SPEAKER_01 0:00

I normally tell the people who are listening to like to get like a cup of jack or get like a tequila to clear the clear clear the vocal cord. There you go. Alright, welcome back to the Blurred Spectrum Podcast, everyone. Today we of course have an artist introduction. I'm so excited for this particular interview. Artist interview. This took place at Otacon. I don't want to say it was random. I personally think it was fate. Because I was minding my business at our booth in the gaming hall, you know, marketing, talking to people, setting up the gaming tournaments. And of course, you all know Pink Dream. She was there. She came in and she was like, Yeah, I met this phenomenal woman. She was smiling downstairs. She told me about this artist studio downstairs. And you have to meet them. I was like, okay, sure. I mean, let me know when I need to go downstairs. I turned around. I think I turned around one more time, and everybody was in the room. I was like, okay, let's start talking. But before I get too far into it, I want to introduce uh uh our our guest for today. Of course, I always have to introduce myself, Suchino Shogun, moderator of the Blur Spectrum Podcast. Here in front of me, I have the owner, the founder, and lead artist. Uh or everything artist, I think. Everything artists. Everything artists, yeah. Moonlayer Studios, Candy O. Let's uh let's give it for him. Let's give it to him. How are you doing today, sir?

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Doing great, doing great. Really, really happy to be here. And uh yeah, just yeah, really happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Uh, like I was saying, like it was Kismeth, you know, you uh you you have so many uh people who are in your corner who are who are there to like prop you up because like I said, but when I mean forgive me for forgetting her name, but when she came to the booth, she she hyped you up even before I knew what she was talking about. She was like, you have to see his artwork, you have to see his manas, you have to see this. I was like, okay, so who are we talking about?

SPEAKER_03 2:03

So we thought, yeah, no, um, shout out to Smiley. Uh Smiley. Smiley, yes, I'll tell you. Um, no, she is an amazing, she's an amazing person, amazing energy, and and we are just blessed to to have her part of the team. And um, and actually, that was the first time. Um man, there's there's so much to get into, so I don't want to like rush it. So I I I'll like you lead me into whatever direction you want to go.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Like, yeah, so no problem, no problem, no problem.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Uh okay, so but actually, real quick, tell us because that's such a huge reason as into why we are here. I mean, honestly, that is the reason why we're here. So, yeah, smiling, how did you come across this phenomenal woman?

SPEAKER_03 2:43

Yeah, so um, so shout out to um another uh team member in Moon Lair, um Gary Okami, he's an amazing voice actor. Um, he knows he knows a lot of amazing people and just people who are just doing like awesome things and stuff. Um, and I remember um, you know, when you're trying to kind of promote kind of what you're doing and you're also producing what you're doing, it's kind of hard to find time to kind of like get on camera and talk about what you're doing. Um, some people have it, some people are really great doing it. Um, I've been told I'm I'm good at it, but I don't really like doing it. So um, and he kept saying he was like, you know what, I know someone that that could, you know, that just when they get into in front of the camera, they just light it up. And and um, you know, I kept putting it off just because I was like, I was like, okay, you know, I'll get to it, I'll get to it. Um, and finally, um Smiley did a a uh promotion video for Go Ganzi, uh my manga, and it was just it was fireworks, it was just amazing. I mean, the the the presence, it was it was the only way I can like describe it is just like really smooth and engaging. It was like chocolate and caramel, like it was just it was very and that's the only I'm I'm an artist as you can see, like just visual, like it was so smooth, like and you know, just the way she would talk about it, and it was like so cozy. Um, and so fast forward, we you know, we got to talking, we got we um uh you know, we did a couple of projects together, and we decided all of us decided to do something called um Moon Lair Extended, and it was gonna be kind of a show where um you know she's the host and she kind of highlights kind of everything that's going on you know in the lair. Um and that's one of the taglines. So um, so um so so she was doing that for a while. Like we would come over to our home studio, um, that's where I'm at right now, um, and we'd shoot these episodes of like you know, Moon Lair Extended. Um and another fast forward to um Otacon, um I had this idea of like, oh man, like you know, it'd be amazing if she goes around and kind of asks people what do they think about, you know, this, you know, this manga that we're promoting. And I was a little bit nervous because I know how hard that is, you know, not nervous for for um, you know, not nervous in her skill, but just being considerate of it's being personable is very, very difficult. And I I, you know, I a lot of people think, oh, it's so easy. No, it takes a lot of energy out of you. It it's you know, like, you know, sometimes you use that energy to kind of guard your, you know, you know, kind of guard you. So so um I I pitched her the idea, she was like, Oh, that seems really cool. And it was the first time doing it, and she knocked it out of the park. So I I can tell. Uh yeah, and we still need to put up the full video of just like that whole experience of just going around the convention. Um, but if you you know, if your audience goes to my Instagram, you'll see snippets of it. Um and yeah, so yeah, that that was the origin of meeting Smiley. And she has just been an awesome person and just so blessed to have her on the team. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

I can't say enough about that experience because it it really like walking, like I said, being in our booth in the gaming area, you know, I have so many, as I said that day, I have so many things going on between the VR and the gaming tournament, the podcast, a bunch of stuff. And like you said, it's to have somebody uh be able to go out and cover, you know, interact with different cosplayers, interact with different businesses, vendors. That's what my team was doing uh for the podcast, and they were going around interviewing people, interviewing podcast um cosplayers. So, you know, the one thing I did not anticipate was how they came across Smiley. Because, like I said, Pink Dream, she was downstairs, and she just said she looked in a direction and saw a woman smiling back at her, not knowing her name was Smiley, my explaining her earlier. So, to have that interaction happen and it lead to this, you know, situation. I think it's uh I'm so excited to see, you know, what happens moving forward uh between you know our interactions, but I definitely wanted to make sure as soon as possible, uh, because we're only about two, I think two and a half or three weeks removed from Oticon. Yeah, I wanted to make sure we had this interview happen as soon as possible. Absolutely. Uh, because there's so many different opportunities uh that I know about that I want to make sure that MoonLair is a part of, especially after you handed me your work, man. Like we'll talk about it in a second. We'll get to that. So the first thing I want to do, well, technically second, is I would like you to tell our audience, you know, how how this all came to be. Because, you know, Panio, uh Moon Lair, uh uh I mean your whole team, your whole squad, you got MM Smart, you got Willow Bean. I know there's a whole smiley, there's a whole squad. Oh man, yeah. Hi, Moon Lair. Moon Lair is like he's glowing in the background, a multicolor Japanese shades like this. This stuff goes down in the way.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

I tell you, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

No, definitely. Um, you know, and actually some of some of those people, um, it's gonna it's gonna surprise you and hopefully make you laugh when you find out who they are, especially Willow Bean. Um, but uh yeah, so um, so I guess to to kind of you know just just go back just a little bit. Um, you know, I I'm you know, I'm uh I was born in in 85, and you know, like and I and I specify that because some people would be like, oh I'm a 90s kid and so like that, you know, but they were born in the 90s and all that stuff. Um so you know, born in 85, you know, watch cart, you know, grew up on Teenage Man Ninja Turtles, cartoons, and all those different things. Um and um, you know, I definitely grew up with you know the the uh you know Dragon Ball Z, um Samurai Pizza Cat, but but really but really never kind of came into kind of the awakening of what anime was until kind of like around tsunami. Um and it was something, yeah, I'll tell you, right? And and and and I think for a lot of you know, you know, people, you know, our age, um, I mean I mean there are people who kind of you know got into the scene of like um like you know um you know tapes and all that stuff, which I did, but again, I didn't really came into the understanding of what it you know fully was until it happened. Yeah, I mean I I I watched a lot of anime that I that I find out now was anime when I was much younger. Um so I definitely you know got some of that experience. Um but yeah, so so you know I grew up with that, um, and I've always loved, you know, I always loved the art art form ever since, you know, um ever since finding out this is anime, this is uh this is a genre, this is you know, manga, this is a genre. Um and ever since I I watched um um I would say you know kind of the the Rama one half, Outlaw Star, you know, uh Tenchi Muo. It was something, yeah, I'll tell you, dude, I'm I'm classic one. Um I knew I wanted to do that. And I know that's very, you know, like like when people talk about that, they they you know, I you know, I believe it when they say it because it is something very infectious, like when you see it and stuff like that. Um but I I want to say after a while, you know, um, you know, when I got a little bit older, got into the workforce, um, you know, I was doing freelance artwork for a long time. I kind of put that kind of on the back burner for for a good while. Um because it was very, and one thing I think, you know, anime and manga they do really well is really capture that sort of beautiful sort of figure and like fun. And it was definitely, you know, I think that's the reason why I put it on the back burner, just because I was like, alright, you know, this is all fun, this is all fandom, but I you know, I don't think I can, you know, I don't think I can make a living about this, you know. I yeah, I I pro I probably won't pursue this. So I put it on the back burner and went on to do, you know, I've done comics, I've done uh illustration books, again, freelance art artists. Um and I ended up um uh getting a job um at a uh an art school uh here in Maryland. Um and you know, I was doing you know fine art, you know, kind of you know teaching that, which I I really enjoyed. Um and but I also while teaching you know fine art, I was uh I was originally hired to be uh a comic book um instructor. And you know, because I actually um just a real quick uh story, that's how you know my employer found me. Like, you know, I was like I was tabling and you know they had a comic book program, and so I was like, yeah, like I definitely would love to do it. So um, so I was doing that for a while, and then um one of my students, and and actually I'm definitely fast forwarding, so around like 2019, um one of my students was like, you know, have you ever done like a manga before? And when I was younger, like of course I've done a manga before, but you know, I never took it like super serious or or took it really far. So I was like, no, and I was like, but you know what? Let me let me give it a try. And so I sat down, I started to, I I I got back into kind of looking at things that I liked and stuff like that. And as I was working on it, I was like, yo, this is really fun. Like, man, I'm like, I'm like getting it back. Like, and the more I worked on it, the more I was like, I was like, man, this is super fun. So so it started off with with just a way to kind of show my you know, show my students like, yeah, you know, you can do a manga. Um, and but it also kind of accidentally kind of started off as I I guess I wanted to kind of show my students that this is something that you can do. Like we live in, you know, you know, we live in the best time, and I now tell people we live in the best time to do whatever you want. Like, you know, people are making dreams happen, like you know, from their from their house. And so um so from there I just kept working on it. Um, and then Go Ganzi was kind of it, and actually that was the story, and it and it went through a lot of revisions. Um, but um after a while it just it just started morphing, and then I was like, you know what? I was like, yo, let's make a company, like let's make a let's let's make a studio. That's that's what it was. I was like, because that was a that was a childhood dream of mine. I was like, I want to I want to have a studio, like because I because I would you know every kid dreams about owning their studios and doing fun things and stuff. Um and strangely enough, um uh Rob Rob Deerdack, uh from Big and Rob. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, for some reason, he had kind of a a big impact on my mentality when it came to kind of like business and fun. Like, you know, this man was out here like, I want to do this, I want to do that. And I was like, Oh, that is so cool. So, so um when I started doing this, I was I was like, I'm gonna see like how far I can kind of take this and stuff. Um, and then yeah, Moon Lair kind of started from from Go Ganzi. Go Ganzi was first, you know, and then Moon Lair kind of spawned from that, and uh yeah, we've just been kind of growing ever since. So yeah, I know that was a long way.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

No, no, no, that's that's that's what that's what people want to hear because it's you know, uh like you said, a lot of people and young or old, they have you know youthful aspirations of what they want to do. You know, some people are like, Well, I want to be a Power Ranger when I grow up, or you know, I want to be an artist, or I want to be, you know, I want to play video games for for my career. Like that was never mine. Uh but lo and behold, I because I would always tell people, I feel like you can you can play video games and make decent money. Yeah. Now look at look at it now.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

