There you have it folks 🙂 While these chibi-versions of our heroines toddle off into the sunset, Bata Neart will return for another chapter in a couple of weeks.
Thank you all again for reading this far and for your continued patience whenever I set up a break like this. However, to try and keep things rolling, I have put together a few things for you interest:
First this:
Chapter 7
This first page of Chapter 7 is on the block and has already been toned at this stage. Featuring the first re-design of a *certain character* for nearly the guts of 10 years.
Moon & Blood (Special Edition)
This year saw a first for me, with my very first staff credit in an actual manga-manga!
I sometimes do ad-hoc proof reads for Nao’s English in some school materials, but in this case she asked me to check through one of her published volumes. I do this just to be helpful, but often Nao will send me a physical copy of a piece I work on as a thank you, and when this lovely volume of work arrived I was in for a wonderful shock:
Apart from the lovely thank you note at the end, you might spot my name appear in the credits just above the copyright. That had me smiling for days 😀
If you are curious on what a proper Japanese manga is like when my take on English is involved, you might want to check it out 😀 It’s worth it alone for Nao’s outstanding sense of humor 🙂 It hasn’t been distributed just yet but will be available via: http://www.dmpbooks.com/
Ask Aoife – Part Deux
In the weeks between now and Chapter 7, I would like to open up to comments for some more ‘Ask Aoife’ questions. Just like last year, if you have a question to pose directly to Aoife, please put a comment up with the tag @AskAoife, and Aoife herself will answer. This year I can’t alas draw the answers, but I get the feeling that this does not matter too much when it comes to Aoife!
And with that, I wish you all a happy summer and hope to see you all again when Bata Neart returns. Thank you again!
Awww, Chibi Team Neart is so cute. <3
@Azreal: Thank you 😀 Glad you liked them!
I’m thinking of using these chibi-versions of the characters as Chapter Buffers for when I eventually get around to making the print versions of Bata Neart 🙂
I will be waiting eagerly for that glorious day. ^^
After a good re-read, it occurs to me that you have had your nose applied to the grindstone far more than in previous years, so two weeks is as nothing. 🙂
@Rawr: wow, extra super big congrats on getting into the credits of an actual published book. ^_^
Oooooo… A flashback to Aine’s past? That should be interesting. Assuming there’s going to be a main antagonist other than the gym teacher, might we be getting a few clues about them?
Have a good break. Get some rest, my friend. ^_^
@AskAoife: So, Aoife, have you ever tried to play matchmaker for any of your friends? If so, how’d it work out?
@Kessy: Matchmaker? Well…I did try it out once…but it didn’t reall turn out like I thought it would.
I’ve always been a bit curious about Fiona, and I’ve kind of wondered if she was ‘playing on my team’….if you know what I mean.
Sooooo…I wanted to test this out! I found another girl in Class 5C who I also wondered about and arranged a sort of blind date down at the pizza restaurant on main street.
Problem is though…Ballinafil has two pizza restaurants on Main Street, and I forgot to mention to Fiona the name of the place. So she ends up in the wrong restaurant, and sits with the only single person there…who turns out to be a guy from the Boys’ School named ‘John’.
I think you’ve all seen him, so you know she ends up with him. I know it was an accident, but I’m still claiming credit for that 😀
I still stick with my theory on her. She might not be on ‘my team’…but maybe on ‘both’? 😀
@AskAoife: Aoife, have you chosen an educational goal (other than “Just graduating”), and if so, what is it?
@AskAoife: Dear Aoife, any plans on getting ahold of a wand / staff of your very own?
@Delta: Thanks for the kind words 🙂 Alas it will be a couple more weeks. Chapter 7 comes at the end of July
@Delta: Well…mostly I`m hoping to just get as many points as possible, that way I can get into any collag. I want to be able to get into the collage Ashling chooses to go to…whatever it might be. She still hasn`t chosen yet, which is making it a little hard to plan :/
@Azreal: Ooooo my own Bata Aoife?
Oh I would love that soooo much. I’d paint it blue and put some Lucky Stars all over it.
Althought…that might make it angry? Those sticks are kind of alive aren’t they?
Still, I would love to do a little magic. I could think of all manner of fun spells to try out 😀
-_-; Aoife, please trust me, love spells are just a really *really* bad idea.
Um, Aoife, wouldn’t “Bata Diabhlaiocht” be a more, um…..appropriate name?
(Don’t blame me–I’m just a slave to Google Translate.)
@Delta-V: Well IIRC one of the meanings of “Aoife” is joyful (along with beautiful and radiant), so for the most part that is a very workable descriptive as well. That said, “Diabhlaiocht” would be an excellent and apropos fit as well. 😈
@Kessy: Really? What could possibly go wrong…
(Looks up every example of this ever…)
Oh.
Then…I guess I shouldn’t be planning a honeymoon anytime soon after getting one huh?
Oh well 🙁
@Delta: I like to use ‘Lookie Translate’ too (I have to use the pretend brands of my universe), talking wiht Áine has made my Gaelige better, but I am no master…not at all!
He-he…I wouldn’t need a Bata Diabhlaiocht…I am a good girl I am….(looks around with cheeky smile)
@Azreal: D’aw, looking up the meaning of my name Azreal 😀 It’s a really flattering meaning too…although I do love the meaning of Ashling’s name…it matches her all too well 😉
@AskAoife: As I remember, you don’t have a roommate, and I don’t remember Ashling having one either. Have you ladies given much thought on where Aine is going to stay (and how you’re going to explain her to the Sisters)?
@Delta: You remembered right 😀
Ashling and I have two different types of room. On my side of the dorm, I have one of the larger rooms which has two beds. Ashling is just across the corridor from me, and she has one of the smaller rooms with only one bed.
I’ve often tried to suggest to her that she could move in with me, but for some reason she never likes that idea. I don’t know why?
I have a free bed for Aine, but Fiona also has a double-room and speaks better Irish than me. However she usually hosts the exchange students, so she might say no to that.
As for the Sisters….erm….oh yea…we need to tell them something don’t we?
(Scraches head) I dunno…maybe there is a way to enroll her? I don’t think we thought this out when we brought her back to the school 😛
@Aoife: Ashling is probably just one of those people who”Like their own space”. >>
I’d think that the language barrier might be a problem, and the mind boggles at what might happen if some classmates decide to try “hazing” the new girl…..
@Aoife: I don’t know if it would work there in Ireland, but here in the U. S. we’d try passing Áine off as Ashling’s cousin from out in the sticks. Shenanigans are afoot. 😛
@Delta: We don’t really haze any of the girls here. I once suggested that we could start our own sorority on our dorm floor; a sort of ‘Cappa Cappa Aoife’ (I thought of the name 😀 )
I then suggested that we haze our new initiates with a paddle I made in wood-work class. For some reason that really scared Ashling who tried to get me to drop the idea. Then mysteriously my paddle disappeared, and neither Ashling nor Fiona seemed to know where it was 🙁
So no…apart from what I was planning, I think Áine isn’t going to be hazed. (At least not yet ;D )
@Azreal: Knowing my luck she’ll end up being *my* cousin 😛
But it’s not a bad idea. We do need a story for her, and we’ll probably have to say that she came over from the Gaeltacht, which would be the reason why she can’t speak English.
@Aoife: Well, you could always pass Aine off as a Mysterious Transfer Student. Okay, so she doesn’t have ID or a school to transfer from or other little inconvenient details, but hey, it always works in anime!