Detective Conan-Cute Drawings, Ugly Murders

The following is my experiment for my fear project, in this case to see whether or not my fear of not being able to write ANYTHING that interest people is just a bunch of bullshit that I have swimming in my mind for no reason. I know that out of everyone in the class, Beth might be the only person to read this but for those who do have a Blogstop account, PLEASE, PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE read this and comment. I know I sound like I am begging now but this is something I really want to see if people actually find interesting in the end.


So without further or do, here is the review;


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    I have a little riddle for you guy. What would you get if you took Sherlock Holmes, regressed his age to that of a six year old, and then put him in a situation where he couldn’t tell the woman he loved how he really was out of fear of getting her and her family killed?

Why you would get Detective Conan of course!

     For those who have never heard of this series, Detective Conan (Or as we here on the US side know it as Cased Closed) is a funny little manga; it’s the type of series that while it is widely known and popular in Japan, its popularity here in the US might not be as strong. Granted, there are people who have heard of this series but Conan just doesn’t seem to get as much love here as other VIZ titles. Everyone has seen Naurto, Luffy, and Ichigo but Conan….the poor li'l guy doesn’t seem to get any love.

     Detective Conan (known by its Japanese title of Meitantei Conan) was first published by Gosho Aoyama in 1994 and since then, the fame of Conan continues to grow. So far, this series has spawned sixteen movies, twenty-one seasons of its animated series, and its volume count has reached seventy-five (with the US publication only up to forty-one) You might be asking yourself right now, ‘Okay, if the series has lasted THIS long, what in the world is it about?’ Well, have a seat and I will tell you.

     Detective Conan is the tale of teen sleuth Shinichi Kudo (Jimmy Kudo in the English publication) who, for all his knowledge and skill, winds up getting himself in trouble when his hunger for mystery gets the better of him. After solving a crime of a man who was murdered at an amusement park, Shinichi decides to follow two shadowy figures in black whom, despite not being the culprits in the amusement park murder, still acted a bit odd to him. Little did he realize that in his actions of following them he would wind up being attacked by them and fed a mysterious poison. The Men in Black leave Shinichi to die but unknown to them, Shinichi has not died….but instead he has regressed in age back to his six year old self!

     Apparently, being a child in this world sucks since no one believe little Shinichi’s story, despite all the evidence on him that shows he’s been horribly attacked but hey! Little kids always lie! He’s just LOST! He hasn’t been attacked at ALL, even if he has this huge gash on the back of his head and a possible concussion! It’s all just a fib from the overactive mind of a child! It’s FUNNY! Finding no help in the police, Shinichi runs back to his home where he finds the aid in his family friend Dr. Hiroshi Agasa (Hershel Agasa in the English dub) who tells Shinichi that due to the danger he has put himself in, it might be better to play along with everyone and pretend that he is in fact dead and take on a new moniker but what?

Gee, I wonder if his vast collection of books by SIR AUTHOR CONAN DOYLE and EDOGAWA RAMPO will play any part in this?

Shinichi takes the on the identity of Conan Edogawa just as his girlfriend Ran Mori (Rachel Moore in the English dub. Are you sensing a pattern here?) appears but unable to tell her the truth, Conan is now forced to play the part a child just as Dr. Agasa suggest that Conan live with Ran and her father, a bumbling PI by the name of Kogoro Mori (Richard Moore). Needless to say, with Conan around, business begins to pick up, no thanks to Conan using his gadgets (thanks in part to the work of our friendly, neighborhood Doc Agasa) to knock Kogoro out and use his voice to make it sound like he solved the crimes….

And you take this concept, and then repeat.

Sounds repetitive?

Well, yeah, I will admit that it is but the thing that will keep you coming back is just how twisted the cases can be. Right from the very start, the series jumps on a grisly case as the amusement park case involves a man getting DECAPITATED on the ride and it only gets bloodier from there. Needless to say, Detective Conan isn’t as ‘kiddy’ as its protagonist makes it out to be. If you’re not comfortable with bloody murders and a body count that continues to grow with each case, this is not the series for you but if you enjoy a series that pokes fun at many elements in the Sherlock Holmes series (as well as other famous detectives series from around the world) as well as adds intrigue to its own world, this is the series for you. As stated, you might bore of how repetitive some of the cases, especially those outside of the Black Organization, might get but there is something about how the cases start that keep you interested. Even if at first you might think ‘Aw come on! I’ve seen something like this before!’ you can’t stop reading; you’re so hooked that you HAVE to find out how the cases is resolved and the pay of is more often than not exciting and even on the lowest tier, silly that something like that could even be possible.

