Transcript
Speaker: Hi everyone it's Kripp and I'm back with another episode of Lifeblood and with me today surprisingly is Radu of Tana. Well you guys probably know him as the creator of Handrava and
Speaker: Yay. Yay. So, Radu, let's pretend like we have actually talked before. Yeah, this is literally the first words we're saying to each other ever. I have no idea that you're an anime fan or a gamer or anything like that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Cool. Yeah. There's no way you could tell from any things that I've ever said anyway.
Speaker: Okay. I think I'd never heard of you before. I just came across Handrava. It was a recommendation from somebody else. I checked salt, liked it. But finding information on you, the guy behind it is, or at least at the time was virtually impossible. Oh, really? Oh, you flatter me. So I think we should just start off with your origin story. We'll let you down the path of web comics and
Speaker: Do you even consider how to drive a webcomic? Because in my experience, I think I mentioned in one of the previous episodes, but most of the time when you say webcomics, people think Korean comics. Yes, indeed. Okay, so how far back in my origin story do we want to... We can get the best hits. Oh, best hits. As far back as you can, but then best hits, just the highlights.
Speaker: Okay, okay, let's do it. So I was born in Antananariv, Madagascar, which is also called Tana for short. Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. Can you say that again? Antananariv. Yeah, my pronunciation was horrible. Okay. There's multiple possible pronunciations. Anyway, so growing up there back, back when I was growing up anyway, acquiring comics was a bit of a tall order.
Speaker: you know, in Madagascar, we can only find like comics, like at the market. Like, and if we were feeling fancy, we would buy expensive comics like at the at the supermarket, like for example, that the shop, right? Yeah, like that. That was expensive. So, so yeah, it was getting comics, it was playing a big lottery kind of every time at the market.
Speaker: And a lot of those were Scrooge McDuck comics, or Donald Duck comics, or Mickey Mouse comics, actually. And I grew up as a big fan of Scrooge McDuck, thanks to magazines like Pixel Magazine. You are a fan of Scrooge. Let me get this right. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, actually, as a child, I would say that Scrooge was my idol, my first idol, because I thought he was so cool. Especially in stories by Karl Barks, first Karl Barks and then Don Rosa.
Speaker: they really like they really fleshed out the characters more and made them much more deeper and interesting much more nuanced and layered so I was like oh okay I thought it was just funny stories about these weird ducks but if you go deep enough there's there's a lot of cool cool very emotional very very detailed stuff it's like I was like this is amazing did you ever see darkwing duck darkwing duck you mean the animation yeah
Speaker: Yeah, so it's just a few episodes, but not many. But yeah, it did live with an impression of me, I guess. No, because I see him as the evolution of Scrooge. Oh, I guess. Yeah, that's the way to look at it. Donald also had like an alter ego, a superhero alter ego, which was called in French, it was called frontomial when he was a bit like a bit silly, gadgety type of superhero.
Speaker: But there was also a dark, greedier version of him called Power Duck. And that Power Duck was also very cool because stuff got real dark, sometimes in Power Duck. And it was like, it was really cool, you know? I caught my teeth on Scrooge McDuck Donald Duck when I had nothing else to read very unrelentingly. Mickey Mouse stories.
Speaker: So that was the stuff we would find in the market in Tana. Sometimes there would be the occasional manga, but it would most often be some old, very obscure stuff. It's the weirdest stuff. And nothing is sequential.
Speaker: Yeah, it's usually my mom getting it. So sometimes it's some weird yaoi, some old yaoi. Some good stuff, you know, you never know what you're gonna get. And of course, like, Franco Belgian comics, a bunch of those. So wait, like, I think is it Transmopolitan or is it Nemos? There's one particular, I can't remember the name now, but then he had these
Speaker: It was like he stores information in his brain and then he transports the information that way. Like, it would be secured. I can't remember anyone coming, but one of those. When I was younger, I couldn't read that kind of stuff. I'm thinking more of stuff like Tintin. The Smurfs.
Speaker: Actually, I don't see, I don't know why, just now that I said it, I realized that I don't see them as comics in the normal sense of comics. Like when I think of comics, I think of Marvel, DC, and the rest. But then when I think of Tintin and Asterix, it's more like there's a separate category for them. Like there's just something really special about them that puts them in their own space.