I'm telling you. No, it's uh it's a wild, it's a wild world that we're living in, and it's it's truly, it's truly amazing. I'm I'm I'm blessed to to be living in this time of you know of just opportunity, honestly. Like it's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Nah, no 100%. And and I have to say, Google Gandhi, uh, whoo! Man. So, okay, so like I said earlier, uh when Pedio came to our my booth at Odecon, um, you know, I was just you know trying to see, you know, meet him, you know, have a quick conversation, see what we can do in the future. And then he like just handed me, because Smiley had already brought one of the issues up to the booth, and I politely handed it back to her because I'm like, you're not just gonna give me one of these copies. Normally, you know, I buy my manga if I have to, I buy my issues, my comics, everything like that. So then when he comes to the booth, he walks up to me and hands it back. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, this is yours. And then he had the audacity to then hand it to me and then sign it. And I'm like, Absolutely, bro, you can't just do like something like now I gotta frame it, now I gotta vacuum feel it, gotta go on the wall behind me. No, this is no, don't go, Ganzi. Like, I like I like I told him before we started, I read, because it's issue one. I read all the way through it, and normally, and this is probably why I take like and the listeners know, out of all of our panelists, I'm probably the last person who's gonna read a manga. And the reason why is because I like to enjoy a story, enjoy a movie. That's why that's why One Piece is one of my favorite anime. It's because I enjoy the over a thousand episodes I'm on this journey for life. Let's keep it going. So the fact that they said it's about to end, it's scaring me, but that's beside the point. So with the manga starting it, it's like, okay, I started it page two, page two. I was like, wait a minute, I'm going really fast. Like I think I finished this. They're gonna finish this in less than 30 minutes. Because like it captures you in going through each of the sections of the volume, like the flashbacks, the um, the the the the kind of hidden story you're and like one of the things I love is there's two like groups, and I'm not I I everybody would know I don't give away anything about a movie TV show now. So you ain't gonna get no no secret side of me, but there's two groups that they that that I say they is if Panio isn't on the on the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

No, no, it's no, it it it's you know, it's something I told, and just real quick, uh I it's something I told I I I I craft these things in a way that like you know I want to kind of separate, you know, myself. And I like because I remember the fandom. I remember the fandom of talking about things like you know, you know, obviously we wasn't a part of Dragon Ball Z, but like I love when people talk like that, you know, like when they sort of like remove the creator out of it and just focus on like it's it's it's nice, it's nice because once you find out it's create, like, well, for me, and this is only for me, when they find out it's like a creation, like there's something kind of artificial about it, so uh which is nothing bad, it's just like I I'm like, man, like I you know, I I I love, you know, I don't talk about Toriyama. I'm just like, oh Goku is this, and yeah, like these are real people, like so, so no, it's Saliba.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

No, no, no, no, no. And and I have to say, like, that's a good point because in this, in this, in this first volume, the world is slowly being built. And it's the one thing about me, and it's funny, I was I was talking to somebody about this the other day about you know, people who can um you know narrate in their head and also their visual, you see visuals in their head as well. So with me reading the manga, I'm building the world. It's like in full color in my head. Like there's like it's not in black or white at all. Granted, he did give me a color uh on the front. But you know, the oh uh now I want to make sure I say his name right. Is it Obasi? It's Obasi, yeah. Okay, good, yeah, absolutely. I'm also Nigerian, so thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yes, absolutely. That's that's definitely, yeah, that's definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So the the vibe of Obasi, like it, like it gives it literally gives me like throwback anime vibes. Like it kind of gives me like a tenshi muyo, uh, like when his face like distorts when he's like when he loves the the dumplings and the chocolate dumplings. I'm one for a chaco dumpling, not gonna lie. That was epic. The fight with the I'ma say, the only thing I'm gonna say, hamster. Was it a hamster? Or was it a hamster?

SPEAKER_03 19:21

You know, it's uh it was a thing of it, like a it's a crossbreed of a thing, which which again speaking of Tenchimu, that you know, it was like a rabbit and a squirrel. You're like, I don't really know what it is. I'm exactly until you it we'll we'll get into it. We'll get into it.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

No, because that's literally the vibe I got, like the whole fight between Obasi and this, you know, I'll I'll just say uh I don't say rodent, but this like a like a hamster Pikachu rabbit type of thing. Absolutely like for the Chaco Gobling. That that was its own fight scene inside of this first volume. I loved it. Um the introduction to the powers, uh, and you know, some of our other panelists like Kaze Shinryu, he's a stickler or announcing what the powers are and making sure, especially in the first volume, making sure that there's an ability for them to grow. And yeah, the way that you lightly touched on them, even you know, obviously the cover, you can see something going on, you can see a boss, you can see a weapon in his hands, you're like, okay, so obviously we're gonna talk about it. And it doesn't really get it gets touched on, but it doesn't get introduced fully when you get through it. So it's like, I bet. So I got I got something to build on. We got some we got some volumes coming. So actually, I gotta go to the Moonlayer website, gotta order some more because that's that's gotta happen. So like the question with Obasi, because like you said, or rather with Gogo Gan uh Gon sorry, Gonzi, you said this came first and then Moonlayer. So where how? Like what what was the what was the the props? Like what what sparks this this the story?

SPEAKER_03 20:55

Yeah, no, so um, so like I said, I'm I'm I'm a I'm a a retro anime fan and it's something that like you know I don't even mean to do it sometimes. It's just what I grew up with is just like I and again I I kind of um now understanding what I do now is what I've been doing kind of like my whole life. Like when I sit down and and watch something, like I like like I study the the tempo of things and stuff like that, like you know, and and that's one thing that I'm um you know I'm I'm not good at too many things, but one thing that I'm like okay, like I I can figure out tempos of certain things. Um so I I lost myself on that one. Um the where it kind of came from was I I I liked I liked stories that that had like I mean definitely messages and stuff like that, but um you know things with adventures and things that that uh that that can kind of take you places, and um it was funny because uh me and my Wife, we decided to rewatch uh uh Digimon, strangely enough. The original one, and people sleep on that. Seriously, go back, check it out. They were doing Endgame before Endgame started. Yo, all I'm gonna say is like when they came to the real world, that was that was monumental.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Edge your seats.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Yeah, you you had to tune in. You had to tune in.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Till this day, I have not gotten over wizard mod. People will tell you, I have not gotten over wizard mod at all.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

That's hard, yeah. That is hard, I'll tell you. So um, so we watched that, and um I was at at the time I was really I was really big into Sword Art Online. Um, and I actually really liked it. I I I love I love the simplicity of the story, not not not saying that it's like you know, super, you know, dumb or anything like that, but it just it got it got into it and you kind of grew with these characters and there was you know there was there was emotion. And I found myself starting to like kind of like really kind of study you know stories, like, like, like, like like some of the new stuff, um, especially with the power system because I I felt like older anime never really touched on power systems. I could be wrong about that, but well, Dragon Ball Z did.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Dragon Ball Z, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Dragon Ball Z did, yeah. Um, but it was like I love the uh I do like some of the complications, like complicated uh power systems that they're they're introducing now. There's a lot more thinking um in involved. Um and um and so anyways, that was all the the the inspiration behind it. Um but I I I really wanted to just you know kind of tell a story that that you know had all of the had all the ingredients that I guess I just mentioned, um, but had kind of a message behind it. Um duality. I I really I really love the I really love the the thought process behind duality of like you know either opposites, you know, or or kind of having two people traveling down kind of the same road or or just sort of choosing and without giving too much away, like it was something that I found really interesting about about like you know Obassi is just like you know, him kind of running away, trying to run away from his responsibilities and thinking that's the right thing to do. Um and then finding out that sometimes that's the wrong thing to do. Um and so um so I love I love those those type of stories that kind of explain uh or that kind of dive into those type of things. Um but and and as I started working on the story a little bit more, um, it it just started like I started to see that like this could be a thing. And um, if you go on to my to my Instagram, you'll see I I was doing um I was doing uh um kind of uh screen grabs, like like kind of like anime screen grabs of Obasi, and it just felt real. Like the more I started you know doing the story, I was like, man, this this could be a thing. And it just it just it just grew and grew. And so um so so from there, from just the the the belief of like man we got something here, and I was also you know, um my wife, who is MM Smart, yeah um, you know, and she's a you know she's a I I would say a comic book fan first and then an anime, you know, um you know watcher and and manga reader um second because she started off with with um with uh um with uh comics um and then she started getting introduced um to to anime and manga a little bit later.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Was that you or was that just in general?

SPEAKER_03 25:57

Uh you know, and I definitely don't want to take all the credit. Um but um I mean she she watched a little bit of it, um, but um definitely when we started you know um kind of seeing each other, um, I definitely introduced her to like Dragon Ball Z and all this other stuff. Um but now she she is like she watches and reads more than me. Like honestly, like you know, she is totally caught up with all the new stuff and uh and I'm I'm feeling like man, you know. Um but but but just talking with her, we you know, just for her seeing kind of like what's out, you know, she was totally on board with like you know, going from working on you know a single story to be like, yo, let's do it. Like, you know, and it's and it's fun. I mean, I mean, we have a great time bouncing ideas off of each other and just like you know, talking. I mean, Go Ganzi was actually our first joint project because we were like talk, you know, we would talk about you know you know uh the family relationships that you know either Obasi has or the relationships that the other characters have to each other. Yeah, and it was just it was so it was so fun to just get just get into it and stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Nah, nah, it's and you you can see even in the first volume the connections, the word well connections, yes, the different relationships, um, and how Basi treats you know his relationship with Myra, how he treats his relationship with Senzo, how he treats his relationship with what's his name, uh Cassian, is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen it many times in other anime. Absolutely. And I appreciated it here. Also, what I appreciated uh from the artist, of course, to the to the reader, um, is how you at the end of volume one kind of gave uh like brief descriptions on kind of like giving me get giving giving the reader a little bit of an insight into who this character is and like what you what you could expect from them and how their personality or characteristics are. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

No, absolutely. And and and again, like you know, these these characters that have become so real, like, you know, and I'm just like, you know, I'm I'm even excited to kind of see like because it's it's it's very it's very weird. Sometimes, sometimes they do write themselves without sounding artsy fartsy. Sometimes they write themselves where you're like, man, that is cold. Like sometimes, like, I'll write it, and I'll be like, man, that line that that dude said, like, that's cold. Like, you know. Yeah, no, it it's and I can't, I don't want to say nothing.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Yeah, I know. No, you are so right.

