Rankaroid

 THINGS ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK

In probably 2019 or 2018, I watched a PV on YouTube which used 3D models under a pixelated filter in a short animated sequence. It had really beautiful bold colours and I had never really seen anything quite like it. It was actually a concept film for some Japanese mobile game I didn't know or care for, but nevertheless I really enjoyed what I watched but I made the stupid mistake of not saving it or adding it to a playlist so I completely lost the video due to it being in Japanese and not knowing what it was for.

 Jump to January 2020 (note: before lockdown), I was thinking about the video again and desperately wanted to see it again. I tried so hard to find it, but to no avail. I even went onto r/tipofmytongue to try see if anyone knew what it was, but no one even replied to my post :,( ... 

(Pictured: the actual reddit post I made lol)

Anyway, since I couldn't find anything, I had to go on with life and keep the PV at the back of my mind. Another year passed and it was now the end of 2021 and I was thinking about the video again. Now, I don't actually remember the exact way I found the game, maybe I went through a bunch of Japanese gacha games and went from there? But either way, I found out it was the concept film for Tales of Crestoria.

 (This is the video!!! Watch it!! It's so cool! Also, my description for it was pretty spot on if I do say so myself. I was mistaken about the girl being blonde, but pink is close enough..)

 I was so happy to finally see the video again and immediately saved it to my computer and made note of it so I wouldn't lose it again. But now something else was itching at me because I swore I recognized the main character from elsewhere.

(Pictured: this is the protag. Say hi to Kanata.)

I recognized him from a Discord emote I had seen many times in a server I used to be very active in as someone would use it everytime a new person joined. I was active in it for the majority of 2020 during lockdown (if you know you know) buuuut that's besides the point. I scrolled back up into general of the server to find the exact emote and you know what? Wanna guess who it was?

(Pictured: my exact realization. Also featuring Kee, my partner! Say hi to Kee.)

It was Kanata!!! Staring at me!!!!!!!

I had been looking for this video for almost 2 years at this point and the answer was RIGHT THERE in front of me the entire time!!!!!

See, the reason why this particularly struck me was because I thought it was a character from Idol Time Pripara, Shogo Yumekawa. For the longest time, I thought it was Shogo and I had actually been meaning to check if it actually was. I just never did for some reason and I'm annoyed that I never did LOL.

(Pictured: Shogo. Say hi if you want to. Doesn't he look similar to Kanata? Similar hairstyles and all. To my knowledge, he predates Kanata since Idol Time Pripara aired in 2017 and Crestoria was announced in 2018.)

Okay quick detour: I really love this song. Pripara (as well as the entire Pretty series) has some really good tracks and this was one that I was obsessed with for an amount of time. Listen if you'd like, I think it's a kinda cheesy idol song but no lie it's so catchy.. 

The protag of Idol Time Pripara, Yui, does a cover of this song with her group, MY☆DREAM, too and I like both versions, but I lean toward the original because when they say "Prism Galaxy" in the MY☆DREAM ver it makes me laugh.

Anyway, back to the whole Tales of Crestoria thing. I couldn't help but laugh at how close I was to the answer of something that I so desperately wanted to see for almost 2 years. To this day, I think of the whole ordeal quite fondly because it was too good of a coincidence. Not only that, but the video continues to inspire me and I really want to make something like it myself someday.

I've mentioned this previously on this blog, but I've wanted to venture into 3D for a long time. At the beginning of the year, I tried my hand at making a 3D model of my OC, Dolly, but it was kind of a failure because I was overly ambitious and I also really hate UV unwrapping. Anyway, I'm going to try again but following a simpler tutorial and keeping things far simpler but after I finish my art trades. I have a few lined up to do and I'm really excited... I've already gotten some back and I love love love the art of my OCs that I've gotten so far.

I feel a little silly because I'm a TOTAL beginner to 3D stuff so obviously this is a longterm goal, but I have a vivid mental image of an Aquamarine short animated video in a similar style to the Tales of Crestoria PV that I want to make one day. I will study and learn and create!! The only way to get to where I want to be is if I work towards it...

I'm looping back to my OCs because they're kind of my favourite thing right now. I was really amused by how many people wanted to draw Nina for the art trades.

 

(Pictured: my OCs from Aquamarine. From left to right: Atlas, Dolly, Lou, Nina, Alba. These are their redesigns I worked on recently. I still have to draw them properly, but you can see their overall designs here. Atlas and Lou actually remained the same lol.)

(Pictured: Hey check out these Ninas I drew recently!!! These were "cooling off" sketches I did after finishing my first art trade. Do you like her...? She's a hot sexy megane that I crafted from every aspect I like in a woman. *Some aspects more obvious than others.)

Of the 5 people I'm trading with, 3 of them wanted to draw Nina (one of them drew her with Alba, though). The other 2 want to draw Dolly and Lou respectively. (I'M REALLY EXCITED TO SEE.) I also ran a mini (design) popularity poll on my private and the votes stacked up like so:

(Pictured: I counted double votes where people chose more than 1 character. I voted for Dolly and Nina, since they're my favourites to draw. No one chose Alba LOL.)

I'm happy that people like my OCs and that Nina in particular seems to be the favourite. I'll do another vote in the future when more people are familiarized with my characters hehehe.. Next month is June which means art fight prep :V (I actually never finished those wips from my last post.. oopsie daisy)

For now, I'm chipping away at my art trades. I already have 1 finished and I'm almost finished with the 2nd one...! I'm hoping to finish these by next month.

I'll get more people to know Aquamarine like they do Roid....!!! It just takes a lot more work because I have to make all the Aquamarine stuff myself and I'm a lazy butt!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I can show more Aquamarine things in the future. I was reminded of how much I wanted to make something 3D because of the Tales of Crestoria PV and I really want to bring that to life someday.

 

Next blog post will probably be my Kai Jack Jeanne route post that's been rotting in my drafts for like 2 months now... but thank you for reading if you've gotten down here. Have a nice week~ Actually...... It's my birthday next week... I'm turning 20... Maybe my birthday blog post will come first.... You'll find out soon.