Speaker: Well, when I hear, if we're not speaking in English and I hear the word comics, literally the word comics, I probably tend to think of American comics as well, especially Marvel comics, and also Dark Horse, image comics. Yeah, I'm similar. But yeah, one of the neat things for me about the French language in that regard is that there's the word
Speaker: Literally means just comics, right? But it's very like down to earth, you know, it's just like it's a comic man It's just there's some panels and there's drawings and sometimes there's some text in some bubbles, you know, it's that's it Wait, okay. There's this French comic double leak. I think Okay Look for it. That's all I should say if it's if I got it, right? Yeah, I think it's a mafia thing No French comics
Speaker: Yeah, classic. Oh, it says it says here it's Italian. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. So the access to comics was really sparse. Yeah. But yeah, France. Yeah, there's a lot of comics that come out in France. French made comics and a lot of Japanese comics and
Speaker: comic and art form, like it's really in some ways, it's a very good place for public in. Yeah. This Japanese thing looks cool, though. Wait, so you're supposed to be telling us your backstory. I say you're checking out the comic. I mean, if you come back, come back, come back, come back. Okay, so
Speaker: Anyway, so that's the second. That was the second main dish in my comic diet. And finally, Japanese comics manga. For a long time, my aunt, on my mom's side, was living abroad as a teacher in various French -speaking territories and countries. And she would come back to spend Christmas with us.
Speaker: And she would always bring her manga library with her, and she would always have new ones. She was our manga dealer, basically. She had the best stuff. She was the best. She's still the best. Probably your best aunt, too. No, my aunts are great. But yeah, in terms of like comic, in terms of manga dealership, yeah, there's no context. Like Mika sound like this gangster.
Speaker: with shades and your briefcase. Yeah, and like, every time she comes to the airport, the guy at the airport is like, she has to give a lot of money to the guy at the airport, because you know how they are at the airport. You're right from the moment they're like, so don't you gotta give me something? So she has to give a lot because she has that good stuff, you know, she has, she needs to get us the good stuff. So yeah, she had a lot of shonen manga,
Speaker: obviously, but also some shoujo. At some point, she even started bringing some seinen manga. But and I was never into it though. Back then I was not into it. And when she started introducing us to seinen, because there was a bunch of us, our cousins, we all loved reading manga at her place, she would say, okay, so
Speaker: there's this special stuff for the older kids now. So only you and you get to read it this year. It would be like, it would be like, I would be so intrigued. It'd be like, there was that month. There was this stuff about, uh, terrible stuff. Actually, I think it was part black Joker or something like that. Yes. Uh, yeah, I know black Joker. That was, um, I think it's okay. I always assumed it was more shown in than CNN or anything else.
Speaker: Oh, wait, no, I'm wrong. It's not black joker. It's not black joker. It's black. It was a no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like that. Like really, really hardcore saying in blackjack. It was blackjack. Okay. And it was, yeah, this in the one volume she had, there was bulimia, there was
Speaker: Just awful stuff, awful stuff, not the kids at all. But yeah, so obviously stuff like Dragon Ball, she had Bakuman, she had D -Rayman at some point. So Shonen, Battle Shonen stuff, that was good. But I also started like in Shoujo manga, thanks to her. Like Fushigi Yugi. Oh, not Shonen at all, maybe. Oh, but speaking of Yugi, at Yu -Gi -Oh 2, good Yu -Gi -Oh.
Speaker: Shigey Yugi. This looks nice. Is this popular in Nigeria? No, it's not. I think for Shigey Yugi, it was the first manga that I was gifted, I think. And I was given like a bunch of them. My cousin. Oh, you got a whole bunch of them.
Speaker: She had a whole bunch of them and I don't know how she felt like she was kind of ashamed of them or maybe she got them by accident. Maybe that was the only thing that was available so she wanted to get rid of them. Take my shame away. I cannot. So at first I was disappointed because it was shoujo but then immediately I started reading it's actually really good then and I was giving shoujo more respect ever since then. I've read a couple of shoujo but
Speaker: Yeah, I think it was my first that I got into. Okay. Actually, it's really interesting the history of how Shoujo and Shounen influenced each other over the years. That's definitely interesting too. But yeah, I guess this is a case of Shoujo manga with a lot of battle Shounen tropes. Yes. Well, okay. Yeah, kind of, kind of, kind of. It's kind of reverse harem to
Speaker: Which was another reason why I didn't like it. But then I kind of ended up liking it when I read it too. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That's a powerful, that's a powerful work right there if you can make you like it despite your preconceptions or whatever. Yes, the best stuff always do. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Me, one of the ones I remember like in the mix was not a battle shoujo maga. It was your diabetes shoujo.
Speaker: It's called the Mintana Pokura, or Mintias. It's about a pair of twins, Noel and Maria. And basically, Noel, the guy, has to cross -dress to go live in the dorm of his sister because of reason. Don't you?