SPEAKER_03 28:31

Because like, uh, I mean, you can say it in say it like in your head, and then and then, but when you see it visually, and then you you you you you you know read it. Um, and actually, we have a couple of things that you know I definitely want to talk about a little bit later as far as just visual and audio um wise, because um what we're trying to do with you know just Moon Lair as far as like other things, like we're trying to take it to the next level of just of just you know manga engagement. Like we like we have some really cool things going on.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

So yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

I mean, look, like I said, I uh go go gonzai is definitely gonna be like on the hit list. Like I've got to continue this. You and like you said, the uh from obviously coming from you, if if you feel like it's writing itself, from my standpoint, I already can visualize the anime. So I'm already excited to continue reading and I can visually see the anime create itself. The fight scenes, like it's almost giving like rustic Naruto in like in my mind, how those fight scenes were. So then when the budget goes up, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yeah, no, and and actually, um definitely um Naruto was definitely a um I I think that's something else too that that I that I forgot. Like, like the coming of age and seeing like you know characters grow, like you know, not just you know, uh maturity-wise, but like physically wise, like that's something I definitely have in store for um for uh Googanzi and Obasi. Like I want him to not only grow, like you know, um, I know some people um either on accident or you know, kind of whatever, but they they they make their their character, you know, super, you know, OP or super understanding, um, which it's very easy to do. So I don't I definitely don't want to knock, you know, you know, people because you know you're coming from a a mature, you know, thought process. It's actually really difficult to write a character who is not likable or who is actually really ignorant. Like it uh it's very hard, like you know, because it can come off of you know either bad writing or something like that. So so it is very difficult, but I definitely wanted him to kind of grow from you know, so when you look back, just like a Naruto, you look back and you see how silly it was, and then you see him like, oh snap, like he like, yeah, he's grown a lot.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

He's grown a lot, like that's one of the things I always, you know, when people always have those kind of battle conversations about oh, he could have beat him, he could have beat her, so on and so I'm like at the end of the day, they were kids. There was kids, yeah. I've seen it. And there was a maturity level and there was a life uh uh situation that they had to go through to get to the next stage. So you know, and but with go with Obasi, like you said, like he's already again trying my best not to be like, but he's he's he's he's like you said, he's running away from his responsibility, so he's already at a certain level, but there is certain things he still needs to mature from. And um, I I I love the the story starting you with a point of okay, you're you're I'm not gonna say you're making him likable, but you're you're giving him very uh nostalgic uh protagonist like ability traits. Um but with that hidden, those hidden secrets that I was talking about before, the the the different organizations, the different groups, and not knowing exactly where the protagonist or where the main character lies, you kind of like, hmm, should I be rooting for him? Yeah, is he gonna is there a twist?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Yeah, no, and that's something that that I really worked hard to to make sure that that we put in. And again, myself, try not I'm trying hard not to give things away, but that that is you know, that is something that I'm glad people are picking up on because like um I feel like you know um like I feel like Walking Dead did it really well where you you'd be rooting for a person and then they'll do something and you're like I can't believe you do that, man. Like you'd be like exactly, and you'll be you you'll be like, Man, you're a scumbag. I I trusted you and stuff like that. Yeah, and anime can do that really, really well. And I and yeah, I'll tell you, yeah. That's all I'm gonna say. And sometimes with the main character, sometimes they don't want to do that. They want to kind of keep him like in a you know in a box and stuff like that. Not to say that's gonna happen, but but there could be a that there could be something again. I'm trying not to give it away.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

No, no, no. Okay, let's not let's not let's not say anything else because I as an interviewer I want to you know dig in for the answers, but as a reader, I want to be surprised.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

No, and I I I appreciate that because again, like I I I love the fandom. I love I love, I mean, I'm I'm a fan of a lot of things, but I I find it really interesting and I love it seeing other people's fandoms, like the way they talk about One Piece, the way they talk about, like I have a friend um uh Gary who talks about um wrestling. Um not necessarily, uh I mean necessarily, yeah. Um but but also like like you know, um all pro Japan, like like he like he talks about the tapes, and I'm like, I find that so fascinating because it takes you back to that time of just pure fandom, like it's very childish. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

And that's interesting you say that. I'm not about to get into a wrestling conversation. But you're right, and it's what I tell people all the time, you know. Even back when I was younger, people always like, oh, wrestling is fake. I was like, look, wrestling is a man's telenovela. Yes, let it go.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Like, if you if you allow yourself, just like when you watch cartoons, anime, dramas, sitcoms, when you allow yourself to be engulfed by the world, everything over there is real.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

It's real.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

You're just watching it through a camera.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Like this person has beef with that person, this person's beating up that person, that person's cheated on that person. So it's just let the world do what it does. Nobody talks about you when you watch his shows. Don't talk about being my mother.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

No, and and and I and I also tell people if it invokes you to have an emotion, it's it's real. Like, I mean, I'm I mean, wrestling. I remember back in the day, like SmackDown. I mean, I used to sit there and I would get so pissed when something would happen, and then they would cut it and they it would be the end of it, and you're like, I can't believe old dude just hit him with a chair. And that's he's a cheater. Like, yeah, you're like yeah, exactly. And and that's real. If it is, if it creates an emotion where you're just like, come on, man, like that's yes, oh, that's so rare. If you get that, that you got something. You got it.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

If you can snatch somebody's attention to the point where they want to see what's happening next, the next issue, next week, in the next episode, whatever it is, yeah, you you know you're doing it right. One person who used to always do that, now this is not a wrestling conversation, I promise. Yeah, I got you. One person used to always do that is Eddie Guerrero. Oh, yeah. That's why across the board, so many people love and respect Eddie Girl. Because no matter what, whether he was a heel, whether he was a baby face, oh yeah, if if he pretended like lie, cheating still, hit the chair on the ground.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

This is people are hooked.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Because it's like, yo, this is crazy. Why nobody catch him?

SPEAKER_03 35:47

I'll tell you. No, no, I agree. Actually, we're gonna have to come back and uh about that because I gotta bring I gotta bring my boy Okali because he's like wrestling.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

We can have this. I'm down, I'm down, I'm down.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

So speaking, speaking of, and I'm not gonna call her OP character because obviously I only have two issues. So I can't really say that. Okay, but if I'm going to talk about anybody so far from the moon layer from the moon's layer, yeah, they may be an OP character right here is uh from AK Yumi. I got issues one and two. There you go. I was blessed. Yeah. This so these are you know, these are uh I would call you know Gogo Ganzi more of a full-on manga, but these are more comic manga for me. Yeah, so shorter. Um I but I love the pacing, like you know, the the attitude, the pacing in it, the cliffhangers, but they're respectable cliffhangers. You know, sometimes the sword will swing, but then it'll stop. You don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

Yeah, no, no, no. And I appreciate Yumi.

SPEAKER_01 36:56

So starting with, you know, I thought before Gogo Ganzi uh with Obazi, that was kind of one of the leaders of the Moonlayer crew before Moonlayer existed. So when did AK Yumi come in? Was that like after Moonlayer, shortly after Obazi?

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Yeah, um, so believe it or not, it was it was um after after the Moonlayer kind of was created, um, after the the studio was created, but it was running simultaneously with Go Ganzi. I was drawing it while I was and I'll tell any, I'll tell a actually, you know what? I'll tell any artist, you know, try it out. See, see how you like it. Because I don't know. No, and the only reason the only reason I put that is because sometimes like you know, like I'm one of those people, like if you tell me like I wouldn't do it, I'll be like, I'll try it. Like, you know, like so, so like, because sometimes you just need to experience it and be like, yeah, that was rough. That was rough. Um, and then you can walk away with something. And I was blessed to walk away with, you know, um, you know, a a story that again, my you know, my wife helped me sort of craft on as far as like story-wise, we would bounce ideas off each other. Um, and in the in like a year, I want to say in in yeah, just shortly a year, we already had like you know, you know, two manga IPs that you know, um yeah, we and I would have I would have I wouldn't have done it if I didn't kind of like think I could handle it, but it was just yeah, it was just something that I was like, I was like, you know, I kind of want to see how this is kind of gonna go. So um, so yeah, yeah, it was simultaneously.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

I'm look what I see the reason why I'm like, I don't know how you did it, brother, is because and this is what I told you while we're at Otacon, like just looking between Gogo Ganzi and AKYumi, the art style, it's like it's not similar. Like you can tell the same, I can tell you Drew it, right? Yeah, but like I was telling you, like they're both nostalgic art styles, yeah. And like I said, Gogo Ganji gives me like Tensi Muyo, while AK Yumi kind of gives me like Evangelion, kind of Gundam style. And it's even even in how the pages are are done, kind of like almost like a phase, like it's so cool, bro. It's like a manga comic, it's not fair.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

So you're doing this. Hey, so so and I'm so glad you you you caught that. Um, and it's something that I discovered. Um, so it and actually it just you just made me um realize something. I I I like taking um um mental breaks when it comes to art styles. If I keep doing something over and over again, I kind of get bored, I get uninterested. But if I'm allowed to work on numerous things, sometimes to my you know to my downfall, and and I'm working on getting organized because organization, let me tell you, I'm the spokesperson now, I'm like it organized. Um but so I um but I found out that I actually I actually see things kind of like what you were saying, I see things kind of in color and in anime form because like um I wasn't a real I I I was a big manga reader back in my younger day, but as I got older, just because I was moving around a lot, um, and I'm I'm noticing I'm just very visual. Like I I need I need like you know sensories, like you know, sounds, you know, sights, you know, move movement. Um and so while I was doing this, I was like, I actually I can picture a lot of things better when they're in color because I can I can visualize how they're moving. Um and so AK Yumi was something that I was like, you know what, I really want to try um to see if I can do it in you know in color. And and that that haze actually started from me doing um, you know, like like screen grabs of Gol Ganzi. I figured out how to like make it look like you know it was either captured from a from an anime. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And once I figured it out, I was like, oh, this is gonna be my thing. This is gonna be my thing. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

No, one hundred no, because and the next thing I was gonna say is because and you see you you mentioned the point about sounds and like your I always say anomatope. Your your sound, like your you know, throwback to the comic, you know, words of the sounds, and then it looks like a uh what's it called? Not a graphic novel, a uh like a web tune. Like when you're watching it, it's like you like a moving comic, like you're moving from panels.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

Absolutely page to page.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

I'm like, and then I'm like oh because I even told you at Eldocon, I was like, I appreciate, especially for those who you know maybe aren't manga readers, at the back of every page or at the back of at least for the ones I have, at the back of every novel, you have you're reading this the wrong way. You give them like read it this way, it's not a normal comment, read it this way. So and even in your in akayumi, the way that the sword strikes, the way that the action moves, the way that the um the I say sound effects, as if there's actual sound coming out.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

But again, no, it's all in my head.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

But the sound effects, even the direction in which they move guides your eyes towards the next bit of action. And I think that is so like fourth, like fourth wall intelligence. Yeah. Because it's like you're not like for the person reading it, you're not thinking that you put that much because, like you said, if I'm engulfed in the world, I'm not thinking about the creator, the artist, but as I'm the interviewer, I'm like, that's such a high level of detail to put into it. I don't know if you did it for the lit the reader or you did it just to make sure a KUMI is legit, but both are true right here, where I'm following along and she's she's a badass also.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

No, I I appreciate that. Yeah, no, and and even just to kind of go to that, like, you know, so that's that's a um that's a skill that every you know either manga or comic artist needs to know. It's called um um you know, page layout and page flow. Um everything, you know, it obviously I I I I I teach my students this, you know. Um yeah, everything, it's really crazy. Um once you learn that, when you look at any comic, any any really good comic that where your eye be, you know, your eye is moving, and you're like, wow, this is moving really, you know, nicely. You'll notice certain certain little small cues, and sometimes they're pretty big, but you'll notice little cues to direct your eyes from here to there to there. And from manga artists to convocate artists, like you know, that's one of the things I would I would say you have to master because it's it's all about it's kind of psychological manipulation. Like you you re it really is like I I mean I mean when you think about advertisement, I mean that's the reason why it's such a big business. Like, you know, imagery, uh colors um can make you buy a Tesla to buy a cheeseburger, like or makes you choose what kind of drink you want to get. Um, and you know, comics is the same way, like you know, like it's one of those things you're manipulating the eye to go this way or to stop the brain from going too far over and then bring it back down and stuff. And it's a it's a it's a skill that that you know I've been working on for a very, very long time. Um and it and it crosses over to manga really, really nicely. Um, but but you know, comics is something definitely very, very heavy in it. Um and um and actually just to touch on the the sound effects or the the um automatopias, um Go Ganzi, I really studied kind of the you know the kanji and and and um and uh the Japanese uh sound effects um really extensively and um you know almost to a point where I'm I'm like I like I know I I know I looked at this thing a hundred times, but if someone comes up to me and says like hey that's wrong, I will have to accept it because like yeah, no, because I've looked over it so many times, you know, and I've I've you know and there and there were times where if I wasn't sure about it, I wouldn't put it in. I would be like, nah, even though this would be perfect for it. I was like, I'm not I'm not willing to, you know, you know, do something that I'm not fully understanding, you know, what it is and stuff like that. Um so with AKUM, I was just like, just for time's sake, I was like, let me see if it would work with kind of American sound effects. And and it does because like you know, manga has you know American sound effects in there, you know, or certain things. So um, but I I definitely enjoyed the the you know the uh the challenge of looking up you know onamanopias in sort of kanji or in you know Japanese. So for for volume two, I may continue that, you know, you know, just because it it it looks it it looks authentic and I wanted it to be authentic. Like, you know, I wanted people to and and and I'm glad you said it when you picked up Go Ganzi, you're like this is a manga, you know, AKYumi um is more comic book form, and so it was kind of an experiment to see like you know if I can kind of capture that. And I'm and I'm so glad that I I captured the look where where people don't second guess it, you know, even once they meet me, they're like, oh, you know, we never had that happen. And and and just you know, for the record straight, like I'm definitely not one of those purists. If you want to call, you know, if you want to call this a you know a comic, I have no problem with it. I am I'm not gonna be like, well, actually. No, no, no. No, because like honestly, like, you know, um, I don't know if you knew this, but um uh the original Pokemon used to come in, these like the Pokemon comics used to come in, like, you know, stuff like this size. Um, and you know, we we called it I like we called it a comic in the beginning, but then when you found out it was called a manga, like you know, it it didn't change the content in it and stuff like that. So um, so it's it's something I definitely want to to, you know, I definitely want to just invoke that sort of like we're here to entertain, like we're having fun, like so no, we are not, we're not trying to battle anybody over it.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

