Free Talks


[chapter 76]
	Hi, it's Watsuki, it's been a long time. Already three months have passed since the
beginning of the anime. What do you think about it? I'm greatly relieved, since it's a way
better than I had feared. I'm especially happy, since they showed their souls and pride as
professionals, maybe because I complained harshly and a lot about the quality of the drawing
in the early stages of the anime. Yes, there are indeed much to improve, like some problems
in acting, the excessive condensing of the story ( I can't get over the compressing of the 
Jin-eh story in only two stories yet) and other flaws that make me blush in shame, but I've
been talking to the director and I hope we'll gradually solve those problems. I await for
your support.   

[chapter 78]
	Still with the anime talk. Soon the first cycle will be over, and the second cycle will
be the episodes made for the anime only. It looks like there are many people who don't like
such "original episodes", but to tell you the truth, I eagerly await for it. How will the other
people work on my "Ruroken"?  As the first cycle was condensed due to this second cycle (I know
that the anime staff didn't want to do this, but I say this because it turned out to be the 
truth), I expect a better and more interesting stories than those the first cycle featured. In
the first cycle, the drawing staff showed their souls and pride as professionals, but in this 
second cycle, it's time for the storyboard staff show theirs. I wish you good luck.
	Changing the subject a little bit, I'll write a bit about the different voice actors and
actresses between the CD Books and the anime. I wrote this in volume 9 also, but my involvement
with the anime is almost none. The fact is that the lack of time from the both sides prevents
such interaction, and the most I can do is to comment on the work that has been already done, 
and such was my input on the voice actors/actresses. The reason for the differences in voice
casting is that there are more commercial interests in the anime when compared to the CD Book, 
since there are more people involved. 
	From now on, all I write is strictly my personal opinion, but I feel very sorry for
the voice actors/actresses of the CD Book.
							(continue...)

[chapter 80]
	I thought it was almost a pity to waste on a CD Book such talents the voice actors and 
actresses of the CD Book had. They were so pros that I, who knew almost nothing about voice
actors and actresses, started getting interested about voice casting. So it was really a pity
they couldn't make it to the anime. Especially, Ogata Emi-san (Himura Kenshin's voice) and
Seki(???) Ken-Ichi-san  (Sagara Sanosuke's voice) liked much their characters... I managed, 
thanks to a friend of mine, meet with Seki(???)-san in the end of last year and I apologised 
a lot then (I'm really sorry I couldn't see the first presentation of the HeroheroQ Acting 
Group. I promise I'll go next time). I couldn't manage to meet Ogata-san (putting aside 
comments like "hey, that is darn obvious!"), so I take this place and I apologise, although 
in not a direct way, face to face. Ogata-san, I'm really really sorry. 
	I've received quite a lot of letters from Ogata-san's fans, suggesting to cast her as
Soujirou's voice actress, if she can't do Kenshin. I was thinking about casting her as Misao's
voice actress (I think it would be more interesting and challenging to her to play the role of
a more strong-willed girl than a handsome character, a role she's used to do. And I think she
has every capability to be well-succeeded.)
	Anyway, I hope that the CD Book voice actors/actresses (starting with Ogata-san) and
the anime voice actors/actresses will get a good role to play (I include in this sentence a
plea for forgiveness). But this is nothing but my personal opinion...

[chapter 82]
	Well, as the talk became too much apologetic, let's begin with game talks.
	I've bought and played the "Samurai Spirits Zankurou Musouken". Honestly, I thought
the game was "cool, but not entertaining". I liked much the overall ambience of the game, more
dense and Japanese-like, and the new characters like Kubikiri Hajagumi(???), but the balance
of the game is nowhere to be seen...
	The problems are the huge difference of strength among the characters and the exceedingly
long and cruel combos, but above all it's the difficulty to beat the CPU... I guess it's a bit
too harsh to be exterminated even in the level one against the weakest character, just because
you lowered your guard for just a moment. It really looks like they are telling people that the
game is NOT for casual players like me or for beginners. It's a pity, since I like Samurai 
Spirits very much. Anyway, now I await for the Samurai Spirits RPG and the fourth Samurai
Spirits. 
	Now I'm into "Vampire Hunter". It's so great, so fun! And it's awesome that even 
beginners can have lots of fun with the arcade! I thought that such games were the ones that
deserved to be released in videogames. And my fave character is Morrigan (laughs). Up to now,
I haven't almost used female characters at all and I didn't like those sexy dynamite women, but
I don't know why she became my fave. I like especially the face she makes when she is hit while
she's down. I wondered whether it was time to move on to the 3D games, but it looks like I'll
linger a little bit more in the 2D world.

[chapter 83]
	And when I wrote in the character profiles of Misao and Saitoh that there were plenty 
of criticism and complaints about them, I've received lots of letters of encouragement. It was
pretty the same when I complained in the volume 5 (although there were letters that hit me
like a combo, since they said things like, "Stop crying like a baby and write a better story,
will you?" or, "If you refuse to follow the path proper to man, so give it up!")
	Now I know that there are many people who are concerned with me when I complain or cry,
so I feel happy for that and I also feel the need to live up to that concern. There's quite a
time lag between the arrival of a letter and reading it, due to the supertight schedule and the
increase in the amount of fan letters, but I'll use all this as an encouragement to draw 
"Ruroken". So, let's meet again in the next volume.