I would never, ever, ever create a character that you needed a special art supply to draw.

I see manga all the time where a main character has a screentone used in their hair or something. I could never do that. If you run out of it, you couldn’t officially complete pages until you ordered it again, and if it were to go out of production, you would be screwed beyond words. In addition, there a budget issues.

I don’t use screentone consistently in my character designs, but I still run out of fairly important ones too often. In addition, the beloved Akadot Retail is currently out of IC Youth 1091- something I’m out of, and need, to truly complete Act 3 (though it’s not even close to completion). I figure my shipping charges would be less if I waited until they have it back in stock, even though it will probably take 5-8 weeks. By then, I –will- be done with Act 2, God willing.

It would be nice if they were less expensive (2.70 after 2.70 after 2.70 adds up, especially with shipping), and came in, like, paper towel-size rolls. It would take months or years to use it up, depending on the versatility.

I also wish that Bristol board came in more than 20 sheets at a time. It doesn’t take long to go through it, especially if you happen to waste a few pages.

But anyway, you’ll notice that this comic is late. I had family in town, and I didn’t have time to/forgot to prep the comic for Tech Guy. Feh. It would be nice if someone besides my editor harassed me about it, actually.

But SOMEONE has to be reading. I’m currently ranked somewhere in the 700s on The Webcomic List. In my time there, I’ve ranged between 1395 and 601. I can think of a grand total of 6 readers, if that. In other words, if you listen closely, you can hear the tumbleweeds blowing through the site. It will probably be this way forevermore.

This page...heh. It has flow issues, but I’m probably the only one who cares.

I’m on a new computer, with a cable modem. It will take getting used to. I can sign on in 4 seconds, and I now don’t have time to correct it when I accidentally go to the .hack hub on Theotaku.com instead of Wolf’s Rain by mistake.

(Note: This is my official “I’m-talking-about-everything” rant)

I’ve been playing guitar again. Finally. As I see my guitar as the Cindy Crawford of stringed instruments, it deserves better than to sit in the corner in an obnoxiously-decorated but well-insulated case.

For the sake of technicality:

It’s an Ovation Celebrity CK057, Korean-made, Super Shallow roundback in Ruby Red. Chrome tuning keys, acoustic/electric, cutaway. I have seen only one guitar more beautiful than this, and it cost over 3000 dollars. And it wasn’t a roundback, which is more comfortable.

*goes D, Em, G, Em, A2, Em, D, A, Em, A, G, D until she picks too hard and the first string produces horrendous buzz*

Eh-heh...

Welcome once again to KTO, and the second posting of a rant from me. I rock so much, therefore I decided I let you guys read my wonderful writings again. Just kidding (well, maybe…). After some debate, I decided that todays rant would be about those strange characters that annoy you to death, but you can't bring yourself to really hate either. To prove my point, I will bring up characters that annoy me personally, but are characters I just can't bring myself to stab to death (my preferred method of destroying characters that tick me off).

Example number one: Sparkles (AKA Armstrong) from Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes, I call him Sparkles. He sparkles in a most horrible fashion and most importantly… He scares me. But even with all the times he rips off his shirt, poses, and sparkles, I can't hate him either. Of course, it doesn't mean I don't literally scream in pain whenever I see him when watching the show.

Character two: Yahiko from Kenshin. He's so whiny and annoying and always yells "Don't call me little Yahiko!" while throwing a fit. On Ed, it is atleast fun because he becomes chibi and doesn't usually repeat the same "I am not short!" line over and over again. On Yahiko it just gets old. But with all the dislike, the worse I do is wish someone would give the kid a wedgie to shut him up.

Number three: Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. He's a sword wielding idiot who does not bring a whole lot to the game personality-wise. And while spikes are a good thing, I would think he'd poke more people's eyes out with those spikes then he could with his sword. But, even though he annoys me, I had to sympathize in the end, and thus I do not hate him.

There are plenty more I could add to this list, really, but I don't have the time and I'm not sure if I have the space either. But it might be interesting to see what others have to think on this subject, so I'll tell you what. If you have a character or two who irks you from an anime/game, drop me a line at Harikatana@aol.com but also give me -reason- as to why they annoy you. Characters that get the most points against them will get a space in a future rant. Maybe I'll add them as "Annoyance of the day" or just use the characters as back-up rants during my upcoming move or sick weeks.

By the way, do not email me if you are just planning on whining about how these are your favorite characters and how I'm a horrible person for being annoyed at them. I realize people like them. Annoyance doesn't mean hate. It doesn't even mean dislike. In fact, while it's not true of these characters, sometimes the characters that annoy me most in certain anime are in fact my favorite characters.