While I usually talk about the anime and manga influence on the books I’ve been working on, I feel like this part itself deserves a separate post. For some reason, I feel like the anime and manga that influence my writing seems to be scattered across the blog and it buries deeply in my blog archive.

And at the same time, I feel like I need to give kudos to the anime, manga and video games that make the writing process of the novel possible.

As an author, I’m pretty sure that there are more anime and manga that will inspire my future works. So, I’ve decided to break the anime, manga and video games influence post into separate parts. I think this will be easier for you to read because the post will be a short one.

The anime and manga influence on my writing: what are they

From the picture above, I’m pretty sure that you can tell what anime, manga and video game is that. But maybe you have no idea in what way these anime, manga and video games are so influential in my works because they don’t seem to have much correlation with my books. Heck, I’m even surprised how much these anime, manga and video games have major influence on my works.

Sure, my non-fiction reading habits are the backbone of my writings, but the crazy ideas usually come from the anime, manga and video games I’ve come across.

And, here they are~

Yowamushi Pedal

What do an otaku and his merry bike racing friends have a lot to do with my writing? If you look at it from the logical standpoint, it doesn’t seem like my works are highly influenced by Yowapeda.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a big fan of Yowapeda and my favorite character from Yowapeda is Toudou (hello Toudou fangirls). While I did have many anime to watch while Yowapeda was on air, Yowapeda was the only one that I couldn’t wait to watch every week.

I think that’s usually the case for every sports anime I’ve watched. But for some reason, Yowapeda gave me a different feeling that I couldn’t describe myself. I felt like Yowapeda was giving me happiness.

I know it’s funny for me to describe Yowapeda like it’s a gift from heaven, but that was how I felt at that time.

Because of that, I’ve decided to become an author simply because Yowapeda gives me so much happiness. And I’d like to do the same even though I don’t write anything related to bike racing, have a happy and optimistic character and always write about the dark side of life.

Still, if you enjoy a story like this and you feel happy reading my works, then I’ve accomplished my mission. Sure, it feels disturbing at some point, but if it rocks your boat, then so be it.

I do have quite a few anime and manga that has a disturbing theme and can make my stomach churned, but I enjoy reading manga or watching anime with that kind of theme. Maybe because that sort of anime and manga filled with facts (which I love about them) and it gets me to think. Talk about mental stimulation here.

That’s not all, though.

Because of Yowapeda, the setting for The Diary of Modern Cinderella and Twisted Destiny is based in Hakone. Well, I can pick any place in Japan and it’s not necessary in Hakone. But in the end, I pick Hakone because it’s Toudou’s hometown.

Heck, even the main character in Twisted Destiny, Takumi, is inspired from Toudou. Initially, I want him to behave exactly like Toudou, but after the writing and editing process, he becomes someone else that doesn’t resemble Toudou anymore. The only thing that remains the same is Takumi is popular among the girls, just like Toudou.

Now you see why Yowapeda tops the list because of how much Yowapeda influences me in every single way.

Kingdom Hearts

My novels are never about the obvious good vs evil. And even in the process of writing the prequel to my first series, Trigger Locked, the main character itself isn’t so obvious on the good side. She (yes, the main character for Trigger Locked is a girl and she has a twin brother) can be portrayed on the evil side if you take a look at it from the mankind point of view.

Despite that, it doesn’t stop me from drawing inspirations from Kingdom Hearts since I’ve played the game since the game was first released on PS2. You have no idea how nostalgic it is to celebrate the game’s 10th year anniversary a couple of years ago.

So, what part of my works receive influence from Kingdom Hearts?

It’s none other than having The Diary of Modern Cinderella and Twisted Destiny overlapping with each other. Sure, the main character for both books is different, but some part of the story is overlapping each other.

Think about Kingdom Hearts’ main series with other side stories such as Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and even Kingdom Hearts: Unchained X. You can choose not to play because you’re controlling different characters and they also have a different story. But if you want to fully understand the storyline better, you have to play both games.

Not just Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts: Unchained X, but also other Kingdom Hearts games. If you only focusing on the main story, you won’t understand much. Or maybe it will make the story becomes even more confusing because you have no idea what’s going on.

It’s also the same with my books. For example, in Twisted Destiny, I do mention a little bit what happened to one of the characters, Chiyu. She’s not just one of the characters in Twisted Destiny, but she also one of the characters in The Diary of Modern Cinderella. So, if you want to understand what really happened to her, then you have to read The Diary of Modern Cinderella as well.

To be honest, overlapping my works is not easy and it’s a headache. But I’m glad that I’ve given this concept a try. Still, it doesn’t hurt to do this again for my future works.

I guess being an indie author allows you to test many crazy ideas. Or maybe that’s just me.

Ghosthound

For some reason, I have a penchant for any anime and manga which focusing on the psychological aspect. It doesn’t matter what the subject is all about, as long as it falls into the psychological-theme, I’m in. And this is what drawn me to watch Ghosthound because this anime emphasizes a lot on the human brain, trauma and out of the body experience.

The Diary of Modern Cinderella is written with Ghosthound in mind. And that’s the reason why I focus a lot on the mental and emotional state of the main character, Risa Akagi. Of course, the story points out how Risa has to deal with her stepmother where her mental stability is unknown to her. Pretty much, how she deals with it from the psychological point of view.

Just like the characters in Ghosthound, Risa and her stepsister, Chiyu don’t do much until things are getting worst. It’s contradicting to the main character in Trigger Locked, where she has to do something. Otherwise, she’ll be toast.

I don’t know if I manage to project the same feeling like Ghosthound in The Diary of Modern Cinderella. But if it is, then I can pat myself at the back for doing a good job for my first novel.

You can say that Ghosthound influenced me to write about the psychological states of my main characters. Even in Twisted Destiny, I also emphasize a lot what Takumi had in mind.

I guess I am good with writing about psychological-theme stories. And I think I should do this more.

There’ll be more to come

These are some of the anime, manga and video games that influenced my writings whether it’s directly or indirectly. There’ll be more to come~