Speaker: Yeah, and lots of stuff happens. Yeah, he basically he wears a half wig most of the time, but also he has he has a girl roommate and also he has it's it was it was intense. Only manga. It gives me this Rama half vibes. Oh, in some ways, I guess. Yeah, but Rama also has battle.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, okay, maybe mizone koku, but mizone koku is just more of the hostile thing that you mentioned It's by the same mangaka. I can't remember her name now, but more shoujo a lot more shoujo than ranma and one of the last ones she got This was actually right more recently was No dami kantabile I've seen that there's an anime
Speaker: Oh, yeah, it was an anime. I think there's even a live action. Yeah, I think that's why I recognize the name because of the anime. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, a little secret about Nodave Cantavide. I really, I really like the protagonist Nodave. And actually, I think she was kind of a, she had a, yeah, reading her, I was thinking like, she's a significant influence on the protagonist of my web comic, Hanzawa. I was like, really good at it. Ah -huh. Excellent.
Speaker: I was like, I also want a nice protagonist. But she's also really dumb. She's also really, really dumb. Well, she sounds dumb. Actually, I don't really... In fact, you know what? I'm just meant to stop. Continue. No, yeah, basically. I mean, for example, when I told my sister that I really liked her, my sister, like she... My sister... Okay, so I'm talking about Vonu, right?
Speaker: My sister, she likes characters like Papang. So yeah, seeing a character like Nodave, when I told her I liked Nodave, she was like, I don't like her, she's dumb, she's annoying. She likes her Sundari. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. Okay, so love of comics, super aunt. Yeah, that's the origin story when it comes to physical comics, I guess.
Speaker: So is that drawing afterwards like when you couldn't get your physical fix or? I mean, uh, soon after, like after somewhere around high school, I guess I started reading scandalations online. Well, don't worry. You know, you start reading Naruto because your cool aunt that comes once every year got you volume seven. Where do I go from here?
Speaker: I can actually have a funny story about Naruto, but I'll save that for another time. Oh, come on, say no. Or at least give us a preview. Give us a tea. So if you ask me when I first watched things like Evangelion, I can't tell you or Akira or something. But I remember clearly when I started watching Naruto, reading Naruto.
Speaker: And it was weird because at the time my school, um, when I got there, everybody saw me as a weirdo because I, apparently I was the only one that would publicly admit that he was an anime or manga fan. So I.
Speaker: found this other guy who became friends and he turned out he was interested in the same kind of games, anime and stuff. No, sorry, he hadn't seen anime and he hadn't read manga. But I explained to him, like, I gave him examples. Then I think I brought tapes from whom, like, of stuff I'd recorded, like Dragon Ball and the rest. But he fell in love. And I was like, okay, let's look for more online. One of the first sites that had Naruto stuff was, I think, Naruto Central.
Speaker: Stumble, they accidentally got out looking for something entirely different than found Naruto. And they were on the training exam, episode 63. Like I told you, I don't know why, but I can remember very clearly. Cause it was fire. Like when the original was fighting Sarutobi. Like I remember their names. I stopped watching Naruto a long time ago. That week was the fight between the original and Sarutobi. So I went back.
Speaker: We eventually watched everything from the beginning to that point, and we decided that we can't just keep it to ourselves. So we went around every cyber cafe around school, because this was campus, like uni. We went around every cyber cafe we could find that was around school, and we dropped issues of the manga and episodes of the anime on systems. We just created a folder, and then I think we named it Naruto or something.
Speaker: And then we waited and watched and eventually people just like talking about it. Like before I left, it was something like, it was something else. I'd stop watching. It had become horrible. I created monsters. Oh, okay. Awesome story. Thank you for sharing it. That is, that is great. That was great.
Speaker: You didn't answer about Time Driver being a webcomic, is it? Is it not? How webcomics work and should they be? Okay, that's an excellent question. Actually, I'll just give a quick answer first. For me, yes, it's a webcomic. The most simplest, purest, most technical, in the most
Speaker: purest technical sense. It's a webcomic because it's a comic you can read on the web. So in that sense, for me, it's a webcomic. You mentioned Korean, Korean webcomics. Usually there are people, I think people say webtoons. When people say webtoons, people think about the vertical infinite scroll format. People call those webtoons as far as I know. However, a few fellow webcomic artists
Speaker: like non -webtoon, non -vertical scrove, have noticed that the messaging in some of Naver Webtoon's social media platforms these days calls their stuff also webcomics. So if you're a cynical person would say that they're trying to appropriate the term, you know?
