if this game will ever come out. Kio replies that if anyone out there in the world wants to make it happen, well…
Renko and Yamada vs. Izumi, demonstrating Renko’s super move “Giant Swing with Yamada.”
Komaki vs. President. According to Kio, not shown is the following moment where Ritsuko counters with a Bajiquan elbow attack and sends Komaki flying.
President vs. Shinobu-sensei. Ritsuko’s fighting style isn’t based on a fighting game character, but rather Jhons Lee from Air Master. Kio is an Air Master fan.
Vice President Kasumi vs. Izumi. Kasumi is using her “Mist” (i.e. “Kasumi”) super to move through projectiles.
Vice President vs. Tokino. This “screenshot” demonstrates Kasumi’s great reach and jump height.
And Spotted Flower Volume 6 is literally out by the time this blog post goes up.
Renko and Yamada vs. Lisa. This is an animation frame from Lisa’s “Coin Toss” attack. A commenter mentions that they used to play a lot of fighting games (like KoF ‘94) but not anymore. Seeing the fine details of Kio’s explanations takes him back, though. Kio responds that the depth of the characters is based on SNK, and that he owned a NEO-GEO. However, the animation impact is Capcom-esque.
Lisa’s super being performed on Kasumi. As mentioned in Volume 3, Kasumi loses a lot of her abilities if she gets grabbed as a way to be lore-accurate at the expense of game balance (Kasumi basically faints if she gets hugged).
A commenter replies that in the modern era, broken stuff in fighting games gets patched, and this probably wouldn’t last. Kio replies that because Unbalance Fighter is a doujin game, it might have gotten a patch at some point.
President vs. Berserk Tokino (specifically, it’s “Tokino Drunk After Eating Komaki’s Brandy-Soaked Apple Cheesecake).
Berserk Tokino getting a perfect.
A Hellandeath mirror match. The character’s name is a reference to Fernandeath, the final boss of Waku Waku 7.
Kio got to use for the first time neodymium magnets to help stick together two model kit pieces that weren’t fitting right.
Kio reacting to the death of character designer and animator Kimura Takahiro. “What?! No…”
The title page image for Genshiken Chapter 18, which was later turned into a jigsaw puzzle. Kio tried to fill it with as much stuff as possible to make it good for a puzzle, but he feels like the results were iffy. One fan shows their completed puzzle, and as noted by another, it originally came in the Nov 2003 issue of Monthly Afternoon.
A fan recalls that the figure version of Ohno on the TV from Volume 3 was from a Wonder Festival. Kio replies that he has the entire series stored somewhere.
Kio’s Super Sasadango Machine plastic kit has arrived.
Kio is starting to build another kit: the Demi Trainer from Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. It has three sets of runners and no polycaps. He’s also resisting the urge to start filing things down right away.
Kio’s progress on the Demi Trainer. His comments are basically marveling at the quality and advancements of current Gundam model kits, including the lack of need for polycaps (which used to be the standard for kits in the old days).
The completed kit!
This is the art used for store display for Spotted Flower Volume 6.
Kio learns about “hell puzzles,” jigsaw puzzles where there’s no picture to help. Your only hints are the shapes of the pieces themselves.
Copies of the cover jacket for Spotted Flower Volume 6.
“Sprites” and “backgrounds” for Unbalance Fighter. Someone in the replies comments that all this fine and detailed work shows how much love Kio put into it, and they’re glad to know that he had fun drawing it. Kio responds that “youth” was also a big factor.
Spotted Flower Volume 6 will have exclusive illustration cards at six different stores in Japan. (For the record, I plan on getting the one at Toranoana).
The illustration from the cover of Genshiken Volume 4. Someone in the replies says that her wearing a mask feels like this picture is happening in real time, and Kio says he has the same thought.
In response to a hashtag prompt, artist and character designer Kotobuki Tsukasa shows a drawing of his from 30 years ago: a manga titled Go Go! Our Marbet-san, from his Victory Gundam short story parody series. Kio mentions having this book all this time.
The back cover of Genshiken Volume 4. Kio wanted to draw Izumi from Kujibiki Unbalance in a cute manner.
The famous and long-running Akiba Blog wrote about Spotted Flower Volume 6!