This is a series that definitely deserves much more loving, especially here in the US. Sure, Shinichi isn’t hurting for fame in his home country of Japan but the poor boy doesn’t seem to be getting the love he should here stateside, especially when you consider some of the cases that he and his friends find themselves in. This series isn’t about pirates with magical powers, ninjas with demons sealed inside of them, or even about kids using super-power skates to do things that would land normal people in ICU. This is just a story of a kid who finds himself being turned into an even younger kid and going through a lot of violent stuff, especially for a series that is drawn to look so harmless and comical.

All in all, this is definitely worth checking out. If anything, you could always play a drinking game of ‘Take a drink at the number of cases that involve people being killed with cyanide!’

For those who want to check out the series in manga form, hit http://www.viz.com/product?id=2210 .

For those who are interested to watch the anime series and its many movies, head down to http://www.funimation.com/case-closed where you watch clips of the show and can even purchase season sets.

What Scares Me the Most?

Having to play Action 52 for the rest of my life....

No, of course not.

Here is the situation set before me; what is the thing that I fear the most? Well, in truth there are many things that I fear and trying to squash them into one journal entry would be....INSANE. So how do I combat that? Why by picking one of the most easiest of fears that I have, something I would like to call...

NOT BEING ABLE TO LIVE UP TO AN EXPECTATION TO A GROUP AND THE GIVEN TASK THAT HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED TO ME.

Wait, why is the title so long?

In truth, I was a llittle unsure about what to do for this project, especially when it came to a PHYSICAL artificat. I really didn't know what to create or to present since, well, what can I really create (aside from artwork of course) that FULLY explains how I feel about something like this? My fear, when it comes down to is, is the basic feeling of not being able to live up to a promise that I might have made or been assigned to that is linked to more people. This is something I always feel when assigned to groups for projects; am I pulling my weight and even if I turn things in, do the others think that its good enough?

How can I experiment with something like this, especially since a more important project that I had has been completed and is now in the process of being graded. I wasn't thinking at the time but I could have used that as an example for my experiment....

But then opportunity has come again.

I think this will probally be the most....OBSCURE of my experiments/creation for this class in terms of an assigment. We were asked to come up with an idea to explore are fear and basiclly how to overcome it but what can I use now? Thankfullly, I know have something.

This SAturday, I was hired to take part in the programming and planning of AnimeWorld Expo, a convention that is coming here to the Circle City in July and as such, I have been given a few assignments but once those assignments were laid to me (or better yet, once I began to think of those assignments after I had said yes to them) I began to have that old feeling of failure already, only because I was worried that my experience as compared to some of the others, many who have been working with the expo longer than I have, wouldn't match up. So what could I do?

WORK for one thing but how could I work? Will I just go with the flow or will I add in my own spice?

Well, for the sake of experiencing more with the expo and for the sake of seeing if my writing is all up to snuff, I will do for my experiment....a review.

Wait, a review?

Yes, I am going to let the entire class read and critique one of the assignments/reviews I have to do for the expo. By the time all of this is over, I have no idea how many will be under my belt but for my experiment, I want to see if my fear of not being able to pull my weight as well as my fear of not being COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL enough when it comes to getting people interested in stuff is all in my head.


Considering this will be a review, I will have to post this journal in two parts; the first being this journal with my plans (which I have already laid out), the second being the journal with the actual review on it, and the third with my conclusion. HOPEFULLY, people will read it (or should I just print it out?) and my point will be driven home, but for now, theses are the results that I am looking for;

1. The reader is informed on the series that I am reviewing.
2. The reader is ENTERTAINED by the review I have given them.
3. The reader is interested in reading, watching, and purchasing the series as well as all merchandise tied to it.
4. The reader actually READ what I had to write in the first place and doesn't just ignore it.