Speaker: It's like, because, okay, so when I say webcomic, also when I call on them a webcomic, in the more romantic, like much more romantic, dramatic sense of the word, I also mean, a work that's made without any external like, influence, like something that comes truly from the heart, you know, it's like, free from the shackles of capitalism, it's like,
Speaker: here. I made this because I love it. And I give it to you free and editors telling you do this or don't do that because we need to send this message or that message. It's like, of course, editors can be very good and very important when they care about your story. But editors in a private company that needs to make the most money can make also have other obligations. So yeah,
Speaker: corporate agendas like as as editors as professional editors right not as not as people like i'm not saying that they're bad people or anything or a good people i don't know but yeah it's a bit more complicated okay so if you'd like to know about the origin my webcomic artist origin there's there are these comic tournaments called octs original character tournaments okay
Speaker: OK, so back in the day, OK, maybe you've seen some of those. I don't know. Maybe I don't know if you're familiar with the deviant art scene, for example. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the most popular ones would be the ones like Law of Talos. There was one called like that. There was this animator called Unknown Person. Does that ring a bell? I'm not sure. I know there were a bunch of stuff. I think there was this garage something. There were a bunch of sites then that would do
Speaker: battle animations between characters but then it was all the popular stuff oh no yeah these are all original characters and i just mentioned animation now because it was not always comics like nowadays there's a lot of different media even trans media but most of it was comics so basically people bring their own original characters someone makes up a set in
Speaker: and like some reason to fight for them that they have to fight and basically everyone makes their character to care out with each other then there's some judges who decide which fight was the coolest fight and then the winner
Speaker: goes to the next round and their version of the fight becomes the canonical version of the tournament story and it just keeps going like that until there's a winner. So that's both artists who draw the fight and then the fight that's best is the one that wins. Yes, yes. And sometimes it's artists, sometimes it's artists, writers, duos. And yeah, it's honestly, it's great. I missed that. I was on DeviantArt for a while, but yeah.
Speaker: I can send you some links if you'd like, because that stuff. Yes, please. Even nowadays, I still go back to that stuff when I need inspiration. Yeah, like resource myself. Do you say that in English? Resource. Refresh myself. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I need to find one. Anyway, it was great stuff. So it's not running anymore, but the threads are still there.
Speaker: Uh, no, there's still, there's still a CTs nowadays, not on the VNR anymore. Now, nowadays people make their own sites or they do it on the discord or they do it on Google drives or on multiple different sites at the same time. But, uh, yeah, I know that's, uh, none of their, they're still the CTs. Actually I want to try doing one again next year. Okay. So, um, you got the characters from the, what about the story?
Speaker: The story of Handawa? Yeah. The origin of the story is a very simple tale, actually. There was a Madagascar Comic Con was happening. Comic Con is a very, very, very big word.
Speaker: You know, we try our best, you know? It's actually a very small, very humble thing, but, you know, passionate people stuff, you know, that thing's important. And there was a contest. There was a short comic contest about a Malagasy superhero for like a two to three pages comic content.
Speaker: So on my way back from maybe the first or the second day, I was on the bus and I was just sketching. I was thinking like, okay, so what can a Madagascar superhero look like? So yeah, that was the first new prototype. There, I sketched it on the bus on my way back from Comic -Con.
Speaker: Yeah, so you can actually find the sketch. Actually, yeah, it's on Tapas, actually. It's on the Q &A. Original sketches. Yeah, yeah. And a lot of things changed with Onu's design. Even now, I think some stuff still changes. But one thing that happened back right then and there was that I gave her a head wrap.
Speaker: Because I thought you can hide stuff under that, so you know, it's a good fashion accessory and superhero costume thingy. Who knew that your head tie could be a part of your costume? Yeah, it's basically her Clark Kent glasses, you know?
Speaker: I gave her a tail also, then I gave her a tail. Yeah, and then the tail is also behind the wrapper. You guys, I hope you're listening and getting tips for your own comics. Yeah, give tails to your protagonists. Always give tails. I gave behind wrappers. Wrappers are more concealing than skirts and jeans. Yeah. In the very first sketch, she had a weird
Speaker: skirt thingy she didn't have a wrapper back then you could see the tail right away so yeah it was a bit too obvious so i had to change that yes because we didn't see it coming while he's i did not see it coming so yes one thing actually the wrapper uh where i'm from we call it second second yes okay and the actually after i you know the scene after that scene i realized
Speaker: Hey, people might actually think that it's a skirt or something. It should not come off that easily. How did it come off like that? Back then I was like, oh, people might not understand this actually. Don't worry, we know. We know. I know you know. I'm talking about the other people. Yeah, we figured out stuff from them too.
Speaker: back then well basically I I did a short explanation on my patreon for my for my six patrons back then and I don't know how many they were but they were the best you guys are the best thank you so much anyway yeah I explained that yeah in Madagascar we call it Lamba basically it's that thing as far as I know a bunch of people have those in
Speaker: in austral africa and also east africa where it's called also kanga something like that but anyways looks like it's pretty common in in this region in the eastern region yeah oh yeah yeah i mean over there too thankfully i'm just the name the name is different depends yeah but yeah we know we know we know
Speaker: Okay, so you have this other comic on Tapas. Sisticola. Yeah, Sisticola. Oh, you looked at that too. Yes. You know, when I like stuff, I check out other stuff related to that stuff. It's a huge web of stuff. So you're burdened with passion for stuff. Yes, exactly. You know me too well.
