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Update:   Monday, March 21, 2005

Thanks to everyone who contributed artwork for this update. Check it out, folks. There's a lot of nice stuff to see. :) Neko Oni has a gorgeous new pic of Tomoe. A beautiful, soft look, and lovely colors. I like the demure and slightly sad expression on her face. RoseThorn has four great new pics to add to the gallery. I like the warm feel of the Christmas pic. And the scars pic is quite dramatic, especially the colored version. Kenshin's Soul has some lovely artwork featuring everything from Kenshin wearing a kimono, to a tender moment with Sano, to Kenshin as an elf. Lovely coloring and pretty lineart. Very cool. Soujiro has several new images done in both anime-style and realistic style. My favorites are Soujiro 4, and Soujiro's Emotionless Face. Very different styles, but both wonderful. Kimmi has three wallpapers, featuring all sorts of RK characters. Great colors on all of them, but my favorite is the collage of Kaoru. Nice job. Posted by hakubaikou, 5:52:00 AM EST. on today's updates.

Update:   Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Three new stories from author Hikari Hrair-rah to add today. Well, these aren't stories in the regular sense of the word. They're owner's manuals for Kenshin, Hiko, and Sanosuke Units. Heh! Had me giggling out loud. Check it out folks. You're in for a good laugh. Thanks to Hikari Hrair-rah for allowing me to post these. A lovely new wallpaper from lolo popoki. This one features Kenshin standing in an autumn backdrop. Once again, I'm impressed by lolo popoki's ability for very clean extractions. The pics fit seemlessly together. Great job. Thanks for sending this in. And finally. Ha ha, I found an on-line Lite Brite site that was just too addicting! Spent a bit of time creating a silly little Kenshin Lite Brite pic. I'm not going to stick this in my gallery, obviously, but it was too funny not to share. Posted by hakubaikou, 10:09:00 PM EST. on today's updates.

Update:   Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Artist mimi, who is new to this site, has two cool pencil drawings. The first is a pic of a winged Kenshin flipping a blade. Very cool. And the second is a picture of Kaoru as a pirate. Nice job, mimi. Thanks for sending these in. Neko Oni has a new AU picture of Kenshin. I love the unusual blue color scheme. Artwork from Neko Oni is always a pleasure to look at. Thanks so much for sending this in. I've been tweaking the fanart section a little bit more. Added a spotlights section similar to what I have in the fanfic gallery. I'll be switching those images every once in a while. Also, I'm glad to see that a few suggestions for characters have already been made. Thanks, guys. Posted by hakubaikou, 7:12:00 PM EST. on today's updates.

Update:   Monday, March 14, 2005

FANFICS: Nekotsuki has updated her Tanabata Jasmine fic with chapter 27 posted at FFnet a few days ago. I've posted it here as well. It's supposedly the second to last chapter. I'm rather distressed to hear that. It's always a little sad when a good fic is about to end. If you haven't read this story yet, I suggest you mosey on over and start reading. FANART: Before I forget, I have slightly updated browsing in the art section. Hopefully the new menu format is a little easier to navigate. I've also updated the Fanfic Art section and added a new Requests page for giving bored artists ideas on what characters fans would like to see. So if you're a rabid fan of a lesser known character who is rarely drawn in fanart, try posting your suggestion on the Requests page. And if you're a bored artist who can't think of something to draw, try looking for ideas there. Maybe something will come of it all. One can hope.... And onto the art. Wow, I suppose with spring break, people have had more time to draw. Got absolutely flooded by marvelous art in the last week. Woohoo! Plenty to look at folks. Thanks so much to all the artists who sent in their pictures. You guys are great. Jess, a new artist at this site, has sent in five gorgeous pictures of Kenshin and Kaoru. She does a fabulous job with shading, and I like the textured look of the pics. "Kenshin 08" in particular has an intriguing composition that I enjoyed. Lady Lore is also a new artist at this site. She has sent in three gorgeously colored pics. I like the emotional content of each and the scenes the artist has chosen to depict. The background in "Duality" is lovely. "Beginning" is just... beautiful. Another new artist at this site, keurigi, has sent in two marvelous pics of Kenshin (in all his various incarnations) and Kaoru. I really like keurigi's unique style, especially in the "Kenshin and Kaoru" pic, which is more realistic than canon work. The final new artist for the day, Benjamin Constantinides, has sent in a very cool pencil drawing of Kenshin during the Bakumatsu. I like the pensive expression on Kenshin's face. The eyes, in particular, really draw me in and make me wonder what Kenshin is thinking about. Kheriah has sent in two colored pics. One of Kenshin, and the other, a fanart of Tanabata Jasmine, featuring Aoshi and Misao. I like the colors in the Aoshi and Misao pic especially. Also, kheriah has two awesome new doujinshi pages with beautifully detailed drawings on both. Wistful Eyes has two new Tomoe pics to add to the gallery. The first one is an adorable chibi of her looking vaguely punkish. And the second is a beautiful artpad drawing that I really enjoyed. I love the colors on it and the loose, visible brush strokes. Artist Kimmi has sent in a lovely color picture of Kenshin and Kaoru. I really like the details in Kaoru's kimono. Very delicate looking. I also like the expressions on Kenshin and Kaoru's faces. It's nice seeing them so happy. Jonathan Constantinides has three great new pics of Kenshin and Aoshi. I really like the colored version of Aoshi. Nice job on the cel shading. And I like the somewhat mysterious expression on his face. The two pen drawings are cool too. Seven cool new pics of various characters by artist Shinomori Misao. Several of them feature Aoshi and Misao together. The cuddling pics in particular are so cute. I like the soft colors on the "Aoshi & Misao Cuddle" pic. And last but not least, Wandering Aimlessly (aka Lady Himura Shishi) has a beautiful lineart drawing of "Tomoe and Plum Blooms". I like the composition of the pic. And the flowers are wonderfully done. The lineart is impressively clean on this. Whew! And that's it for tonight. I've still got the Oro page to work on. I'm still blocked on it, unfortunately. And there are some updates to be done in the Fanfic art gallery. I'll get to those next time. Posted by hakubaikou, 2:52:00 AM EST. on today's updates.

