Episode 9, Page #2 - "Super Seller"
Aoi Notes: 02/15/2008
In case you missed our special Valentine's Day omake featuring a color picture of Maria, then be sure to download your copy here:
http://www.gomanga.com/news/omake_076.php
We had an interesting question come in through our forum Q&A Thread, so I wanted to devote today's Aoi Notes to answering it...
Dagget35 asks, "Did you have any pairings planned from the beginning or did they just sort of work themselves out?"
I'd be lying if I said I did. So no, I really didn't have a clue initially. A lot of harem comedies are like that, actually. It's kind of the nature of having everything be episodic in the beginning. When you first get started, your main concern is to just get all the characters introduced and to just throw as many crazy plots at the characters as you can.
Obviously, as I was writing and started to see Shiei's pages come in, I was able to get a better grasp of how she was interpreting my scripts and how she saw the characters. So by the second book, I had a decent idea where the story was heading in the long-term.
BTW, knowing where a story is heading and liking where it is heading are two different things. I bring this up, because I wasn't ever really set on how I was going to handle the post-Hatsu-Con Aoi House stories. But as things would have it, introducing Uri House had an absolutely amazing effect on the story. I fell in love with those characters and didn't want them to be villains, so I scrapped any post-Hatsu-Cons plans I had and started over from scratch. And frankly, I'm glad I did, because what Shiei and me have planned for the final volume is so much fun.
Curious what that scrapped outline looked like? Well, you are in luck because I do plan on covering it in a side-bar in the Aoi Notes that will be included with Aoi House In Love! Vol. 2 when it hits stores this June.
Speaking of that final volume, Shiei is down to the final 15 pages. So the finish line is very much coming up fast. We even discussed some revisions for those final pages to help tighten things up. So I'm excited to see what surprises Shiei has in store for me as she wraps things up.
Well, that's a wrap for this week. See you back here Monday!
-Adam Arnold
P.S. Vote Incentives for February '08 are as follows:
BuzzComix.net - Echiboo x Luna-P
TopWebComics.com - Character Chibi #8 (of 8) - Morgan
Be sure to show your support for Aoi House by voting at both sites!
