In fact, I fear I am a jack-of-all-trades.

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Animedia September Art

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Utsumi’s comments on the art

ーWe were originally told that this time we’d get an illustration of them eating ice cream since it’s summer.

Honestly, we’ve done so many other illustrations of them eating ice cream that I’m affraid that Reki and the others are going to burst out of their clothing at this rate (painful laugh). But to go along with the original concept of them eating something, we tried to think of something they could eat while skateboarding. We’ve drawn Reki and Langa eating in a lot of other illustrations, but we hadn’t drawn Sakurayashiki and Nanjou in that way yet, and seeing them in plain clothes also give it a really refreshing feeling.

ーAnd so it turned out to be Langa and Sakurayashiki drinking frappuccinos didn’t it?!

We originally planned for them all to be drinking them but it turned out to get in the way (lol), so we made it so only two of them were. We made it so Langa is drinking something L size and sweet and probably super high calorie and Sakurayashiki is drinking a limited edition sakura frappuccino.

ーNanjou looks cute stealing a bite from him.

Nanjou’s hobby is eating while walking so I’m sure he wants to eat all sorts of things. So that’s why we made him steal a bite of Sakurayashiki’s drink. We wanted Reki to be holding popcorn, but rather than for walking around town, that’s more like something you’d get at a theme park, and you can’t really eat it while skateboarding.

ーPlease tell us how you came up with their outfits.

Reki’s outfit is really a street style fit for a skater. And I think the colorful parts really suit him. The one who came up with the idea for his wrist band was the color designer Gotou Yukari. I hope we can make it in to merch someday……!

ーLanga has a much more normal shirt style, doesn’t he?

We put him in a lot of button up shirts to make him stand out from Reki. His blue shirt with white stripes has a really summery feel so I think it’s nice. I put in the order that I wanted it to look different from normal so they ended up wearing baseball caps they never wore in the show.

ーThe feel of them really does change with just the addition of a cap doesn’t it?

That’s right. They’re all wearing one, but especially for Sakurayashiki it gives him a completely different feel from what he’s had until now. By the way, Reki is wearing his cap over his headband. Reki almost never takes off his headband.

ーWhile that’s true of the cap, it’s also refreshing to see Sakurayashiki looking so sporty.

Right(lol)? I made the order for them all to be in their plain clothes, but in that case Sakurayashiki would have just been in a kimono and that wouldn’t have been any different from normal. So for a change I thought why don’t we put him in casual clothes but I couldn’t decide on what to make him wear……, and so I was really troubled over it. I guess since he’s an AI skater this is his fashion mode. I thought about putting Nanjou in a running shirt, but that wouldn’t be that different from normal either. I felt like him being in a parka would be more rare and it makes him look youthful.

ーWhat sort of story do you imagine to go along with this picture?

I think they definitely have skateboards at their feet. Rather than the four of them making plans together and meeting up, I think Reki and Langa went out together and Sakurayashiki and Nanjou went out together separately and they ran into each other in the city. I think Reki and Langa are probably playing around in the city on their day off. They’re probably looking at clothes together, going to eat at fast food places, skating at a skate park and things like that. For Sakurayashiki and Nanjou…… There was probably some reason they went out looking like that? (lol) I’ll let the readers imagine about that for themselves ☆

ーAre there any other types of clothes you’d like to make them wear?

Winter clothes. The series takes places from spring to fall so I’d like to see them in warm clothes for the cold weather. I think everyone outside of Langa wouldn’t do well with the cold. Especially Reki since he has young sisters, when they go out as a family they probably don’t let them go out with anything exposed, so I can’t even imagine him in a cold winter. Langa on the other hand, his face wouldn’t even change color no matter how cold it was (lol).

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Reki and Langa

(Director Utsumi Hiroko and colorist Gotou Yukari)

Utsumi: I think that Reki and Langa are irreplaceable best friends. I think that every day, even at school and outside of school, they are with each other day and night skating. I had a friend like that when I was in school, and so every day was really fun, so I think that if Reki and Langa are always like then it’s a really good thing.

Gotou: I really like how Reki and Langa are right in the middle of their adolescence and are skating with tons of hopes and dreams. When I see them, it makes me feel like I’m having fun too. I hope that these two always stay so sparkling.

(Animage September)

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They announced new character goods today and there’s a lot of Okinawan references in it so I thought I’d share what I noticed!

Everyone is wearing hibiscus flowers, which are very common in Okinawa!

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Reki is holding Chinsuko cookies which are a well known traditional cookie from Okinawa. He also has an Okinawan Shisa with him.

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Langa has pineapple. Pineapples are a big agricultural product in Okinawa. They even have a whole theme park dedicated to them. He also has a shisa. Shisa do usually come in pairs.

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Miya has a whale shark with him. The aquarium in Okinawa is famous for having a large whale shark exhibit. He is also holding a shikuwasa which are commonly grown in Okinawa. They’re a citrus fruit kind of similar to a lime.

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Shadow is eating Sugar cane. Sugar cane is also a common agricultural product in Okinawa.

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Cherry is holding a hanagasa, which is a flower hat from traditional ryuukyuuan clothing. And it looks like he’s holding a bag of andagi, which are Okinawan donuts!

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Joe is drinking awamori which is a sake famous in Okinawa.

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ADAM is holding a sanshin which is a traditional instrument in Okinawa, similar to a shamisen, but it is smaller and made with snakeskin. He also has a sangwa tied to his hip. They are a tradition in Okinawa to ward off bad spirits.

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Tadashi is holding Okinawa soba. He also has a sangwa tied to his hip.

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