MAJOR PROPS FOR THOSE WHO ACTUALLY DO NUMBER 4! D8

My hypothesis is rather unclear at this time but if I were to guess ANYTHING, its that people will comment on whether or not they found what I did informative or not and they were interested not only in the article and the series but also going to the expo as well.

These are things I hope I can get through with an experiment like this and if I can do this.....hell, maybe I can try the same thing with some of my other writing that no one seems to give a shit about. :|

Get ready for part two because here it comes....

Because my home services SUCKS

And I want to show that I haven't been slacking off as much as it appears to be....

Has being sideways STUCK to me or has it been a waste of my time? These seem to be the questions thrown at me and thus, I MUST give my HONEST thoughts!

And well...

The class has been interesting, that's for sure but as far as the list goes;

*What are 3 things you remember from this class thus far?










I will admit that I like the interaction as well as the exchanges held here in class. This seems to be a class where one of the important goals is to get to know each other better as well as ourselves. Its the sort of thing that a lot of classes ATTEMPT to do but in the end, wind up being too shmaltzy or just plain talk down to the students. I really don't get a feeling like that here; things are just enjoyable, even if we have to watch things I don't always agree with.

*How has your experience in this class been different from your experiences in other classes? If it has not been different, explain what is similar to your other classes.


There isn't that entire 'odd fish out' experience that I have gotten from other classes, ESPECIALLY ONE WHICH AT THIS TIME WILL REMAIN NAMELESS (don't worry, it has nothing to do with IT or music so those classes are safe...)  Even if the class is filled with different people, there is a sense of belonging and our different experiences actually bring us together rather than isolate us....this is complete 180o compared to another class which the more I go to, the more isolated I feel and it depresses me, mainly because there really is no reason I should feel that way. That class has the same 'sharing' concept as this in a way but at the same time, when we share in THAT class, it just leads to people showing how closeted they are as well clueless about the experiences of others. I know I shouldn't expect people to know EVERYTHING about EVERYONE but really, I have to draw the line somewhere and my line has been crossed like....three times thanks to that class.

Here, I guess our creativity is what bounds a lot of people together and even if you come from a different background, we are able to find similarities in ourselves. All in all, its just a better experience and I don't feel like I'm alone or weird unlike said OTHER class. Maybe its because that class IS isolated in a way sadly but whatever the reason, I just feel I get way more out of this when it comes to interaction with others.

*What would you like to get from the rest of this class?

An idea on where to go since graduation is coming up for me next year. I want to take away a sense of self-courage for one thing and this class does help bring that out a little but perhaps I'm expecting too much? I don't know, but I just want a feeling that I'm doing something right for a change.

And there you have it ladies and gents; Seeing Sideways from my view in a nutshell.

Something out of something....

Oh god my head hurts....but I must continue onwards! I have a lot of things I have to do!

For this assignment, we were supposed to turn something....into something else. What more can I really say other than 'THIS THING IS TOO BIG FOR ME TO CARRY AROUND WITH ME ALL DAY AND I DON'T HAVE A GUITAR CASE'

So excuse me for not bringing in my project directly so enjoy these pictures I have provided instead.

Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the guiatar...that isn't!

What can I say about this other than I was bored. This USED to be my grandfather's old guitar, something he just left even before he died. He used to play it but even before he got sick, it was...OLD. The strings were rusted and couldn't carry a tune, the entire thing was dusty and more than likely, with all the things he had to do, he just left it....so when he had all his stuff over here, I was faced with something; how do I kill off some boredom when I have no idea what to do?

And then this came to me.


Its stupid but yeah, this is how you turn an instrument that can be used to create art into 'art'.

Bleh.

Full shot of the thing- I need to get an artist desk and stop working from my BED.

Closer shot. God, I hate how these things don't look....RIGHT.

BADLY DRAWN MUSICAL NOTES. FUCK.

And here you can see where I spilled yellow paint. *still scrubbing spot*

ITS SUPPOSED TO COME UP WITH SOAP AND WATER! THE BLUE PAINT CAME UP FINE! UAGHR!

BLAAAAAAARFing up Information....

What a pretty, PRETTY title.

So yeah, last week we had some problems with our 'group interviews' only because there was more talk about what we liked and less about how we could work together to kick off this KIB project of ours.