Somebody's gonna fight me on it. Yeah, yeah. Somebody's going to say something in the comments. I'm prepared. I'm saying it for the listeners who may, because again, it's it's it's not just about, you know, again, like you said, it's not all for the purists, it's for the people who want to pick it up. Because if somebody sees, you know, you know, maybe if they look at you know, Gogo Ganzi, for some apparent reason they think the the thickness is a challenge. I don't know. There's some people who feel that way. Yeah. So if I say, you know, AKY is kind of comic book length comic book size, then now it's like, okay, this is something you can pick up. I mean, even I think at Odacon, you had a sticker on the back of some of these that said, pick me up, read me. Yeah, exactly. So it's like, okay, based off the size, you can stand there at the table, get a little taste, exactly. Probably go through all of them, like, hmm, I want to, I want to buy some more, I want to buy the collection. So yeah, no, no, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 47:53

Absolutely. And and just another thing, we um so we um just to make sure that we're staying on brand and we're kind of keeping all the books kind of the same, once we get to a certain length, um, we're definitely going to compile them and kind of shrink them down, or definitely shrink them down to a more sort of manga format. Um, you know, because again, it's something that we um it's something that that you know, like we're doing this for fun, but we also want to have that sort of brand recognition. And and we are kind of a manga studio, like, you know, uh yeah, studio. So it's something that we enjoy. I love the look, I love the look of manga. Like I mean, I I I love you know the whole sequential art look, but manga is something that I'm like, you know what? I I you know I love this, I grew up with it. So so yeah, so we so once we get enough, we will be shrinking things down. But for bite size, like you said, for issues, I think they're great. That's what that's what I grew up with, you know. Like I didn't get the big old thick, you know, omnibus, like you know.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

So and and and just one last thing, and I'll uh I promise. Um, I actually um back in the day you could order um Dragon Ball um uh from Biz Media. Um I think it was 95, it was like 95 or 96, and you can actually order or you could order the um complete Dragon Ball Z um books, and they sent it to me, and it was they literally sent it to me kind of in this form. Wow, and when I got it, I was like, what am I supposed to do with all these? I was like, man, and so I'm reading them, and that's when I found out Dragon Ball wasn't actually for kids.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

So yes, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:35

I was like, oh, because again, I was used to watching the the TV show that was very heavily edited, which I had no idea about. Heavily edited, yeah, absolutely. So, so yeah, so it was just it it's interesting, you know, knowing how we kind of consume these things. Now we consume it, you know, in the more traditional way, so you know, I would do it more this way because people recognize it kind of like this, and you know, I recognize it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

Makes perfect sense. And you know, from one comic manga to another one, uh, so this one, King of Justice, Astro Blue. Now, let me tell you how I feel about this one. Uh because when when you when you presented this to me, I always have to go back to that, like within the first page, or I guess two pages, I was like, why is there a black Tagoro brother?

SPEAKER_03 50:26

Listen, and I'm so glad you said that because Tagoro's my guy, man.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Like, I man, like we were having a whole full-blown conversation.

SPEAKER_03 50:42

Yo, Tagoro, you know, I'm glad because Tagoro is my guy, dude. Actually, I got a figure of him over there.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

See, now I need to go get a Tagoro figure, Brandon. Um, but like, no, it's like from the from the long trench coat sports jacket to the to the low-cut shirt to the you know, kind of pajama harem pants where you're gonna get it. There you go, like you couldn't tell me that this isn't like 90s Martin mixed with Yu-Gi-Ho-show. I'm trying to. That's what it is. Like, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_03 51:15

Listen, and and so many, you know, so many, so many of like, you know, the protagonists and heroes of like cartoons, like, I mean, I mean, they dress like that to the point where I thought that was a costume. Like, you know, um, you know what I mean? Like, and and actually I think I I think I came you know, you know, uh subconsciously to that. Because I was just like, this is this guy's look, like, you know. Um and actually speaking of comics and and manga, um, I tell people this is I I feel this is the mix of both comics and manga that that like we would we would present to just anybody because like with the comics, it is definitely you know a superhero to manga. If you're into tokusatsu, Henshin, all those different things, like I it's one of those things that I feel can it can really kind of melt things together, which I know a lot of people don't like it just because I feel it hasn't been done, you know, in a certain way. So I definitely get that. So if I was to throw my hat into it, I'm putting my all into this.

SPEAKER_01 52:24

So, you know, I mean I appreciate it because like I said, it's it one of the things that I I always question uh thinking about like older anime, like your Outlaw Stars, your uh Bashus MP, uh your um Cowboy Bebop is you know, a lot of these anime or manga were supposed to be um post-apocalyptic. They're supposed to be like in the future, like people are traveling from planet to planet, or people are on like hovercrafts and stuff like that. Right. But they're dressed like they're in the you know 60s, 70s, 80s. Right, you're right. So it's like, okay, so did fashion restart? Did you not decide to like I obviously you you you drew this back in the 80s and 90s, yeah. You could have stuck to that. So for me, I appreciate In Dasher Blue, you picked a time period and that's what's going on. Yeah, and then that's the outfit. So like I appreciate it so much, but you're right in terms of like that the style of clothing, because like Darien from Sailor Moon would just like to rubinet. Like it's it's it's a style that those guys with like those those shoulders.

SPEAKER_00 53:34

Yeah, that's that's what they was rocking in those.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

Let me tell you, shoulder pads, I'm the actually uh again, shout out to Okami. I'm the king of shoulder pads, man. Oh, and I grew up in that era, and I'm like, yo, like again, young young brother to girl. That that that dude didn't need no shoulder pads, but he he was rocking though. And I mean when you think about even Star Wars, like, you know, Star Wars, like, I mean, they're dressing in these very long. Absolutely. So yeah, no, um, it it's it's a unique thing that I I I just feel like I think that's the reason why it's stuck around, just because it's it's it visually gives you a break and it kind of doesn't have the person blend in, like, you know, like if they're all techno, you know, sort of technoed up, um, sometimes they can blend in, which is you know definitely okay. Um, but it has that sort of backdrop, you know, having something, something that's sort of contrasting from the backdrop to you know, to whoever's in front of it and stuff. And and and and and that's just that's just off the top of my head that I can think of why it kind of works. It probably works on so many other levels, but um, for me, I'm like having a futuristic city, but you have people walking around in like you know, either normal clothes or old clothes, and you're kind of like, oh wow, like that's strange. Like exactly like okay. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

So where did because you know, obviously this gives like you know, super sentai vibes. So where what what was the where did King of Justice Dash would go come from? Like what was the inspiration?

SPEAKER_03 55:10

Yeah, so yeah, uh again, it was the it was the um, you know, I grew up watching Thundercats. Um yeah, I'll tell you, bro. Thundercats, Silverhawk, um, you know, I'm telling you, Silvercat! And and these are, you know, I'm like, these are these are classic things that I'm now now that I'm younger, I'm I'm actually seeing an appreciation for for just um storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

Now that I'm younger, I don't know if you noticed that, but you said now that I'm younger, so I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 55:39

Oh yeah. Oh, oh I'm sorry. Now that I'm older, I'm so sorry. I'm glad you caught that. Yeah, because people were like, what I'm so glad you caught that. I will now try to slow down because I don't think so. No, I appreciate that. Because my my wife would have would have been like, you know, you just said now that you're younger. Like um now that I am older, I'm starting to appreciate um kind of like the storytelling and also the type of characters that were introduced to us. Um it's really it's really hard to write a upstanding and kind of good guy. Like I feel that's very hard because sometimes they can come off campy. There's nothing wrong with it, but it can come off kind of boring a little bit. To certain people, yeah. Yeah, to certain people. And I feel like, you know, you have characters like you know, you know, um, you know, Superman still going around and stuff like that, you know, um, where he's kind of like, like, I mean, he's still getting into like you know, he's getting into his anksy, you know, stage and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 56:45

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 56:47

Oh, I mean, Batman, you know, once once Batman turned, like, I mean, stories galore, because yeah, you know, you can deal with, like, you know, we we associate a lot with kind of like, you know, the um you know, the struggle. And and and definitely uh Trace, um um uh who is Dasher Blue is definitely gonna have those. Um but I was like, you know what? I'm I'm looking back at some of these characters, and and I really want to try my best to write a character who is is try is is a good guy and who is trying to be a good guy. And um and I I guess trying to um get that that experience of like when you see this character and when you see other characters, like because there's gonna be other characters introduced into his team, you want to be around that. Like, you know, teenage mutant ninja turtles, like you wanted to be around that. Like you know, you wanted to be you wanted to be part of the crew, you know. Um and and and something about being safe, like you know, like knowing this person is gonna have your back and and just I don't know, it it it so it was inspired by that, but also wanting someone that that looked iconic and very cool, yeah. Um, and for for that, like um I was I was um I was big into to gacha man um for for a while. Um and it was like the 90 um 1995 version, like the older one I used to see on Cartoon Network, but the 1995 um OVA, I was just like, man, this is really cool. Um and I I noticed how they took a very old property and they sort of like revised it, and I was like, yo, this is I was like, yo, this is pretty cool. Um looking at Guyver. Um, like all these, like all these like Henshin, you know, really diving into the Henshin, you know, genre, like you know, um Common Rider. I'm working my way through Common Rider, it's a lot. It's a lot, it's yeah, it's a lot. So um, but but yeah, and and and also just you know, touching on just you know, just the way Trace even looks, just you know, you know, kind of you know, you know, being an African American, um, like that's something in itself that was like, you know, again, I was like, man, I'd you know, I watched all these shows, but you know, that character, I would have been, I would have been like, yo, this dude turns into like oh snap, like this is wild. And I I I think older, um, not necessarily older cartoons, but like, you know, like a certain time period, they really experimented with with heroes, like what they looked like and what they did, and and like where they were located at. And I feel like um like you know, having you know, having trace and you know kind of you know what he looks like in space, like it's already kind of again that sort of backdrop of like, yo, I gotta know who this dude is. You know, this dude, any and he transforms and he's fighting monsters, like I didn't know who this dude is. So exactly. So yeah, so um it was a lot of inspiration, but I definitely wanted him to like I I um I after I started working on him, I was I was like, you know what, after a while, I was like, I really feel this could be a very iconic character. Like I don't say that a lot too much about things, but I was like, I was like, I think this character could be something.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:09

Like, you know, I can yeah, he's easily one easily the poster boy for Moonlayer Studios. Yeah, 100%. Definitely, yeah, because he's he's like you said, he's clean, he you know has the transformation. Like I can't say too much because of course you only gave me the first edition we're working on it, we're working on the second one and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Um, but yeah, and and actually um um you just reminded me, um, I think that uh not I think I know um that's where so the moon layer has the logo is like this big, you know, moon you know, robot head.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

