Good evening, everyone. Are we all doing well? I have a bit of a cold, but it's been building for the last few days so I'm not surprised. Thankfully, I seem to have lost the dry cough that triggered every time I laughed!

Explanation of Weird Title: Naruto, the ninja-series that everyone loves, never really interested me. Naruto was... well, kind of annoying. I didn't really feel him. I mean, he wanted to be the Hokage because people would have to pay attention to him? If he wanted to be the strongest ninja, I might have liked him, but his dreams were kind of sad and lonely.

In comparison; One Piece, pirate manga. I wasn't sure about it at first: a wicked laid-back protagonist, slightly absurd aesthetic... Well, I re-discovered it a couple of months ago. And I love it. The art is fantastic, the story is full of heart, the characters are awesome, and the whole thing is just too much damn fun!

Thus: In my heart, Pirates have defeated Ninjas. Let's celebrate with grog and a sea chanty!

So I really want to do some One Piece fanart. I wanna draw Luffy~! I wanna draw Zoro's muscly manliness~! I wanna put a Chopper plushie on my bed~! I really, really wanna~! It shouldn't be super difficult, but it'll be weird to balance my art style with Oda-sensei's. がんばってね!

Originally, my favorite character was Zoro. I just love how he's sensible and intelligent, and then becomes a total moron about the weirdest things! "My feet are trapped, and I'm going to turn into a giant candle and die? Guess I'll just cut my legs off." ...Are you a moron!? And then just snoring away on deck! *lovelove*

Then, around the time the Strawhats arrived in Water 7, I changed my favorite character. Ussopp's increased manliness and depth touched me, and becoming Sogeking because he was too embarrassed to apologize was too cute~! Then, when Robin was on the cusp of being lost forever, that bloom of fire... SOOOO COOOOOOOOL!

So it was them, with a healthy dose of love for everyone else for the longest time. And then, we met Brook.

New favorite! He's a super-tall living gentlemen skeleton, in a suit and top-hat, who's a musician, and a swordsman, carrying a cane and a teacup, WITH A GIANT AFRO! How could he not be my favorite character EVAR, YOHOHOHOHO~!

So that's my current love. Other loves: Onigiri. I made some short-grain rice yesterday... today I added some smoked salmon and nori... SOOOO yummy! I'm definitely making them again!