Episode 5, Page #1 - "Pizza Time!"
Aoi Notes: 09/10/2007
Today kicks off Episode 5 of Aoi House In Love! entitled "Mr. Wonderful." It's 10 pages and is focused on Echiboo! So it should help give everyone a nice little break from all the Elle-related angst of the previous chapter as we finish out the rest of September.
Let's kick off this Monday with a question from the Q&A Thread that not one, but two people were curious about...
Zingmaster: "So how/why did you start writing Aoi House anyway? Was it something of a flash of inspiration, or an idea accumulated over several years?"
Sodapopmlr: "Where did you come up with the idea for Aoi House?"
Back in early September 2004, I was hired by Seven Seas to get Gomanga.com off the ground and maintain it. I got the gig due to my web and fandom experience from running "Animefringe: Online Anime Magazine." For those that probably have never heard of it now, Animefringe was a free monthly internet webzine that ran for 6 years from January 2000 to December 2005 for a total of 72 consecutive issues. For the sake of setting the stage, it's probably also worth mentioning that I was also doing rewrites on various manga and manhwa titles, and also writing articles for Anime Insider and Request Magazine around that same time.
Anyway, with my foot in the door, I heard that Jason was open to the idea of me pitching a series. I didn't pitch right away, though. I actually waited and spent two months coming up with a pitch. The only real thing I knew was that I'd always loved "Otaku no Video" and wanted to see something about an American anime club. That's really where it comes from... my own desire to see a manga series that is devoted to the American side of fandom. And at the time, that was a very valid desire. You only had Otaku no Video and Comic Party back then. Of course, little did I know that both Genshiken and Dramacon would both hit the market the very next year. But yeah, that's really it. I was an otaku and I wanted to write a story about American fandom.
And here's one other question that comes up from time to time, but always gets a different response from me...
Kadenmire: "Adam, do you have any plans for a series after Aoi House?"
The short answer...
Not really, no.
The long answer...
Right now, I have some personal desire to do a stand-alone manga based on a video game franchise, but that's just me dreaming big. Call it a pipe dream... but who knows. ^_^;
As for a new series after Aoi House is finished, I don't really have anything on the drawing board right now.
Yeah, what a way to end Aoi Notes on a downer... eh heh... But just trying to be honest!
Anyway, Shiei and I'll see you back here on Wednesday! Later!
-Adam Arnold
P.S. We have two new Vote Incentives up for September. The first is a special image of Jessica & Morgan that comes from the recently released Aoi House In Love! Vol. 1. The other image is another encore character chibi (#3 - Elle) for anyone that missed that set. So be sure to show your support for Aoi House by voting at both BuzzComix & TopWebComics!