I was about to ask, that was gonna be my next question, to be completely honest. I was like, you got this Gundam Gundam head as the moon kingdom. I'm like, you gonna have to explain that to me.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:56

So like it was um so when I started uh bouncing ideas for for names, I was just like, I was like, you know, I want it somewhere, I want it to be like, you know, a hideout, a a base. And I started throwing around all these like different things, like, and for some reason it um um uh planet terror kept coming into my head. Like I thought that was such a cool name. It's uh you know, obviously already taken, but I was just like, I want I I want that vibe. I was like Planet Terror, that that's a that's a that's a that's a lair, that's a a place. Um and then I started thinking about like you know, well, what are what are what are other bases? Like, you know, moon base, uh, you know, uh Cat's Lair, and I was like Moon Lair. I was like, Oh and again, I'm such a I'm such a visual person, and like you know, I love creating things. Like I just imagine like you know, you land on this on this moon and you just see this huge like head with a mouth open and it stuck. And after a while, I was like, but who lives up there? Like who's there? At at first it was gonna be like me, like it was gonna be kind of like a funny thing, like I'm in there, like kind of drawing and stuff. Um, but the more I started playing around with the character, um, it morphed into. I was like, yo, maybe we don't do jokey on this, like this character could be something. I was like, hold on. I was like, yeah, maybe I shouldn't joke around with this character. I was like, maybe this is something that could be really, really cool. So so yeah, it it started off from wanting to have a person in you know in the lair and then it morphed from from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:35

So like it's so when I first because you know, obviously, you know, we didn't start by talking about the the layer, but like looking at it, like I said, it's like it's like a almost like a buried, it's like a mixture of things. So like my mind, like I said, very visual. So it's like a buried dundam on the moon, one. Yeah, yeah. And the second thing, like the eyes, when I was staring at the eyes for a little bit, and excuse the Odokon center, but uh, when I was looking at these eyes, it was it like reminded me of um not can't remember the name of it. The uh Man, what is the name of the lair from Justice League? Um it's crap. It's the um uh where the villains were all relocated.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:20

Oh, oh, uh something something of doom.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

Uh not I was about to say Temple of Doom, that's funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:26

Is it the League of No, it's the not the League of Doom. That's what it bothered me.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:31

Okay, we'll come back to it. We'll come back to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:32

My wife's gonna yell it out. I can feel it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:35

But yeah, so it's like it's like the eyes from from from the doom sphere. And then and then like it also, like when I was looking at the opening, it reminded me of uh Skeletors layer. So there's like so many things just looking at that, that helmet, like this guy has so many layers, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:58

No, and and actually it's funny you mentioned about um Castle Grey Skull. Yes, um, because it I so when I was younger, I was very I was very confused about who lived there because I was like, He-Man lives there, but why does that place look so scary? So scary, yeah, exactly. So so it it kind of happened on accident of just like this you have this very you know proboting and just very kind of um yeah, scary looking like thing, but it's supposed to be like a place where you know like like it's taking care of everything, it's like watching over everything. Um and just a tiny little spoiler, it does transform. That's all I'm gonna say. That's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:42

Absolutely. Look, yeah, I I don't know, like so. Other than the blur spectrum, of course, I on Umbral Starcade. So I'm very into anything that has to do with like the moon and the stars. So like when I saw Moon, I was like, alright, okay, cool. Okay, yeah. I see what y'all doing.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

Yeah, so absolutely. Okay definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

So um, I I don't think I actually asked. I know we said that um I want to make sure I asked the question. I know we said AKYumi came out after Moonlayer started, but what was uh what uh same similar as Dash or Blue and the same as uh Gogo um Goku Ganzi, what was the concept? Like where where was uh AKY birth from or Yumiko? Yumiko?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:18

Yeah, Yumiko, yeah, yeah, Yumiko. Yeah, no, it was um you know, you know, again, just wanting to to um when we first started Moonlayer, we kind of came up with this game plan of like we wanted to tell um multiples of stories, like we wanted them to be different. Um, we also wanted to have different art styles so that played right into my performed, yeah. I appreciate it because I I I it's something that I was like, I want I want each story to have its own kind of uniqueness to it, you know, story. And so um I knew it, I knew we had a shounen fantasy, but I was like, I wanted a sci fi thing. Um and so I was like, I was like, I definitely want a sci-fi. Um and and I use a lot of these things. Things to kind of practice on where I was like, you know, I want to, you know, get better at actual fighting things, so I definitely wanted to be kind of a martial arts. And um at the time, um I think uh what was it called? Uh uh I was watching uh Kill a Kill. Okay. Yeah, I I I never knew this, but I was like, I like the I like the going through levels and like you know, like going like starting off at ground level. That's where such and such is at, and then going to a next level, and then you gotta defeat this boss. And so I was like, I definitely want to do like a high school sci-fi thing. And then from there, me and my wife bounced ideas off of it. Started off very different. It started off very different. Um, and then you know, again, trying to trying to simplify it where we don't get confused about about the story and stuff like that. Um, and it and and we loved it. I mean, it's it's one of our favorites, it's definitely one of uh one of my wife's favorite to to work on. Like she she has characters that that she's worked on that she's like, oh, I can't wait till they're they're gonna be like, you know, debuting and stuff. So yeah. So yeah, it it just like it it started off. We just wanted another title. Um, and yeah, we what wanted it to be like sci-fi and and just martial arts and stuff. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:24

Her look is captivating. There's the word. Yeah. Like, so I've had these mangas strewn across my desk because after I read them, I was like, let me glance at them a couple more times. There you go. But every time I walk past the table that they're sitting on, like, her out of everybody's eyes, her eyes grab you. Absolutely. And her entire like she's so captivating, and she's just a great artist, uh great, I said artist, great character all around. So I have to give you so much props because like Yumiko's amazing. Um now, before I go into my questions and then go back into the stuff we say we say later, I have to give a shout out to the fact that ladies and ladies and gentlemen, non-binary folks and brethren, um Mr. Mr. Pandio, uh, the the folks at Moon Lair Studios have created their own shonen jump. Um I don't I I don't and I I I again I received this at Otacon. When I saw this, and he said, Yeah, we made our own shonen jump. I was like, I can see. How dare you? And then he had your daddy to put Yu Gi Oh on the front. So again, captivated by the cover, has a and and and also you gave sneak peeks. Is that a good way to say it? Because you you you gave a like Go Go Gandzi has a couple of extra pages in a sneak peek. I'm gonna say that first. Other ones have a sneak peek.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:49

Go-go Gandhi is I think the first almost the first shot of the first volume.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:54

So I'm like, how dare you? Yeah. Um but I I absolutely love you know the amount that you put into this because it gives like I would just take Destapons because this right here gives such a look at all of the different art styles that you have. Yeah, like Namiko, Namiko or Namiko.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:17

Uh I mean it's Namako, yeah, yeah, Namako. Yeah, Namiko, Namako.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:20

Like, she's like a I'm not gonna say Astro Boy, that's kind of I won't say Astro Boy. But like, you you seem like almost like a uh like an old sci-fi type of drawn character. So it's like uh um it's like Astro boy Astro Boy meets Darkstalkers, obviously because you know cat. But it's like she's like I I didn't get it up with the story. I'm kind of upset about it because you you gave me like a drop and I was like, I need more. I need more out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:51

Yeah. No, all of these, I know all of these things we are we are working on, and and it's and it's really it's really fun for us because like you know, like like even for us, like we kind of want more. Like, like we're like, man, we like we really want more. Um Damako is gonna be is gonna be it um that's gonna that title is actually gonna be a really pivotal part to a um uh to kind of a crossover kind of thing that that we're doing. Okay. Um yeah, that's okay. No spoilers. Yeah, I know I can wait.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:25

Yeah, I can like this other beat. I can wait.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:27

Yeah, okay, so I'm I'm of course excited for Namiko. So as I said before we started, I have to see more Tether Blitz because like as much as I'm not into sports anime, sports animes have gotten into meat. So like between uh uh uh Blue Lock, uh got Haiku, like the sports anime are coming out and they are giving us shonen levels of skills. So looking at Tether Blitz, the the the two pages you gave us of Tether Blitz, um I I like I I in the two pages that I saw, you gave an explanation as to what we're about to see. Yeah, you gave a couple of characters, you gave me a character with dreads. I know. Like, how dare you? And what's crazy is it gives me um uh what's the name? Like Beyblade mixed with MetaBots.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:18

Like I was like, I'm so glad I'm so glad you're hitting these notes, these like notes and stuff like that. No, no, definitely Tether Blitz. I'm actually uh again, I you know, I draw all of them, um, and um, you know, definitely come up with um a lot of the concepts, like you know, almost all the concepts I'm I'm actually coming up with, and then uh my wife helps me um sort of flesh them out. But tether blitz is something that like my wife doesn't understand the excitement that I have for it, and she was like, I guess it's okay, it's cool. I'm like, you have no idea. Like this is gonna be this is gonna be fun. Like, I mean, we're talking about because it and I mean have have have you played the somewhat sport of tether ball, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:02

Like if you've ever seen, and that's why I'm excited because you never played tether ball, especially as a kid. Yep. When you're a kid, it especially this, like, let's say the gym teacher didn't let out all the other balls, you don't have basketball, don't have soccer balls on the ball.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:15

You knew, oh, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:16

All you got is the tether ball on the floor when you run in circles. Yep, yep. And when you get a tether ball court, it it like you, you know, you're hitting the ball back and forth a couple times, but then if you get a good opponent, you get into it. You get into it. And if you're into anime into video games, you start making your own superpowers, you start doing strikes.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:34

Man, so let me tell you something. So, to everybody listening, this was you know how anime really sort of um uh exaggerates and make things make everything really cool. Yeah, tetherball is the only thing where you will get a crowd and people will be like, yo, so-and-so is facing so and so, and people will crowd around the tetherball. It is no joke, and it gets in hence.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:00

I'm so excited. I am so like when can we at least get a date?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:05

Yeah, so oh man, oh man, like okay, season, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:09

Give me a season, give me a year.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:10

So um, I'm just putting it out there next year, next year. Next year, next year, next year. I don't get you in trouble. Yeah, I know, I know. I'll deal with it. Yeah, it's okay, I'll handle it. Like, but no, I am I am super, I mean, I mean, we have a lot of amazing titles coming up, seriously. Um, and I'm I'm I'm getting you know other creators um um to kind of come aboard and kind of help me out with some of them, and they're gonna be doing their own titles as well. Um, so hopefully that that will help to free up some time. But no, tether blitz, I'm telling you, it is gonna be good. And what's so exciting about it is you know, there's um there's a lot of you know great, you know, in um um great titles surrounding football, you know, baseball, basketball. Um, and you know, we all need more of that. I'm definitely not saying like, oh man, how come we can't have anything different? Like, no, no. Because you know, people are gonna tell it differently every time. But for teller, but for tetherball, like I have not seen anything ever. And what's so exciting is when I first posted, there were people from you know the Philippines, there were people in France, there were people from even in America that were like, I never heard of this game. Like, what is this? And I was like, Yes. I was like, okay, cool, we got something here.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:26

Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:27

Yeah, so tetherball is gonna be something to look out for.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:31

I'm not I'm not going to say this, but I'm going to say this.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:34

When? Because I'm not gonna say yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:35

When tether blitz goes heavy, yes, let's talk about potentially, yeah, potentially having a tetherball tournament to promote the manga. So we are gonna do this. I'm I'm I'm holding us I'm holding us both. Hold me accountable. We are gonna do this because Yeah, we're gonna talk. We're gonna talk.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:58

Yes, yes, we're gonna talk. Sorry, that was a that was a little quick business meeting, real quick.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:03

I'm so glad you brought that up. Yeah. Yeah, that's oh, okay. I'm back. I'm back.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:11

