General Rants: Thanks for sticking around and reading track 02 of "The Way to Your Heart!" Things sure are getting interesting, aren't they? ^_^;; I had A LOT of feedback about that wink thing that Miyabi gives Yumi... people were like, "what's up with that?! First he's slamming her into walls and about to throw rocks at her, and then he's smiling and winking? Does he have some sort of weird split personality issue??" Hehehe... well, the reason why he does that was sorta answered in pages 60 and 61, and we'll get plenty of more detail in the future. And I think that Miyabi maybe came off as being a little dense in those pages too, and I didn't want that to be the case... I mean, Toshio recognized Yumi straight away, and then so did Mitsuzuka! But Miyabi... o_O;; well, I don't want to give anything away, but just know that our Mi-chan isn't as dense as he may have appeared to be! ^^;;
Wow, my art style sure has evolved since the beginning! I think the main reason for that is being WAAAAAAY influenced by the artwork of Hiroyuki Asada, because I've been collecting much more of his manga. What can I say? I ADORE his artwork and wanted to model mine after his style. I'm really pleased with how my drawing skills have progressed during the course of track 02 and hope they'll continue to improve on into track 03!! But backgrounds, especially linear perspective, are still my weak point >_< I can draw characters fine, but those things are just hard...

Concert Scene Rants: Ok, that scene was pretty difficult to draw. There were lots of things I had to do for it, like figure out costumes for everyone, learn how to draw guitars and drums accurately, come up with song lyrics in Japanese, figure out how the lighting would be in the livehouse, draw all those fans over and over again (this was the worst part of all -_-), study how someone playing a guitar or performing on stage would actually look, etc... But I had some very good reference material, namely some issues of SHOXX that were constantly open on my desk as I was drawing those pages. They helped immensely with costumes, postures, instruments, lighting, and fans! I am sooooo grateful for visual kei magazines!! *_*
I'd been planning the concert scene basically ever since I began the manga, and I was so excited about getting to the part when Miyabi winks at Yumi!! >o< It made me so happy to be able to draw that finally! And I'm even planning Orochi's next concert too. It'll be ever cooler... ^o^

So, what does track 03 have in store? A couple of new introductions, for one thing ^_^ And, of course, a continuation of that youthful J-rocker angst that many of you apparently find REALLY attractive O.o; (seriously, I've been told this...) And I promise to give Shuya and Akito some bigger roles in the future! Toshio and Miyabi just always steal the spotlight ^_^; So thanks again for all your support and please look forward to track 03! :D And this is the final note I have about track 02...
EIZO WITH STRAIGHT HAIR!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!
If you have any comments, please feel free to email me!

Next is "A Day Without Sunshine"