Much of Kio’s tweeting this month has had to do with the fact that Hashikko Ensemble Volume 7 went on sale on the 22nd, and Spotted Flower Volume 5 is out on the 30th…on top of Chapter 44 of Hashikko! There are lots of inevitable scheduling woes, but he’s actually also been responding to and retweeting readers in a concerted fashion for the first time.
Even I got a retweet!
Hashikko Ensemble and Spotted Flower Releases
Hashikko Ensemble Volume 7 cover check. Kio seems fine with it.
All Spotted Flower volumes have a plastic cover jacket with characters in clothes that obscures a second paper cover jacket with the characters in underwear. Kio gives a sneak peek here.
Kio mentions that there are store-exclusive extras for Spotted Flower.
Kurotaki Mai in a bunny outfit, as a late celebration of Bunny Day, but also to promote the new release.
The next chapter of Hashikko Ensemble has a ridiculous amount of lyrics and musical effects, but while the work seemed to never end, it’s finally almost over.
With the work on both upcoming volume releases more or less over, Kio decides to do some cleaning.
Kio discusses with 18+ manga artist Ikuhana Niro (who also publishes in Rakuen: Le Paradis) about ways to abbreviate Hashikko Ensemble and Spotted Flower in Japanese. Ikuhana uses HashiAn and SupoHana, while Kio originally uses Hashikko and SupoFura, but also Spotted in hiragana or katakana. Supote is brought up, with the idea that it sounds like Ponite (ponytail).
The Rakuen: Le Paradis Twitter account chimes in that Supote is one sale 9/30.
Kio responds with thanks to those who tweeted about supporting the release of Hashikko Ensemble, Volume 7. He doesn’t quote tweet readers all that much, so it feels special.
A fan mentions that they’ve always liked Genshiken and stuff, but only recently got into Hashikko Ensemble and wish they did so sooner. Kio tells them to enjoy it at their own pace.
Kio mentions that there are store-exclusive bonuses for Volume 5 of Spotted Flower. (I’ll be getting the Ogino-sensei ones from Melonbooks and Animate.)
A drawing used for promotional store displays for Volume 5.
Kio talks about how intense the Basso Masters from Hashikko Ensemble are.
Kio talks about how he couldn’t find any footage of a three-girl group singing “Zenryoku Shounen.”
Showing his drawing of the Chorus Appreciation Society performing “Etupirka” versus an actual performance.
Other Works
In response to a TSUTAYA bookstore showing its display bookshelf for manga artist panpanya, Kio responds that it’s sandwiched in one hell of a place, given the shelves on each side (Blue Lock, Demon Slayer).
Kio up until recently still was not a fan of Kurita Kan’ichi as the voice of Lupin III ever since he took over the role in the 1990s. However, he’s noticed that rather than sounding like an imitation, Kurita’s performances now have a weight and seriousness that has allowed Kio to finally accept his Lupin.
Fanart of Isako from Dennou Coil. (WATCH DENNOU COIL!)
Kio sees Five Star Stories models and reminisces about when he built his first resin-kit Akatsuki from that series.
Kio retweets an article talking about a journey with toy soldiers that began from a panpanya manga.
Unknown
Kio talks about the good work an “Akio-san” did on photos. What it means is still unclear.
Looking Ahead
This was a pretty tweet-heavy month for all the reasons above. I get the feeling we’ll be seeing less for October, but you never know.
I also posted these highlights right before the 9/30 release date of Spotted Flower Volume 5, so I’m sure I’ll be covering a lot just from that!