Update:   Sunday, March 06, 2005

A huge number of updates today. I'd like to thank all the contributors for their generosity and for their patience. Please have a look at all the new fanworks. And also, let's give a warm welcome the six newest contributors to this site: Mio, Jonathan, Kimmi, lolo popoki, and Keitorin-san. NEW FAN FICTION: Mio has been gracious enough to allow me to post her beautiful and elegant story, The Courtship of Lady Tokio. I've been wanting to post this one for a long time, and finally, I've had enough free time to do so! The title is pretty self-explanatory. The story is really something special. I love the quietly formal tone of it, and the characterizations are first-rate. Lovely work. You're in for a treat, folks. Thanks for allowing me to post this, Mio. Chapter 2 of Clearing Skies by Calger459 is up. It's rare to find stories featuring interaction between Sano and Kenji. And Calger, as always, does it so very well. Her insight into character's emotions and thought-processes is always spot on. Action. Revenge. Rescue missions. What's not to love? If you haven't read Nekotsuki's Tanabata Jasmine yet... What on earth are you waiting for? It's a great fic. Chapter 26 has been added. Go read it, for Pete's sake. Jane Drew's marvelous fic Heart, Sword, and Song features vignettes of various RK characters. Her explorations into their lives offers insight beyond most fanfics I've seen. A beautifully written set of stories. Chapter 7 is up. Kyuushutsu, by Terry McElrath, features some of the most heart-stoppingly exciting action sequences I've ever read in RK fanficdom. The battles are beautifully brutal, and the way Battousai is portrayed is just too cool. And last, but not least, Omasu's epic tale, The Choshu Chronicles has come to an end. The scope of this story is amazing. An intimate tale of a developing friendship interweaved with grand historic events. I love stories of Kenshin during the Bakumatsu, but this one really stands out. I'm sad that the story is completed. I truly hope Omasu has more stories to come in the future. NEW ARTWORK: Thanks to all the artists for sending in their art. Jonathan has a great pencil drawing of Kenshin posted. I like the expression on his face. The eyes are especially cool. Thanks for sending in the art, Jonathan. Kimmi has three beautiful pencil drawings to contribute. All three are lovely, but my favorite is kenshin009. Lovely eyes on that one. Thanks so much for sharing your art, Kimmi. Kenshin's Soul has three new pics. The shinta pic is adorable. And the pic of Kenshin as an onnagata (inspired by Conspirator's fic, An Unexpected Lesson) is beautiful. Soujiro has four new pics to add to the gallery. Soujiro's chibi pics are the cutest things. I love the Okita chibi in particular. I so want to pinch his pink little cheeks. Bekah Wren's sent in a colored version of her contest pic from last summer. I like the new version with the blood red shadow. Very striking. Justine Bowder has four more pics for her gallery. Lovely artwork of Kenshin and Kaoru done in a very unique style. Gorgeous, gorgeous work. NEW WALLPAPERS: Thanks to lolo popoki for sending in a beautifully crafted wall of Kenshin and Saitou. The scene intrigues me. I wonder what they're thinking? Sharp pictures and a clean extraction. Nicely done. And much thanks to Keitorin-san for two fantastic walls of Kenshin and Kaoru. I really like the layout and the colors. Great job on these, Keitorin-san. OTHER NOTES: Well, there are an awful lot of updates, and it's rather late at night right now. I hope I haven't made too many coding errors. If anyone catches any mistakes, do drop me a line. I've got a few more things that I'm still working on. Mainly, a couple Oro entries. I'm unfortunately experiencing Oro block. I can't think of much to write. Bah! I'll think of something eventually. Thanks to everyone who sent their well-wishes regarding my last few weeks. Our final weekend of shooting was much nicer and went smoother than the previous weeks. I enjoyed that weekend, thanks. And that's it for now. G'night folks. It's nice to be back. :) Posted by hakubaikou, 5:25:00 AM EST. on today's updates.