Speaker: So I liked the concept of the, I don't know if it was intentional, but then the way it seemed like your audience was the one kind story along, like from the comments that would determine what would happen in the episode. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that's exactly the concept. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Very smart. What's inspired that direction? Like what made you decide, okay, this is how I want to do this. And well, that's gone. Oh, yeah, sure.
Speaker: Okay, so Sisticola is on a hiatus right now? Yeah, a long one. Do you own a hiatus? Very important when you're a webcomic artist. Yes, I know, all the greats. Like, sadly, Berserk, Hunter, Hunter X Hunter, Gangster, Kyiv,
Speaker: They have a bunch of other greats to do. Do you have hope for a giver? Yes, I still have hope for a giver. Oh my gosh, you are a very, very brave man. See, he could... Do you believe in reincarnation? Because at the end of the day, that might be what would happen, but a giver will not end. Wow. Yes. Okay. No, no. Good for you, mate. Good for you. Or maybe transplants. When we start transplanting brains or something, then, you know, a giver.
Speaker: the only giver content I still regularly consume is the ending song from the last from the last anime okay that's the um 2000 something I mean anime not the early not the 90 yeah uh cotton candy by bonnie pink I don't think I can remember the song it's like cotton candy
Speaker: I think I'll have to look for that again. There's actually something more recent. There's this guy, I think he's Japanese on YouTube that has been working on a guy ever again for years now. And he posts videos kind of often. It's an irregular schedule. Sometimes it's like every couple of days, sometimes it might be a month in between.
Speaker: But I'll probably find link and send it to you. All right, that sounds cool. Guyver fans. Guyver for life. Who's your favorite guyver? Is that a funny question? Number two? No, it's number two, right? That's why you're laughing, because it's Guyver team. No, it's actually all of them. Really? Yes. I think a lot of love together. One, two, three.
Speaker: He's made don't know it's he's created city a city I think a forest like I've just seen bits and pieces and it's not out I think it's still in pre alpha or something. So my stuff will well to go but it's looking good Mmm, okay. Well, I like I like a diver free by the way. Yeah. Yeah, everybody loves diver three like I would of course of course
Speaker: I'm a very basic, I'm a very basic bitch in that regard. I like, I like Ivory, I like Shadow the Hedgehog. I like Cloud McStryfe, I like Sasuke, you know, just, you know. Like the bad boys.
Speaker: Yeah, the anti -hero, edgy, edgelord bad boys. I like, actually, no, more than Cloud McStryfe, I like Vincent Valentine. Okay, okay, yeah, I can go with that. Oh, okay. Oh, that was a long okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm thinking about FF7 as a whole and looking at all of them. Yeah, okay, Vincent could be the guy.
Speaker: Yeah, because I mentioned Vincent because did you play? Yes. Yes. Yes. Did you enjoy the game? I did the OSTO. Yeah, it was good. I liked it. Like it's sad that I didn't do well, but I enjoyed it. I think they could have made it a bit easier. Well, not easier, but a bit deeper. Make the game a bit deeper than the story would have been excellent.
Speaker: But I enjoyed it still. Oh, great, great. You really have a lot of love to give. Yes, I do. I do. I didn't enjoy the gameplay that much. The gameplay has issues, but then the story is enough to take you along. But even that needed work. Because I really wanted to die in seven, like very painfully and gruesomely. And I think he didn't so, you know,
Speaker: It was like Bloodborne before Bloodborne. Yes. But even my love for Vincent could not carry me to the end of that game, actually. I finished it. I finished it. I went all the way. Yes, I did. Let's go. Good job. I recently, I think last year, a couple of years ago, I watched the ending on YouTube, but I never got that far. I can't remember the ending. That's how insignificant the ending was.
Speaker: Like I said, it could have been so much more. Maybe I just needed my FF7 fix. And that was the only thing available at the time. Like I played almost everything. The only one that I didn't play at the time was the mobile game Before Crisis. And that one was becoming this year or next year. So I think that was the only FF7 thing I missed.
Speaker: But F7 used to be my favorite Final Fantasy for a very long time, until this time, making remakes on it. Now I just have mixed feelings. Oh, that's interesting. Full disclosure, I haven't played anything but the first third or third of the server, I think. OK. OK, that's for the remakes, not the original. Any of the games.
Speaker: Final Fantasy is a franchise I like to observe and enjoy from a distance. I don't have time for JRPGs. You could just be like me. It takes me years to finish RPGs now, but I don't mind. I take my time.
Speaker: I still, so like I, and they're my retro consoles. I always go back to them to play specific RPGs and take my time with them. Oh, that's great. Being able to have a chill attitude about video games. I feel like that's a rare privilege. Even I, for the last
Speaker: for a long time until recently, I didn't have patience for video games anymore. Yeah, I have to admit, right now, it's kind of weird because I think right now is a good time to be a gamer, but at the same time, it's... After the initial, ooh, it just starts losing flavor. Yeah. Unlike the oldies, that's still special to me.