See children, this is why speed dating SUCKS...or the concept built around it.



1. Why did class devolve into chaos???

It desolved into chaos?! I didn't see that at all! Honestly though, I think there was a little snag in the discussion but it came from two things. One, how we were interacting with each other. Given that we only had like a minuet or so, this really didn't give a lot of leyway for discussing ourselves AND the project. This is why speed-dating is shit; its not REAL interaction. Its just like reading a crappily done summary of a movie that someone copied and pasted from another source. It doesn't tell you anything and often times it leave you with tons of infromatiom missing because of how severly short it is. Two, perhaps we were thinking too deeply about how our own skills could benifit the project without knowing that much about the project. I know we still need to get info from this organization but come on; stuff like target audience info and other easy things should have been given from day one and...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFuck, there I go again getting rage since something similar happened to me not too long ago but based on an entirly different and more stupid matter.What could you have done to keep that from happening?

2. What could you have done to keep that from happening?

Like I said, we needed more time to interact than 2 minuets. Perhaps a more involved group setting would have been the trick rather than some speed-dating type bullshit.

Okay, I will lay off speed-dating but still!

3.Regurgitating ideas you have read is all well and good, but if you cannot apply them, then what is the point?

NOTHING! 

Yeah, there is no point but people do it because its an easy fix and lessens the work load they have to do. One suggestion I would make is applying some 'Seeing Sideways' tactics into it; ask a person to really express how they feel and look into the matter so they can get a better understanding of the idea and what they got from it. If they didn't get anything from it or felt differently about the subject in question, its still a good idea to ask why, at least to find out what can be done to find some sort of common ground or something.

4. What can you do to be more mindful of your team buidling decisions and how to actually implement the techniques we have been learning all semester?Well for one thing, knowing more about the project at hand works as not to cause distraction. If one has no idea what skills to apply or where to bring them up, everyone is left lost in the situation. What do we do? Where do we go?

5. Is always sticking with people you already know the best solution to forming a good team? Working with people you already know may be human nature and the easiest way to make sure you get a good grade on a project, but remember that you are being assessed in this course not only on the product you create but how you work with your team and apply the techniques we have been covering in class... Unlike other classes, the product in this class is secondary to the process of creating the product.Not really, especially since this can lead to a team having too many of one skill-set and too little of another which can lead to a rather bad imbalance of ideas and duties. Even though its FUN to work with people who have the same ideals and hobbies, its always important to look beyond that so you can see and meet other people who will strengthen your team. This way things are able to work and flow together and even if there are bumps along the way, there will always be that support there to iron out the problems and get everything back on track.

6. What did you learn about yourself and team building as a result of what happened in class today?I learned that I hate spee-You get the point. 

No, I learned that I need to be a little bit more open but as I keep saying, I really can't learn that much about myself or anyone else when I don't have that much time to actually talk and get to know them. 

7.How should the potential conflict that could erupt based on discussion todayt be handled in a way that allows for the best teams and personal satisfaction for all people?
I'm not good with solving conflicts considering I get...loud, but I think that if the group does have a few calm heads in the bunch, some action can be taken to calm things down and get things back into order.

8.Instead of just backing down and saying, "Whatever..." what might be a better way to incorporate and include all ideas and styles?
By listening of course! It sounds simple but listen does work wonders since it gives people a chance to bounce ideas off of each other. Doing things like this seem to solve problems a lot better than just simply saying whatever but yeah...it seems like we live in 'whatever' times since that's what EVERYONE seems to be doing!

Pst, whatever.

What did I take away?

Well, what did I take away from THIS class?

Hmmm.

1. I should really finish all the Munny figures I have.
2. I'm sure the janitors will hate us now considering all the bubble residue around the room.
3. I wouldn't mind doing another totem assignment.
4. Beth has an...interesting collection.
5. I just noticed that we didn't have a break in class considering how fast it went.

Rrr, I'm feeling an art block coming on again! D8

1 hour of my time...

And I think I used it to get further along something I should have never put off.

Oh who am I kidding, I always put things off...but as far as creativity and trying to further it goes, allow me to present to you....

KAHUNA! MUNNY FORM!

