Natsu wa Soumen da ! Sappari shita !

There’s nothing like some refreshing Soumen with Tempura in the sizzling summer heat. Peculiar as it seems summer temperatures in Tokyo can get higher than Singapore, so to keep cool eating Soumen’s a great idea, not to mention tasty.

I remember my first summer in Tokyo 3 years ago, when I was still staying with my good friends Takeshi+kojima. It was a particularly hot day and I had prepared a bowl of steaming kimchi ramen for lunch, something which my two Japanese friends found incredibly amazing. As a person born in the tropics I was certainly up to the task of finishing that bowl of ramen even in summer temperatures, but to the two of them the notion of eating hot noodles in summer was so insane they that stared at me as if I was about to feast on some live centipedes.

I’m in the midst of a much needed one week holiday after the completion of Freedom 4 and am just spending most of my free time doing nothing…and enjoying every minute of it.

Hey folks. I am currently in the process of porting Halcyon Realms from Blogger to my new WordPress server. As you may have noticed Halcyon Realms now sits comfortably on the domain of the same name so I hope things feel more integrated.

Besides a change in the blog layout design I have taken the opportunity to implement some new features like the top navigation toolbar for easier access to archives and other information. I’m still optimizing navigation and adding stuff but most of the links should be in place. Please drop me a comment and let me know what you think about the new look and design.

ps: My old blog hosted at Blogger will remain intact for redirecting purposes but all new posts will be made here.

A few updates before I concuss into bed.

I slogged till 3 in the morning finishing up some shots so I can take sunday off ( yes, take SUNDAY OFF ) and amongst other things, rewatch Paprika, undoubtably one of the better anime films of late. Check out that sumptous box set !

Talking about neat dvds everyone in the studio also recieved a limited collector’s edition of Freedom 1 yesterday, a little consolation for toiling all nighters for the greater good of Freedom Committee. It’s comes with a special gold print cover and is not for sale in stores.

Earlier in the evening Morita-san treated us to a tasty Tonkatsu dinner because the higher powers that be ( namely himself and Matsuo-san, who joined us recently and had worked on Kon Satoshi’s Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress ) made a high level decision that demanded, well, the re-rendering of all completed shots hiterto. Yamaura-san, our DOP and compositing chief, was not pleased. I took the opportunity during dinner to quiz Morita-san about certain rumors that have been circulating heavily in the studio, and though not nearly written in stone just as yet, there will be exciting things coming up after the completion of Freedom 6. Morita-san will be attending the launch of Freedom in the States at ANIME EXPO and might make the announcement then.

And lastly, a friend alerted me about this piece of news in the local papers; click on the image to read the whole article.

The article as in appeared in Straits Times. Big thanks to all the folks who sent word of support, and also Mr Kwan for the article.

Its mad rush hour again for Freedom 4, but I will try to write a little more if time permits.

Screen caps from Freedom’s 5th television commercial, airing on Japanwide TV from today on. ( 20th April ) You can watch it from Freedom’s website by following the link below :

http://freedom-project.jp/?filenumber=4018

The theme song for this spot was initially Utada Hikaru’s “Flavour of Life”, but was changed during production to her latest single, “Kiss and Cry”. In any case, I love both the songs.

Freedom Committee’s celebration parties are always the best time to catch up on some industry news and gossips, considering all of us are always buried under a ton of work on normal working days. Yesterday we were out celebrating the completion of Freedom’s 5th television commercial that is to go live on Japan TV from the 20th April, I will post some pictures once press is released. Matsui-san, my lighting chief, handed me the reins for this project; I must have lighted about 75 percent of all the cuts in this commercial. Tiring, but satisfying too.

Anyway, here are the snippets:

Trivia 1) During the early pre-production stages for Freedom, Otomo Katsuhiro was deciding who should head the project, and Makoto Shinkai, whose achievements on Distant Star is somewhat of a legend, was also considered. It would have been interesting to see how Freedom would have turned out if he had indeed been director.

Trivia 2) Small talk turned to Genius Party, Studio 4C’s soon to be released animation film. Interestingly, Morita-san, Freedom’s director, used to work in 4C.

Trivia 3) Tatsuyuki Tanaka is one of the directors for Genius Party, author of the amazing artbook “Cannabis Works“. Tatsuyuki worked as an animator on Akira; remember Tetsuo’s mutating hand ? Sajiki-san, Freedom’s character and concept artist, calls him “an absolute genius”. Ditto.