Speaker: Oh yeah, I think I get what you mean. Like there's so many those ones and now it's just money. Yeah, capitalism strikes again. How do you feel about how do you feel about digital games and couch co -op? Okay, maybe it's because I'm African and we like
Speaker: Couch Corp has always been the thing to me, but then I come from a large family. Yeah. Like I come from a large family and even despite all my attempts to be alone, I have a lot of friends and stuff like that. But yes, I think games should be enjoyed with more people together in the same room and not requiring internet, especially in countries where internet is poor.
Speaker: Yeah, it's either you have an issue with ping or you have an issue with lag or the servers are too far. It's just one. Power outage. Yes. It's a power outage. You just want to play Tekken 7, but Steam wants to update and you just want to play couch co -op Tekken. And for some reason you can't because no one cares about how Africa doesn't have internet or power all the time. Actually, some people do.
Speaker: I mean, of course, thank God, thank God for the people who do, but... Yeah, because, okay, if you have friends abroad that also play, like, we used to play... What's the Epic Games MOBA that shut down? Paragon. Down to this? No, Paragon. Before... Oh, Paragon. Paragon. We used to play Paragon together. When Overwatch first came out, we used to play Overwatch together. We used to play... What else? What else? Okay, lots of MMOs.
Speaker: Apex Legends 2 when it first came out like a lot of games like that we had a couple of friends that were brought so it would be nappa issues or would have to turn on Jen I remember there's this okay so it's another story which I shouldn't be saying because the guys involved in this story don't like hearing it and they've sworn off of Rocket League ever since then maybe don't say it then
Speaker: No, backwards. So there are these guys, Hexagon Esports, really good guys that we used to play with in my community down here. We are versus them. We used to run esports tournaments and gaming events every now and then. So Hexagon, a few years back, we had, we used to play some games together, but then we decided to play Rocket League.
Speaker: And I'm sure you can, I should put the link in the show notes, but to save people's egos, I won't. If you search for it and find it, then it's your luck. But anyway, was supposed to play these guys and we played and the internet was so horrible that at certain points it looked like we're just standing still. And they were going round us like, and it was even more hilarious because there was a caster, I think it was Mr.
Speaker: I think it was a Swedish streamer, but also a shout cast for Battlefield. And this was the first time doing commentary for Rocket League. So we have a video with the commentary that is hilarious and the horrible match. I think it ended up being like 9 or something, 9 -0 or 9 -1. And even then, they probably just took it easy on us.
Speaker: So, and I remember during the match, they heard a lot of noise in the background because we're on comms. Players themselves were on comms. Cracking jukes and stuff. And one of the guys, Krukan, mentioned he could, what was that noise in the background? I said, generators. I said, wait, you guys are running generators? I said, yes, because they could take lights any time. And I was like, wait, seriously. So, yes, so whenever you guys have events and stuff, I said, yes, we run generators all through.
Speaker: Unless you want a break in transmission or something. I was like, wait, how do businesses that go to survive? Well, we make you work. Well, they still exist. So I guess we make you work somewhere. So another embarrassing story. Um,
Speaker: disappeared disappeared last year. A drama just came to a stop without warning. Like, you probably know, not last year. It was before afternoon. I mean, yes, yes. Okay, sorry. Yes, please, please go on. Yes. And I'm sure you're probably going to say something like, yeah, but I posted one like a couple of weeks ago or something like that. That was a city's like, that was like saying
Speaker: Hello, I'm still here and then disappearing again. And then, you know, say something like, I'll be back for a while. Like. Yeah, please go ahead. So we want an answer, like a proper answer. No. When should we expect the crew to come back? Hmm. Okay. Okay. So you want more on Java?
Speaker: Yes, we do. Yeah, at least I know I do. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. If you want more, Haddab, give me money. Okay, well, you guys heard it here first. If you want more, Haddab, give him money. Lots and lots of money.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But yeah, Hanzaba is officially over for now. It's officially canceled. No, but I like how you say for now. You know, for now, that's what I'm referring to. Yeah, but don't think about that too much.
Speaker: In the coming months, I want to spend time to properly celebrate the ending of Hanzaba. I still have stuff I want to do, but no more new story updates. That was the last one. That stuff's over. Okay. Stop hoping. Unless you're going to give me money, of course, but otherwise. Yeah, we'll have all the meetings and stuff. We'll call it the Hanzaba Foundation.