Back on track, back on track, back on track. Okay, so um, and I gotta make sure I say it right. Yes. Bioshugi Tensei? Tensei, yep. Awesome sauce. Now, this one, so like I said before, Namiko, I'm a little upset, didn't get a lot. Uh tether blitz, I'm upset, didn't get a lot. Now, Bioshugi Tensei gave me just enough where I'm like, where, excuse my language, where the fuck is this going?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:37

And honestly, that's that's what I want because welcome to my to my childhood when I got introduced to Mongo, where you're like, what is this? Like, what am I watching? Like, and and and I and I think that's the reason why I love it. Like, I love I love this medium so much just because like it's it's a it's it's just a an expression of just wildness, controlled chaos is what I call it. Controlled controlled chaos. Um Bio Shugitense is going to be is gonna be wild. Like it is gonna be wild. Um and I I I I did it on purpose to start off very sort of normal, thinking you know what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:22

No, yeah, no, no, no, no, no. No, like I'm I'm comp like I don't have a clue. Because I was like, I couldn't even say anything. Yeah, like I I don't so okay, I'll just cut back to it. Uh so in terms of the art style, it gives me outlaw star cowboy bebop in terms of the art style. Yeah, I was thinking of like the different hair textures, like up real quick, and you know, I was trying to avoid talking about it in terms of like, you know, obviously, your characters you have people of color in in your manga. Yes, and I wanted to not make it about that. I have to say, your sheer skill in showcasing black hair, because you know there's been a big thing about black hair in video games and in cartoon and comics for years, especially for people who are us who are watching it. But this young woman's hair in Bioshobie Tensei, I have to make sure I do you mind if I show this on camera.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:23

No, I've no please, please do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:25

This young one, what's her name again? I don't say it wrong. Kita. No, no, no, it's not Kita.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:30

It's Naomi. Naomi, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:32

Look at this woman's hair.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:34

Like, the the the the like these these could be like so my my my niece is a hairstylist, so I know a couple of words. Nice. What do they call it? Nautilus braids, yeah, modest locks, standards, I don't know what, but the the detail in this woman's hair, yeah, and the fact that you have like kind of um what's the word? Um kind of back and forth, full color and black and white pages, like that gives me comic vibes when like something's about to go wrong. So like I have to ask, is this gonna be the theme of Bioshocky Tensei, or is that just for the the the shown and jump in this?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:16

It's like you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:18

So um um I'm I'm still debating about that just because like I know with with certain mangas they would do like color, um, color a couple of color pages just so you know what everybody looks like, what the skin's color looks like, you know, what they're wearing. Um the more I'm doing it, the more I'm kind of like I I want to do more full color just because like it it looks really good. I mean, with with uh with um uh oh man, so many, so many titles with Dasher Blue, um and with some other upcoming titles, they're gonna be full color, and and and we're actually gonna put a name to it just because like I like I feel like it's it's it it needs it. Um so I'm still deciding on that just because I I um but but we do want to make sure that um that people you know again we respect the art of of manga black and white. You I mean it there's such a skill level in black and white that like you know we definitely or or for me I'm I'm definitely like like I still have a long ways to go studying that. So I I I use that to to kind of study. So some of so I'm not sure if this will be continued in black and white, but uh, but if I if it does, maybe certain pages will be in color just because like you know, it it just looks good. Like it'll yeah 100%.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:38

Like it's yeah, and honestly, even and again, I'm not saying you're gonna do this, I'm not asking for it, but just the the contrast between pages from you know the first page being in black and white, and you go into the page where Naomi is there and she's in full color, looking like a black empress, and then you go to the next page, black and white, and then it comes back to Kita uh uh being in full color, and then like it's just the back and forth for me, it the eyes, it's such pops of color. And I think for me, it's it's very it's it's eye-catching to kind of go back and forth because it's like seeing how you illustrate the the characters in color and then how it goes back to black and white, and you can see, like you said, how yeah, when it's in color, certain manga will show just to show you what the actual skin tone is, what the color is of the characters. But when it goes to black and white, the fact that it's it's almost like you don't notice it's not there because you know it's not there. I think that's that contributes completely to your skill. Like it's so appreciate, so amazing. Um now, yes, probably the most anticipated manga of them all. Last one on the docket. My life is a manga artist. Oh life and events of manga manga artists. I I want to know who this guy is because I don't know if this is your ultra ego. Is this the true patio? I was when I think because the first one I started with was uh Gogo Gandhi. Yeah, and there was a little little little something at the end that's right that kind of it kind of touched on you know uh uh the the life of a manga artist, but it didn't specifically announce itself as such. Yeah, then you I went into uh AK Yumi, and then I went into uh then I went into uh uh Dasher Blue, and then I finally because I was like, okay, you know, let me make sure because I knew they were in the the the show and jump edition.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:26

I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:28

The B series. I want to make sure I actually read the first editions first before I jumped into the B series. I jumped in and I found out there's an entire uh uh piece. Yeah, so now I'm like, oh, this is a pro mama. He's coming out with his life, the life and times, the life and events.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:44

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:47

Tell us about it, please.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:48

Yeah, no, absolutely. So when I was um, so some of the stuff that that was kind of going on and and kind of like like you know, my wife has this thing where I'll do something, I'll be like, like, hey, check this out. And she was like, that's cool, that's unsanctioned though. Like so, like these funny things that that I know, like, you know, mangan anime, they do really, really good, um, just sort of life comedy where like they'll zone in on something, like, and again, this is just kind of off the top, top of the dome. A person will walk and they'll see, like, you know, a bug, and they'd be like, I don't want to step on it. Yeah, but if I do step on it, like why is it moving? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, and they'll zone in on these little pops of time, and they'll they'll examine it all the way through. Like, and it's such a such a fascinating, you know, kind of studying. I I I think it's a I think it's a testimony to just just the the thoughtfulness, and it's a real skill, like it's a very real skill to kind of see how far you can stretch something. So with my life as a mangaka, I I wanted to see, like, I wanted to do certain things that were super funny to me that I was like, like, like me doing things that no one asked for, and I'm putting my my whole foot in it, and I'm just just you know going ham on it. But then when someone's like, hey, we'll pay you for this, and I'm like, shoot, how can I do this?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:11

Like, as a as a uh web developer and graphic designer at times, I'm not a full-blown graphic designer, never claim it people know. I have graphic designers like Miss Kittle's one of our panelists, he's a by by trade to the graphic designer. Nice, yeah. So as individuals who do those types of things, I felt kinship immediately. Yeah, if I'm just creating something like, oh no, this is oh look, this is so dope. Yeah, but I'm a perfectionist, so I'm like, oh I can do this, I can do that. Somebody else is like, yo, this is amazing. Yeah. But then as soon as somebody says I'm gonna pay you for it, I'm like, ah, okay, what exactly do you need? Exactly. Tell me exactly what you need so I can make sure I can get it done. Exactly. Or six months later, exactly the day before. I'm like, yeah, I've been there. I've been there.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:56

Yeah. And and the one thing that uh and and I always I always tell myself, like, if I can make myself laugh, I I I've done my job, like, you know, as far as just making something. But the last the last battle where and and again it's not necessarily a spoiler, it's almost those things of when you walk into a conversation and they be like, and then and then the dude bit the dog. And then but you didn't hear the context, so you're just like, wait, what? What are you talking about? So the last one where the the anatomy and color theory beat them up. I was like, yo, that that cracked me out. Cause like sometimes it cause sometimes it be like that, where it's like something, the anatomy is off, and you can't get the right color, and and but the last week you thought you were like the best in the world, and then this week you're over here like dude, I can't do it, I can't draw, I don't, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a fraud.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:50

Like, if there's one thing I've heard from every cosplayer, every graphic designer, every illustrator is that imposter syndrome, yeah, heavy.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:01

It's it's it's heavy, and and it it gets better when when you do it more. It it does get better, in my opinion, it gets better if you if you continue to work at it, and sometimes you give yourself a little bit of grace of saying, even on my best days, like this is this is good and it's a job. You know, some days, you know, it's like working out, some days you go in there, you're feeling like Mr. Olympia, and then other days you're like, man, it's weak size. But yeah, but but but for your health, as long as you're doing it, like you're you're doing it. And it and it's really helped me to be like, you know what, professionals, professionals do this all the time. You know, even when they don't feel like doing it and they do it, that's that's what it means to be a professional. There it is. I'm a professional.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:44

Amen. There it is. So yeah, I I love it. Nah, so okay, so we've gone through everything. I wanted to make sure I also said uh you have here in your uh uh gateway to timeless manga book, uh, you have upcoming uh titles like um Tenkai Tenjin, Heavenly Warrior Squad, you have Ninja Revenger, and then you have Iron Keisha. Let me make sure that says all three of those correctly. Yeah, so I see a little picture of Iron Keisha. I'm very excited about that. I don't know what's happening. It kind of looks like she got like Wonder Woman Gauntlets on. Yeah, yeah. I mean man. Tell us, I guess, tell us a little bit about each of them.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:25

At least a little bit. So so uh Tenkai Tenjin actually is is um is a project that um I'm I'm the lead character designer and a kind of um kind of scenario, certain, certain scenarios um writer, and I and I say that very loosely because um uh good friend and team member um Gary Okami, um this is his baby. Like he is like he's wrote written the scenario, he is he has uh worked on the characters now for a very long time, and um that is something that I feel between Dasher Blue and Tenkai Tenjin, that's gonna be dang our power right now. Like it's a martial arts, if you if you and actually it's uh martial arts, it's a super sentai like story, and it's already it reads like that and it's like that. So I'm I'm I'm ready. It is going to be I and actually you'll be you'll be able to get a little snippet, and now now I'm going to uh every time I do something, I'm gonna be like, is this enough to make him mad or is it enough to satisfy? Because my uncle used to say that like about ice cream. He'd be like, he like, don't just get it a little bit just to make you mad, get something that that will fill you up and stuff like that. So um that's actually going to be what we're we're planning on a release um uh for for Tenkai um in the series issue two. Like, we're gonna be coming out with that. Um, I could definitely give you some information. About that. Yeah, definitely at the at the end because I gotta get my notes because my wife wrote this out for me. So I want to make sure I get it.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:09

You will definitely get a time to say all of your notes. I already got this picking in. No problem.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:14

Yeah. But yeah, no, Tenkai is definitely gonna be a banger. Um what was the other one? Oh, uh Ninja Revenger um was it's gonna be a one-shot. It is gonna be a one shot. I have too many series, I have too many ongoing series. Like I need to stop. But but it is um it is what it's what it's called. It's a ninja out for revenge. Um it is going to be if you're not not not as extreme, um, but it is kind of my love letter to Ninja Scroll.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:43

Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:46

But I promise you it is not it is not nearly gonna be as if I don't know if y'all can see this. This this character. Oh no, it's kind of oh there he is.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:55

Yeah, I'm he looks like he belonged. Is that Ninja Revenger?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:59

No, so actually, let me see. Oh man, I wish so actually, um, so that that samurai looking character is actually gonna be part of our light novel um line that my my my wife is actually gonna be writing. And and yeah, if you're if you're into uh oh is it norigami? Is it norigami? Um if you're into norgami. Yeah, if you're into norigami, if you're into yeah, if you're into kind of like ghost spirits like uh yokai type of stuff, that's that's listen, we are looking I'm still waiting for norigami to come out for another season.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:32

Don't do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:32

Oh same, no, actually, same here. I'll I'll love me some norigami, seriously.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:38

This songs like norogami and blue exorcist. Yeah. Ah okay, sorry, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:42

No, no, no, it's fine. No, um, no, uh, I wish I could um actually I'll I'll I'll text my wife to see if she can bring me a uh ninja revenger while I um talk about Iron Keisha. Um but uh yeah um so Iron Keisha is another martial arts. Actually, that one is pure martial arts. Like I wanted to do a love letter to pure martial arts um anime manga. Martial arts some was something I I I kind of grew up with between kung fu movies and you know watching, you know, um, you know, martial arts um um anime, like obviously Dragon Ball Z, Fist of the North Star, and even Rama One Half, and I think that's what I can compare it to is kind of a uh you know uh definitely a a nod and love letter to Rama One Half. Um uh yeah, Iron Keisha is gonna be fun, and it's something that um yeah, it's gonna be fun. Um I definitely want to work on her a little bit more, just kind of um map out um you know um certain backstories and certain things with her, but I'm I I actually did an animation for her. I don't know if you if you yeah you saw it.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:48