For those that don't know what Munnies are, I'll give you a short history; Munnies are a product of Kid Robot and are more or less blank, vinly figures that you can customize into whatever the hell you want. The first in this line were Dunnies, little rabbit figures what a lot of popular artist would make designs for and then sell them but these don't come in blanks but you can fine blanks that have been stripped of their paint which can be used for personal customization. Munnies were made in response to people wanting their own blanks and like Dunnies have an animal design to them, in this case the Munny looks like a monkey with a little nub tail. Over the years, other animals have been added such as Trikkey, a cat, Raffy, a giraff and other animals that resemble hippos, a snake/slug with arms, a crocodile and of late a rat/mouse with spiked hair. Munnies themselves come in three size; minis which are about four inches tall, standard which are about 7 inches tall and the GIANT Munny which is 18 inches tall. I've worked with Munnies before but I usually don't display them that often but since the introduction of many of the new characters, there were some opportunities for me to make Munny figures of my characters.

Now, had I gone the MINI Munny route, all of them would have been the same size; this would have been cool but it defeated the purpose since some of my characters are really big. When I found out that stores were now carrying the standard size Munnies, I hoped on the chance to make some of my larger characters and for the first test, I wanted to do Kahuna but Kahuna is nothing without his wife Saimon so along with the standard, I bought a Mini so I could make a figure of her as well. This is still being worked on but for the time being I thought I would paint and finish drawing the basic outlines for Kahuna's designs. I should be happy though, I finally finished the head and while looking back, I SHOULD have drawn his hair a little better, I think this is a good start. The thing I know will bring me the biggest headache are his horns and tail.

Oh, didn't I mention that? Like the sticker of the tiger I showed off last week, Huni here is part of my story arch that involves characters that are based off the Chinese zodiac. Huni is the ram of the series so yeah...he has big twisting horns and from this point, I think CLAY would be the best way to do it. The only thing that SUCKS is the fact that even though it looks cool....Kahuna is like more than 8 feet tall and big and bulky with a tiny head! Munnies have HUGE-ASS heads and these weird bodies so it takes away Kahuna's crushing, muscular huggablness!

But still, it looks like its coming out pretty well nonetheless.

Making the other characters would be a possiblity...if I could do it. I already ebayed for some Dunny figures which means I can finally do Weegii (the hare) and I can easily do Rufus (dog), Gelly (tiger), and Bug (cat) with Trikky. Rye (rat) and Sonny (rooster) can be done with both a Foomi or a Munny and the rest could be done with Munnies as well. But the one character...THE ONE CHARACTER I needed the slug figure for I can't even do anymore! Serpentine, the freaking SNAKE, needed the Rooz figure and it looks like they don't even make it anymore!

Say it with me now...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!

Well, there is ebay. Sigh, even though its nice that there is always ebay....its a little sad too. Especially when they jack-up the price with shipping. God, I hate shipping prices.

So for your pleasure...here are the Kahuna pictures. See him in his half-colored glory!

Front view

MARVEL AT KAHUNA'S GIRLY EYELASHES! THE VERY THING THAT HE PUNCHES PEOPLE IN THE FACE FOR MENTIONING!

Side View

Saimon's lip mark that will make sense once I finish the Sai figure

Side View again

Just a shot to see his chubby cheeks

Back View

Yeah, I should have sketched the front of his hair better which would make the need for his pony tail make a lot more sense. And yes, I wanted it PINK. I was going to go with red since that is a bit more masculine but then I remembered the thing is made from a piece of Sai's shirt...which WASN'T red. It was PINK. Later on,  he gets a tie that's a darker shade but the first once Sai used was this color...but being the ram/man he is, he wasn't embarrassed by the color. No, more like;

'OH GOD! SAIMON MADE THIS FOR ME! PURE BLISS! PURE BLISS!!'

*passes out*

Budy view with the head attached

You can't see the design on the shirt but its supposed to be a closed fist, sort of a symbol to his giant fist which he usually uses to plow people into the ground. Oh who am I kidding? Kahuna's just FLUFF.

I tried to take a picture of his back which has a Samoan flag on the back but it wasn't coming out too well so I had to leave that out. Besides, without the star, its just a BOX.

Another full body shot, standing on its own

Yeah...I still have a lot to do...:|