Speaker: That's funny because Hanzawa means destroy. So it's the destroy foundation. Yes, actually that's what it was. I was trying to remember what it meant because I remember you mentioned it once in the comments or something. Even though it doesn't like you're reading the comic and you're wondering, okay, so where's destruction? Where's the destruction? Where is the
Speaker: I destroyed my patience because I do not know what else you're destroying right now. Where is the destruction? Well, Hanzawa is to destroy, but in the future tense, future tense. Okay, so that's what you're telling us, that don't worry, I will eventually destroy all of Hanzawa. So don't worry, get hooked now. We did not get to like the really good
Speaker: part of the destruction well destroy some stuff yes when is that introducing characters that look cool i want to kill people yeah i think we destroyed a good bunch of stuff that was a good that was a good first run that was a good first crash test okay so if Andrava is gone is there any other comic
Speaker: There will be two more comics this year, hopefully. If I work enough, there will be two more comics starting this year. You've heard of the love between siblings, right? Yes. Okay. I do not see why these two new comics that are coming cannot take care of Andrava. Like, you know, that kind of, that younger, older, but maybe ill sibling.
Speaker: You know, just carry them along, but okay, that's enough hand -driver. So tell us about this team. Oh, you want me to tell you about the... Okay, so... Only what you can tell us. I can tell you. I can tell you stuff, yeah. Okay, so one of them is called Azafat. Az -what? Azafat. Azafat. Yeah, which is Malagasy for...
Speaker: at least from in my dialect in my dialect Malagasy for basically forgive me oh okay i see where you're coming from forgive me for undercover please forgive me for anti well done but literally it means it means please don't think of this as a taboo
Speaker: Because taboo culture is very strong in Madagascar. When you say taboo culture, you mean taboo like T -A -B -E -W? Yes. I did not know there's a culture around it. I think every country has some form of taboo culture. Yeah, they do. But in Madagascar, I just don't do it.
Speaker: In Madagascar, it's particularly strong. It's very strongly related to animism. So, ancestor worship. When you commit taboos, depending on how severe they are, basically you are cursed by spirits of object, animals, or the spirits of the ancestors, or worst case scenario, the spirits of the gods.
Speaker: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay Cryptia I'll do you a favor because you said you said it's hard to find information about me Okay, this this webcomic I actually posted the first three chapters on webtoon aha, so you've abandoned
Speaker: No, no, no. I'll come back to that. I had a feeling that you had something somewhere on the internet. I just couldn't find it. No, no, no, no. I don't like Webtoon. And Webtoon doesn't like me either. But yeah, I just posted it because I was like, eh, whatever. What? Right now, I'm working on the new version of the prologue, the new better
Speaker: prettier higher resolution version of the prologue. Webtoons seems to do that a lot where a comic comes out on their platform and then when it starts doing well it's like the authors go back and polish it off then re -launch it.
Speaker: There's this other one which I covered for the show too, and it was something similar. I think he finished the first season, almost finished the first season, then went back, polished the top, then when he became a partner or something. Oh yeah. I think that happened recently also. There was something called, oh, the guy upstairs. I think it's a Malaysian one or no, Indonesian, Indonesian one. But yeah.
Speaker: I've seen it happen a couple other times as well. People who have good draftsmanship and good storytelling, who want to pitch stuff to Webtoon, but also don't want to work too hard on something that's not guaranteed will make money. Yeah, they just upload storyboards, episode storyboards, not fully completed. And then if Webtoon likes it, they'll be like, oh, you like it? Okay, maybe pay me then.
Speaker: I can complete them. I think something like that is happening. OK. But yeah, so that's the first comic. You can find it on Webtoon. You can find the prototype. I don't know if I should read it, if I should wait till you've fixed. OK, not fixed, but revamped it. Yeah, no. It's the minimum effort prototype on Webtoon. It's really, it's what Webtoon deserves. So if you want the good stuff, I suggest waiting a bit more. OK. And then the second one.
Speaker: The second one is called Moo. Moo. Yeah, which is Korean for empty or radish. I think there's an MMO called Moo. Moo origins or something or Moo. Korean too. Yeah, there's a lot of Korean MMOs. There are the kings of it. Oh, there is. Moo origin free. There's a bunch of them. Oh, it's also a Greek word apparently.
Speaker: Moo is a story I started two years ago during my storytelling class in my school. This year I will be making the first part. It's going to be a two -part story.
Speaker: I won't make part two unless someone gives me money again. Sorry. I'm pretty excited for it. I'm pretty excited for it. It's about skiing and shamanism. Now it's the mix. Do you guys have snow at Madagascar? There's places, very few places with snow.
Speaker: But there are no guys on those, on those very high places. As far as I know. So basically, no. Okay, so how do you come up with the idea of skiing and animism? Because I'm assuming the animism is more of a cultural, religious thing. That's your own experience with it. Animism is more for the first webcomic. This one is shamanism. Shamanism. Oh, okay. Yeah, well,
Speaker: so not objects okay everybody has almost everybody has shamanism yeah yeah yeah human more like the Korean shamanism to be more precise oh okay but like very loosely you know like nothing big i don't want people expecting me to make Korean stories i can't do it i'm sorry i mean i obviously can't do it i'm no one expects me to make Korean stories what is a Korean story?