I have not.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:49

Yes, um uh you definitely can um it's it's on my Instagram at at MoonLair underscore studios. Um I did an animation just because I was like, yo, I I I can see this. So I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:02

I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:04

Okay. So got so obviously, ladies, gentlemen, non-binary folks, we got plenty of things that uh the Blur Spectrum Podcast is gonna have to order in the next couple of months. Um so I'm so excited. Um now we did say uh we were gonna go back to a couple of topics, and one specific one that you said you wanted to talk about was the dynamic uh audio visual. Yes, absolutely. So please, uh, and you have a little bit of that in your um in the book here says dynamic audio visual, like dynamic manga, sorry, audio visual. So explain that a little bit to our listeners.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:44

Absolutely, yeah. So dynamic manga again, um Okame, who's a just an amazing, you know, um creator himself, but he's also a fantastic um uh voiceover actor. Um and something that I didn't know that Moonlayer actually needed, um like until he put together kind of a a almost like a um a presentation. He voiced over the whole um first chapter of Googanzi as as far as like almost like a motion manga. And with full on with full-on um voicing, background noises, and I was just like, man, this is this is amazing. We we talked about it, and we were like, you know what, this could be something like you know, we already kind of read manga um through our phones and stuff like that. But if there's a way that we can, and you know, motion, motion comics have been around, but not like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:41

Like, I mean like a manga audible, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:44

No, no, absolutely. And what what makes it actually really crazy, and we're we're we're we got a whole bunch of stuff coming up, but it's gonna be um uh full intro, um, full intro songs with animation and visuals. So it's gonna be like we have this slogan where it's like it's um a new way to um read manga by watching, like and when I tell you it is exactly what that is, I've I've I've seen all of the the animation or all the episodes that he has so far, and literally I'm sitting there, and then when it ends, like I wrote it, but it ends, and I'm like, who would stop it there? I was like, you know, like and you gotta take your own medicine, and so I'm like, wait, that's it, and you know, and it's just little snippets where you're like, oh my goodness. So we want to take the best of both worlds of like, you know, anime um and manga and fuse them together where you have you know full openings and endings. We already have between I want to say six songs. We we have an opening and ending for both Googanzi and um uh EK Yumi, and we have an opening for um, I believe Dasher Blue and a couple of other ones as well. So I cannot yeah, um, yeah, we're it's it's gonna be amazing. You can um you can get a little bit of a snippet um um if you head over to my Instagram. We we we're really active over there. Like um we try to.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:12

So since following you at Overcon, I've gotten you you've been all up and down the four-you page, all up and down the timeline. So what we need to do, yeah, um, and I'm gonna make sure we do this, is when we're about to post this episode and promote it on social media, we need um either a place where people can see it. I want to make sure we can link directly to some of these openings. Yeah, um, because like I said, one thing that always leads people to watching anime, specifically before it comes out, is that opening. That opening is fire. Yeah, they cannot even like the anime, and the opening will keep them watching. But no, absolutely. I already know based on the manga, they're gonna like everything. So I'm excited about these openings, brother.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:51

Yeah, no, and and and what's really important for us, like, you know, and it was something that you know um Okami was telling me he was like, you know, it's it's important for us to like, you know, just like especially for him as a voice actor, like, you know, he was like, you know, I could do voiceovers for already established things, but he was like, it it's amazing for all of us to see like this stuff is being real. Like it's it's coming, it's it's it's exciting for us. I mean, we I mean we have a good time, and and so like yeah, I mean we're putting a lot of just love and happiness into this. Like, seriously, like it's it's so nice, yeah. So I'm I can't wait. Um, we definitely have some some some dates um for those that that we're we're really trying to push for the end of this year, um, just because um between um production on his side, mainly production on my side, just because I draw everything like so, you know. Um, but I I love it. I'm telling you, I don't I don't I'm not like oh man, you know, no, I love it. I absolutely love it. It is it is a dream come true. It is something that I didn't think I could do as a full-time job. Like, seriously, I and just last tidbit. Um when I found out you could actually you could you could actually there's an opportunity, or there was an opportunity, to be an artist for Dragon Ball Z. I had no idea about that. So for um, so between the animation, so when I was when I was younger, I thought Akiro Toriyama drew everything. Like I thought he did the you know animation, you know, all this stuff. Um, you know, even even the manga, there were certain times where you know someone would mimic his style. And especially now, you know, unfortunately he he passed. Um, but before he passed, um, you know, there were artists that were kind of under him and and drawing for super, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:50

And I was just like, man, like if I'd have known that, I would have probably because that that was my if someone told me that was possible, I would have kept going. But you know, as a young kid, I was like, and I remember on the bus specifically, I remember when I was like, I don't think that's ever gonna happen. So uh yeah, that's probably out of it. And I remember it, like on the bus sitting there, I was like, I would love to draw a dragon Z for the rest of my life. So this is the equivalent of that. Like I'm like, man, this is I get to do this, I get to like work on stuff that I hope inspires and like you know make people feel how I felt about anime back in the day. So yeah. No, I'm sorry, enough gushing. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:28

No, no, no, no, no, absolutely. It needs to happen. Uh absolutely. Um so I wanted to make sure, uh, because we we we mentioned it. Uh of course you talked about Okami, you talked about um the uh uh phenomenal Panda O. You talked about MM Smart. Now we must circle back and talk about Willow Bee. Now who is this secret member of the squad? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:02

The secret member, the the the one that that I was supposed to be my first disciple, like you know, she was supposed to be the first disciple, is our ever loyal dog. Trust me, I would I I sometimes to to it entertain myself, I'll look over while I'm drawing and I'll be like, man, I I tease my wife because we're sometimes we're burning the midnight oil, like you know, next to each other, like she sits in front of me and I'm drawing, and I'm like, man, like I wish I could just get her to pick up a pen and be like, can you ink this and stuff? And then that becomes a story in our hands. We're like, yeah, she's part of the team. It's like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:42

Oh yeah. I look, if if there's going to be an episode in uh my life as a manga artist, it needs to be Willoughby.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:49

Oh yeah, no, Willoughby. Y'all, I'll tell you. She no, she is, and she's so smart, and and like it's one of those things. She's like sweet, but also she's up to no good. She's a menace, like she's super smart, and so that just creates more story because like she does things where you're like, you know, you're not supposed to be doing that, you know that's like so, but like just like turn.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:16

Well, I'm not gonna give nobody uh any idea because I'm not the artist, but I was like, Will it be could be like Ryoko from Tenji turns into a spaceship, all types of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:25

Oh, snap. Craziness, craziness. Actually, you know what? I shame on me for not even thinking about it. That's actually not bad. Um actually a a funny thing, we wanted to put this, we we forgot to, actually, no, I don't think we forgot to. We just were like, I don't, I don't know if anybody would get it or something like that, but but um uh news here first. Um so in the V series, Willoughbean is actually featured in there, and we wanted to kind of do a sort of hide-and-seek um kind of thing. So she's just she's in the so she's in the uh, you know, she's in the uh uh you know, meet the crew, but she's also in one of the stories and stuff like that. I know, so we wanted to do like, oh, if you can find it, and we just couldn't figure out like if you can find it, we'll give you this. And we're like, I don't know. But I left it in there. So if anybody can find it, please leave a comment and tell us what page it is.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:23

See, that's what you should do. You should you should put it on social media every every season. There you go. Find Willow Bean. Find Willow Bean. You're right. First 10 people will get like a special edition of something.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:37

Yeah, actually, you know what, we may do that. We will definitely we will definitely announce that. I I I'm all serious now. Yes, because it's it's been a while now, and and Willow Bean needs the needs of support.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:48

Needs the recognition, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:40:49

That's what needs to happen. Let me know. I can get some sponsors and get some prizes involved. Willow bean will be the moniker that she needs to be. She's gonna be out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:00

And and we'll probably keep this going too in issue two. So yeah, so definitely.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:04

See, now I gotta go back and I gotta go back. Because I I I know I definitely saw Willow Bean in the in the uh in the in the crew. In the meet the crew. Now I gotta circle back.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:14

And and actually, just real quick, so this was the Ninja Revenger about what my wife so lovely gave me. So we actually have shirts. So oh, were you wearing that? Um I think actually, I think my wife was. Um, I definitely saw that shirt at Odokon. Yeah, so so if you guys know the style and yeah, you already know what time it is. Absolutely. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:35

That's yes, it's it's about to get nasty. I I know actually, Sayane cosplay, one of our panelists, she's she might one, I mean, need to get a shirt for her. Yeah, two, she's definitely gonna have to read that. I already know for sure. So better. We're good and gold on that one. There you go. Now I wanted to make sure, because you you you had the audacity to come at me with flowers at Oticon. So now I gotta hit you back with flowers. I'm uh and I've been doing it this entire time, but I'm gonna do it in full force. Okay all of my panels hate it, so I'm gonna do it to you too. Okay, I have to say, uh, it is so amazing. It is so uh just what's the words? Like it's so phenomenal to see someone who had a childhood dream. And like you said, you know, it's not how you started. You you know went into the workforce, you know, you you did a variety of things. Of course, you did teach, you know, comic book and manga classes, you you you you taught other people how to do the exact same thing, but you finally took the leap. And you know, as an entrepreneur, we talk about this all the time. You know, it's one thing to talk about it, but it's another to be about it. So not only did you say it and you started, you know, uh Go Go Ganzi, you then took the leap and said, you know what? Let's make it a studio. Let's let's now create it. And not only are you doing that for yourself, you're also enabling other artists to come on board. So you're making the dreams come true, and you're enabling other individuals to also take that additional leap. Because some people will, you already know, back when we were younger, everybody was drawing. Drawing Jack Ball Z, everybody was drawing Goku, Vegeta, everybody's drawing Pikachu and Onyx, everybody was drawing Digimon. So it's like everybody was drawing, you know, back in the day, and everybody's like, oh, I would love to do that. But you know, then like you said, the real world got we all got hit in the 90s with the real world in the 2000s. It's like, nah, you can't be an artist, you gotta be this, you gotta be that. Exactly. So the fact that you made that, you and I love this word pivot, and you're like, I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna put the full force, and you have your wife behind you, you got Willow Bean behind you, you got Gary behind you, you got the squad behind you. Yeah, um, I and Smiley's behind you, like you got the squad behind you. I I have to give you your flowers and say thank you. Um, not only for showing other artists, other illustrators, that not only is it possible to create your own lava, create your own artwork, but it's also possible to create a studio to give opportunities to other people. Um it's it's it's not lost on me, it's definitely not lost on our panelists, and I I I want to make sure as I say this and as we post this, it's not lost on anybody else who sees it. Because um, and to take it a step further, being able to see us in the artwork is another step forward because I know when my nephew sees this, when certain people's sons and daughters and nieces see this, they're gonna be like, Wow, I didn't know I could be in the manga, and that that that sets a tone for the future because you know we're already like 10 people on cartoons, so it's like and it is a replication of the same person, don't let nobody lie to you. So having and in front of me, I have three separate mangas that have completely different character designs and completely different personalities and characteristics. Like these three characters are completely different, and it showcases a variety of different styles and concepts. Like, whether you want to be a samurai or whether you just want to be a super super uh sensei man, like you can do whatever you want to do. And I I I have to thank you so much uh for you, you know, taking not only taking the time to do it, but wanting to share it with all of us because you really could have just did it yourself and sat in your house like ah, I'm amazing. Um you decided to and and and and then take because you don't have to go to cons. Like you really don't. You could have just stopped at going online, selling it, you know, doing promotional tours, but you you're taking it at like I know how much the tables cost an OdaCon. I've been doing OdaCon for years. So going to different conventions and promoting your work, and you said it yourself, you are the illustrator. Yeah, so yeah, you're taking time out of the illustration to go and then bring it to us again. You, my friend, you are you are amazing. I hope uh in any way, shape, or form, whether it's the podcast, whether it's any of my multiple businesses, we can help you in any way, shape, or form because I want to see first off, I need to get another volume of Abbasi and Go Black Dante. I guess I want to see all of your all of your artwork, all of your stories. I want to see Moonlayer succeed and move forward because it deserves to. So whatever I can do, I'll make sure that I'll do it and push it forward and get it be uh to be visible at the variety of different places. So um had to give you your flowers real quick. No, thank you. No, thank you, thank you. But now, like I said, this is your opportunity. Um, I always give any artist what where will we see you? What is coming next? What's the next piece of work? Also, I know you said your wife gave you a whole list of things to talk about. So here is your time, my friend Pandia.

