Assistant Producer Muramatsu Ryouko's Karekano Diary

1998 October November

Dec. 25
Merry Christmas. It's me, Muramatsu.

How did you all spend your Christmas Eve? I had all the Christmas Cake I could stand. Not very sexy, I admit. But I enjoyed it.
Well, on the one hand, there are people like me, for whom Christmas is a solitary experience, and on the other, there are those like Hiramatsu, who dash home because they have to play Santa.
Change of subject: the other day, Tsukuda Hobby sent us an action figure of Yukino (well, actually it was a different doll, just dressed up to look like her). I happened to be sitting next to Sadamoto, and got to play with it. Which is not to say that that's the reason why Tsukuda sent it to us, no. Anyway, no sooner did I pack it back in its proper box than Hiramatsu came along, unpacked it, and started playing with it. He was disappointed when he heard that Sadamoto apparently wanted this doll, and thus he would have to give it back, because it was decided that Sadamoto would get the Yukino doll, and Hiramatsu would get the Arima doll. That's the breaks, I suppose.
Anyway, that wraps up 1998. See you after the First, and here's hoping you all have a good year.
Dec. 18

Hi there, it's me, Muramatsu.

I got a letter from a friend the other day. That made me happy enough, but this friend has the nerve to write in so many words that they're not watching KareKano: "But that's OK, right?" The hell it is! Watch it, I'm telling you! This is friendship we're talking about here!

The New Year's cards are all made up, just in time for a cold epidemic to hit. When it gets really bad, we have as many as three people out on a single floor. You think it'll be quiet with so few people around, but then the phone starts ringing. And more than usual, too, about 1.5 times more than your average company. The phone starts ringing again no sooner than you hang up, which makes it pretty rough. I know I wrote about lots of calls during KareKano itself (something which still happens every now and then, dammit). Why is that? It must be Murphy's Law at work.

Well, that's all for now. I heard something about this cold season being a rough one. So be careful.
Love Love Happy.

(Mura "I bought a heater and I'm much better" matsu)

Dec. 11

Hi there, it's me, Muramatsu.
We're so busy. Our liege lord is running around telling me that it's still plenty warm, even though it's December, so we keep putting off buying a heater. I think I'm coming down with a cold. It's been that kind of week. I'm so busy that I can't clearly remember what happened yesterday. I'm even having trouble standing up straight.
Now, about tonight's episode: the "Totoro" which appeared was actually drawn by the person who drew the original "Totoro" key animation, which makes it just like the real "Totoro" (I know it sounds complicated, but there it is). Anno's calling on friends from all over! We're as grateful as can be to this artist for his unhesitating agreement to this appearance of "Totoro". What a wonderful thing friendship is.
I myself have been busy this week with getting our Nengajo (traditional Japanese New Year's greeting cards) together. I had adopted an easygoing stance, but appearances can be deceiving: there's a lot of business Nengajo to deal with. This is rough, and it's only the anime section, too! I should've gotten an earlier start on it. I bet there's a lot of people in the same straits as me (cheap bid for sympathy). Good luck to us all.
That's all for now. Love love happy.

(Mura "Next week I'm buying a heater!" matsu)


Dec. 4
Hi there, it's me, Muramatsu.

At the beginning of this week, I had the opportunity to speak with actual high-school girls. Naturally, this was wrt KareKano.
When I asked what sorts of manga kids these days are reading, I was surprised to find that we were on the same wavelength. So I said, "I'm 17, you know," only to get a hard and fast "No way!". Oof. Looks like I overdid it. Still, there was no reason to come off that strongly.
Ignoring my pain, they chattered on excitedly about the anime version of KareKano. I think they said something about having a test the next day, and that they already could tell how well they would do. We wouldn't be able to stand it if they were to blame falling grades on KareKano, so we hope they'll give it all they've got next term.

Oh, this morning, Anno picked up a 100-Yen coin, which promptly turned into a can of cat food. The cat on the label appears briefly in the KareKano opening titles. Does this constitute a performance fee?
That's all for now. Bye-bye.

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