Speaker: Because I remember there was this argument, yes, but in fact, during the school days I mentioned and talking about manga and people would say that you can't make a manga outside Japan or you can't make manga if it's not a Japanese mangaka, stuff like that. So what makes a Korean story? What makes a Nigerian story or Madagascan story?
Speaker: Is it the setting or is it a combination? Okay, so fun fact. And this is similar to how in France we call any, I said medium, sorry. I guess somewhere in my mind, France still owns me.
Speaker: French -speaking people, we say, it's ours now. French is ours now. It's ours now. Sorry about that. Anyway. Yeah, so... Basically, you can use that for... If you're open -minded enough, you can use that term for any country's comic.
Speaker: And here in Korea, as well as in Japan, actually, when people say manoa or manga, they mean every comic. They don't mean just our country's comics. They mean every comic. Yes, but they mean their language. That's what a comic is.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, it just means, you know, just maybe some panels with some drawings, maybe some bubbles with some text. That's it. That's it. That's a manga. That's a manila. That's a bomb destiny. That's it. Anything beyond that is kind of like, I mean, I know it's a complicated issue, but
Speaker: No, I agree. It is because like even with the show, it mentions manga, manga, other comic books. And I think it's because we aren't native to these countries that make this stuff. So we see a we tend to differentiate them because the manga is very different from a Western comic. Yeah, they have different styles, even their stories. So for us, we would prefer to be able to differentiate them
Speaker: When you're talking about manga, you know exactly what this person is talking about. You're talking about shounen, shouju, sinen, which is very different from superhero comics in the West. Of course there's value in katakura's solution.
Speaker: For me, yeah, for me in general, there are a lot of similarities and differences between lots of things. Think about it hard enough. For me, the problem is when you think too much about either one of those differences. Yeah. When you focus so much on
Speaker: differences or the similarities that you forget that hey there's both of those they all just at the end of the art yeah sure sure uh for me the problem is when okay on one hand uh sometimes you find music or a manga or a mano or a movie or whatever that you really really really like
Speaker: And it makes you feel understood, feel less lonely. So that's so for you, it becomes something very precious. And so for me, there's a part of you that can think like, I don't want to share this too much, I think. So for me, that that that that kind of experience is precious.
Speaker: and if you're in a place where you really need it whatever it is you found and you want to keep it for yourself for some time that's fine and you want to call it a specific thing also as well you want to call it a manga or you want to call it whatever or you found this artist on youtube
Speaker: this indie band or whatever. And you're like, I'm not going to share this because the tiktok kids are going to bastardize it and everyone will know them. And then I lost my thing. And it was my thing. I was lonely before I found this thing. So it's like, for me, that's fine. For me, that's fine. I was like that for a time. For me, the problem is when you use that thing to make yourself feel superior.
Speaker: Yes, all the gatekeeping going on. I was shocked when I found out because it's okay. So back in the day, if you were a gamer, if you were an anime fan, like, okay, you're a geek or you're a freak or something or a nerd. It was because of all these things that we enjoyed, that we liked. So it didn't make sense to me that we weathered all of that. We're able to turn it into a thriving industry, something that now is part of
Speaker: global popular culture. It's not just like a niche thing anymore. And then we have people that didn't go through all of that now becoming the same, like it's like rules are reversed. The fans that were the oppressed are now becoming the oppressors. Doesn't make sense to me. And I don't know, in fact, doesn't matter what community or society it is, any form of gatekeeping doesn't make sense. It doesn't help anybody.
Speaker: Actually, not so long ago. Okay, this one was kind of funny. Not so long ago on Twitter, someone was sharing some recipe for jollof rice or something like that. Wait, do you guys have jollof rice? We know we don't, but I had the opportunity to try it. Which version? African companies. No, we don't have anything like it. As far as I know. I don't know the one you saw. We like our rice. We like your rice white.
Speaker: Yes. We like our rice pure, okay? It's white. White rice. No, but actually the most like... The staple rice in Madagascar is red rice. Okay. If you want to be fancy, you can call it pink rice. Okay.
Speaker: But yeah, our rice, pretty basic. Actually, when I was living with other Africans at some point, I was living with people from Togol and Congo. I was also hanging out with people from a bunch of different African countries. And when they would cook their rice,
Speaker: using my rice cooker, mind you. And they would put a bunch of stuff in it, they would put oil, they would put salt and a bunch of spices. I don't think rice cookers were meant to take all those ingredients. Indeed, indeed. So I was really shocked. I was like, what are you doing in this poor rice cooker? Why would you do this?
Speaker: That's the end of part one. If you'd like to hear more Rado, Jollof rice and laughter, then tune in to the next episode of lifeblood. See you then. Bye.