SPEAKER_03 1:46:42

There you go. Um, so like I said before, if you guys want to stay um up to date with kind of what we're doing, Instagram at Moonlayer, um, Moonlayer underscore, no, Moonlayer Studios. Moonlayer underscore studios. Oof, like um, yeah, you guys can go there. Um, just um, we post a lot on there. Um, we're actually gonna be at Anime NYC. Um, um we we usually kind of go on quite a bit, so it's we'll probably go next year as well. Um, but yeah, we we're really active on there. Um, if you guys want to pick up any of our titles, um, we do have an online store that's moonlairstudios.com. Um, you know, we uh we're really really heavy into our packaging, so that's something that we're you know, we we're dealing with physical things, but we also have digital things as well. So um we have just a whole bunch of stuff from shirts to stickers to you know um, like I said, digital, digital and physical. Um, we have everything. Um so definitely check us out. Please leave us a review um just on the stories as well. Like we definitely want to know, you know, you know what we did right, but also, and it's weirdly to say this, but also what you don't like about it. I tell my students all the time, sometimes you know, criticism is is the most honest, and it kind of helps you out a lot because you know, uh some people be like, yo, it's cool, it's it's great, you know, but they'll tell you what they don't like about it.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:07

Yes, they will.

SPEAKER_03 1:48:08

So, so um, you know, we are we you know, we are definitely, you know, we want to get, you know, we want to get better at at what we're doing, we want to be, you know, great storytellers. Like, we want to be a timeless company. We wanna, you know, we want to be on that, on that top, top tier stuff. And the only way that we're gonna do that is, you know, you guys letting us know what you like, and hopefully we can do that. Um, and uh um upcoming things. Um, so one of our biggest kind of upcoming things that we're gonna be doing, we're actually gonna be doing V series issue two, and it's kind of an introduction to uh what we call the Mooniverse.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:45

Um dare you!

SPEAKER_03 1:48:48

I had that in the back pocket. I was like, I was just like, wait for it, wait for it. How dare you! And it's gonna be it's gonna be a um it's gonna be a big issue. Um it's gonna be a big issue. We're gonna have um interviews. We are gonna have um interviews. We are gonna have um we're gonna be showcasing other creators um um as far as things that we we want to do. Um not only do we want to do manga, but we actually want to be a multimedia studio where we are, you know, getting into um we had this we had this one um motto when me and my wife first started this. We wanted to do stories first, and then whatever we do with that, we want to do, we want to do after, but it has to start off with a story. Um so we want to do games, we want to do uh toys, figures, you know, uh music. We want to do all that, but we want to start off with a story because if you know what you know, if you know what the figure's backstory is, you can kind of get more into it. Like, oh yeah, that's so cool. Um so in um V series issue two, we're gonna be highlighting um some toy makers that that we've worked with. Oh, um Yeah, and and actually I um uh So last Bastion, I want to plug them because they do an amazing job and they're gonna actually be one of the people that we feature. Um, but um I actually had a chance, and they actually um had a chance to work on official Subaraia um uh Ultraman stuff. Um so this is one of the figures that they work on, and this is some um my artwork that I did for them. So yeah, so we're we've just been meeting with Moon Lair, we've just been meeting amazing creative people, and we just want to kind of bring everybody you know for the ride. Like seriously, like we're we're so hyped for it. Um we're gonna be debuting some new issues like Tenkai. Um, we're gonna be doing some sneak peeks of some other issues, uh some other stories. Um and actually speaking of of games, you guys are gonna get a first first peek into our um I heard on your last um interview um about the um I don't wanna I don't wanna get this wrong. I don't want to sound like a lame. Um FGC. Yes, yes, okay, fighting game community. It's like yeah. Um and so we're actually putting together um you guys are actually gonna be seeing kind of the story first of our first fighting game. Yeah, we're we're starting off, we're starting off with the story, um, and then um we're gonna have an article kind of explaining what what what what our desire is and what it's gonna look like, um, and then you're actually gonna get an interview um from a um um from another team member that's joining us uh that's gonna be uh producing some of the music for it. And oh yeah, so um oh awesome is that yeah, so we're so so we have a lot coming up. So um now the um V series issue two, we're actually going to for the first time ever in Moon Lair history, and I can say that quite confidently, um we're actually gonna be kickstarting this. Um we have financed everything, like, and actually that's one thing, you know. I don't say it like like with a heavy heart or like um we actually enjoyed doing we actually enjoy it because we it it shows how committed we have skin in the game, you know. We we we show people that we believe in this and um and we just like doing cool stuff, absolutely um, but we thought this would be a great idea to kind of put our stuff out there, like you know, get better at sort of putting ourselves out there. And Kickstarter is already a really good um platform to you know advertise and all that stuff, and so we thought we could do um we do Kickstarter and also that gives us opportunities to do really, really cool things um um along with the um uh v-series issue two. So we got a lot of cool tiers planned for you guys to get into right now because yeah, I can't. I'm excited and um yeah, we're we are just looking forward to that. So um we are we are shooting to um to have our kind of our launch around the beginning of October, like our launch page, beginning of October, and then we're we're we're gonna be doing um it's gonna be I think around October 15th, that's where it's gonna go live and stuff like that. So yeah. So um we'll definitely and we would love to come back on. I would love to have you know um my wife come back on with me so we can kind of go over all that stuff, you know, when it does kick off.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:33

I was about to say, let us know. We'll promote it, we'll absolutely promote it on every platform we got. Make sure if there's any events coming up, we'll let them know as well. You let's know what we need to do. Yeah, I told you. I'm I'm I'm I'll be the if you need me to be, I'll be the first uh kickstart uh donation. I'm I'm I'm for it. Like absolutely. Give me the premium ultra package. People will tell you, I'm a premium ultra package type of guy. Like it's gotta be the biggest box for no reason. I got you.

SPEAKER_03 1:54:02

You let me know. Yeah, no, we're we're no, we're we're excited for this, and we want to make sure that that like you know everybody, you know, everybody gets we I mean that's one thing that we do. Like we like we take our packaging, like we want everybody who buys our stuff to feel like, man, dude, this is nice, like everything. And so when we do start getting into like the premium stuff, like we're really going to like you know, uh get really creative with it. And so um, yeah, we're just I mean, honestly, we're having fun. We want people to to like you know, just get in on the fun as well. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:37

I look like I said, I and I got some people I can I can introduce you to. I'll throw some people at you who could definitely help with the launch and definitely help with the promotion. Um, because like like I said, it's it's as much as I know you want to put your all into it, have Kickstarter do it, there's other ways to do it as well. Absolutely. So there's so many different people who I know have either already heard of and or need to hear about Moon Lair that I'll make sure know about it so that way we should get like shouted from the rooftops. Oh, thank you so much. No, seriously, appreciate that. Now, did you hit all the points on your list? I think I did so.

SPEAKER_03 1:55:17

I think I did. I'm like double checking and stuff. Um, I think as my voice breaks, I think. I think I'm good. Man, I haven't had that in a hot minute. Yeah, see, I'm not I'm not that I'm not that old. I still got it. I guess I still got it. Um no, I think I think that's it. Yeah, um yeah, I think that's it. Yeah. Oh, um I guess I guess last thing. Um just the ex um the last thing and like kind of the piggyback off of like we we really appreciate how people have been responding to us, and that's something that we definitely don't, you know, take for granted. Like, we really, really appreciate that. And we're glad that people are kind of catching on to kind of the vision because I know like that's kind of the hardest thing um for sometimes for creators uh to get people to catch on to what they're trying to do and and to have an identity and and and you know, yeah, just really have people get down with the mission. Um and so we really appreciate that. And so like um, you know, just something that um you know, we've actually been uh featured in a couple of the magazines that we've just been really kind of like you know happy about and stuff. Um and it's one of those things that like you know again, just being like a kid, and and this, I guess this kind of goes out just you know to anybody who wants to do this, like, you know, um, you know, have a vision, work on it, get yourself a good team, get yourself some people that are gonna support, you know, support the vision. And you know, you want people you don't want a lot of yes men. You do want them to give you some, yeah. So, but but definitely, you know, get with some people that that you know, nine times out of ten, they're not telling you that it can't be done. Like, you know, get some people that can be like, yo, definitely, let's make it happen. Um, and yeah, we we were featured actually in um in uh uh Neo magazine. Like like twice. Like we were like we were featured. Yeah, and we were uh it was something we reached out to to them and they were they were like, oh man, this is so cool, and they caught the vision. And so again, we always appreciate you know, you know, yourself by you know, you know, just loving what we're doing and and inviting us on, you know, to the platform. So we really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:37

No problem. Anytime. All right. So if that is it, we got all the points, nobody's getting in trouble. We got our assignments. Exactly. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:49

I want to make sure uh always uh as again, I want to make sure I uh give a shout out, of course, to the Blur Expansion Podcast, all of our different panelists. Uh if you want to, uh I will also you you said it before, I want to give you the opportunity again. How can uh Moonlayer Studios be reached if people want to respond, uh give their feedback, the pros, the cons, the good, the bad, the ugly. Uh give them one more time how you can be reached.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:13

Yeah, so uh again, um you can reach us um on uh Instagram, so that's Moonlayer underscore studios.

SPEAKER_00 1:58:20

Nailed that.

SPEAKER_03 1:58:23

Um but you can also um um on our website um our digital store at MoonLairstudios.com, um, we have there where you can kind of contact us if you need anything um as far as like you know um orders or you know, yeah, just customer service and stuff. So yeah. Um yeah, those are the two biggest places that that we will be kind of responding to.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:45

Awesome. Okay, and then as always, for the Blurred Spectrum Podcast, you already know on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, I'm missing one, wait, Facebook, Twitter. There it is, Twitter. Okay, yes. Um you can follow us on all the platforms, the Blurred Spectrum or the Blurred Spectrum Podcast. If you have any questions for Pan Yo or any of our panelists or myself, Suchi No Shogun, you can uh send a message to our mailbag, which is the Blurred Spectrum at UncleStarK.com. Of course, myself, Suchi No Shogun, Suchi underscore no underscore shogun on Instagram and I memorize all this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:59:22

I'm I'm seriously in awe.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:24

Seriously, this is amazing. Um the next thing, of course, the Blurred Spectrum will be at will be at a little con, as a big con, called SplatCon in LA uh coming in October. So look out for that. Um, otherwise, make sure I don't forget anything. Yep, that is it. I'm I've I've had a ball today. This has been great. Um like I said, I've been so excited to talk to you about all of these different titles, um, and they've been all phenomenal. I can't wait for the next uh issues to come out, specifically the V series uh two uh to come out in the next couple of months. Uh so everyone stay tuned with between Moon Lair underscore studios at uh on Instagram or the Blur Spectre Podcast. We'll make sure to share anything that's coming up with the next issues. Uh so as I always say, to wrap up our mangas, manga episodes,