音時雨 ~Regentropfen~

♢ Izayoi no Yumekakushi

Good to realise that tomorrow evening will be the actual Izayoi!

兄さまなんていらない!

I began working on that earlier in the middle of August, with the cross-fade "wokashi" sample. I was deeply in the ambience of the vocal version of "otoshimono", and thus letting my mind drifting freely, while my hand then made the draft. Of course I did hear Akiko sings "Nii-sama", but I believed that two girls are a better choice. Although the characters were done quickly, I spent quite long to figure out what kind of background I should have. Apparently simple and repeated patterns wasn't fitting well. Initially I tried to refer to some shrine photos, but at some point, I changed my mind to fill the final work with all red.
Red sky, moon, and lycoris.
The title was, as usual, given with a purposely imposed background. I myself say it is a mixture of concepts from various songs: Izayoi - mentioned in "otoshimono", (somehow) lycoris - mentioned in "wokashi", the houzuki lantern - like that of xxxHOLiC so that's for "hyakki yakou", lanterns on the river - mentioned in "tama no fune", the entire red makeup is similar to the "wokashi" album cover's colour, and it's also has a bit from "akakakushi" (which is where I derived the title from).
A side point, for drawing stars in the sky, I really found a star map first as a real reference -- although they probably have a different position to the moon compared to the reality.
Once I began to draw the background by myself, I can't stop doing it in future works as it's such a big fun!
*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*

Silent Hill 0, Small but good

Just finished SH0 this afternoon. Japanese PSP version so I don't have to struggle with the North America's reversed X and O button. After all these horror games, I've got a habit, that to keep pressing O in order to not miss any item.
-- and I can't stop putting Silent Hill and Biohazard together in the following part.
It's definitely not a good idea to do a no-save + no-map Silent Hill 0 run in a Sunday evening, especially that I've merely only cleared this game for one time. So I gave up for no-save, and will only focus on no-map + UFO end.
In the world of Biohazard, once you make to the end of the first time clear, maps are basically useless in following rounds, but it's completely not true in Silent Hill. First, it's just so dark that I can't see where the door is, which is really true in otherworlds; and second, the camera angle isn't fixed, making me -- who has no sense of direction -- get lost always. My first time clear record told me I opened the map for ~750 times during the ~5 hours of game play; this time, I'll see how many time I need without a map (right now already 1 hour yet I'm still wandering in the sanitarium orz).
Regardless being developed by the non-classic Silent Hill team, SH0 isn't that bad actually. While the worst to be the lack of radio-control, that confuses me every time when the camera angle changes, it's still Silent Hill, although not as scary as the main 1-4, plus it's a too short. Think about my other SH plays at the first time, none was cleared without spending over 13 hours! (But since it's on PSP, perhaps thus it's supposed not to be too long?).
There's no rank for how many monsters you kill, so in a sense it's much easier. With my experience in Biohazard, I'm now pretty good at passing by them to save my ammo. Besides, you can actually beat with your fist. So practical that I even feeling "it must hurt a lot" when I see Travis use his fists... Yet the "fragile" weapon system is indeed worth being poked in. I understand the glass bottles and such are easily to break, but why so do wrenches and hammers? Plus, due to my happy passing-by journey and my careful inspection of every corner of the map, by the end of game, even just pressing the "→" arrow to the end of the weapon list could take quite a long time. I know Travis is a tough guy, but without Doraemon's 4D pocket, how can he carry all of them? More often during the second half, as long as Travis picks up a new weapon, I said in my mind, "I know only you can take all of them, superman!" xD
The riddle dealing with the male seclusion and pills is interesting, and I don't get the meaning of those "reason of death" photos.
The Pyramid Head's SH0 cousin "the butcher", he's merely a mid-boss after all. I got rid of him quickly with a rifle and the same method as how Leon fights the Tyrant in the "golden gear" room in Biohazard 2. No tension, I was rather amused by how slow he moves.
I'm now in love with the hidden weapon moon gauntlet (reminds me Shadow Hearts this time). And you can now hear I laughing insanely when I get rid of a monster. "It's just way too strong! I'm invincible!" ← The reality is, I still can't avoid the monster attack.
Moreover, I also love the pumpkin flashlight available in bonus options. Silent Hill is getting more colours! A good match with Vincent's outfit as in SH3!
Final words, Alessa in SH0 looks so bad that I never have a desire to chase her if I were Travis..
*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*――*☆*

Real Nyan-Made Sculpture

Last evening when I walked downstairs, she was there sitting quietly, and I was startled by her staring!
Then I went to get my camera and when I was back, she was still there. That's how I could have a few nice shots including this~


The clear blue of her eyes is so beautiful!