Jun 16, 2026
To:Pope Evaristus
Thanks for reading Pope! And the kind words as always.
I was totally burned out after the failure that was 'Fuyukage' (I still remember the night when I spent 4 straight hours re-working the same sentence for that story), and I wanted to write something that would be a lot less mentally taxing. (And what's _less_ mentally taxing than a buncha casually worded journal entries, as well as barebones narration of what's happening on a non-existent TV screen??)
Originally I had two ideas bouncing in my head: one with the fansub filename chapter title gimmick, each chapter an episode of some light-hearted anime series, completely described as though it were the transcript of a hearing-impaired audio description track, with internet anime chapter reviews at the end of each one, with users commenting on the strange turn the show takes in the second half when something terrible happens to one of the characters and her friends just pretend everything's normal. (.. Echoes of that original concept still exist in the Hanako chapter.) .. Which is kinda a neat concept on paper but it's not really an actual story and probably too gimmicky to commit to fully.
The other idea was a washed-up voice actress and a revival series finally airing, but then SpooOooOOky things (TM) happen during the production as she becomes more and more like her character. Which is also a neat concept, sure--SO neat, in fact, that it's been done a million times before, and better. (Like really, what was I gonna realistically do, write an inferior version of Perfect Blue?)
.. Anyway the two kinda fused together at some point and that's how the story ended up with what you see now.
PuchiBro's sections I wrote entirely around the idea of him attending a Puchi live concert, the whole concept of which has always fascinated me. I've never actually been to one, but all the big shows around the time of what would have been Puchi's fictional heyday all had one. (K-on in particular had TWO!!!! And they all learned to play their instruments for real to play Fuwa Fuwa Time! ... Well, except for Mugi's actress, who actually already knew piano, which is why there's such a difference in skill between her and the others... And Mio’s actress forced herself to play bass with her non-dominant hand for maximum character fidelity….. So good 😭)
Re: A real Puchi episode--Yeah that would've been neat! .. Unfortunately I'm just absolutely t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e at writing true SoL. Something I'll definitely leave to the pros. Best I can come up with are shoehorning in the aboslute dumbest imagery that makes me laugh, like Hanako misunderstanding the word Oedipal, or Lotte tearing up a dictionary with her bare hands.
Thanks for checking out my stuff as always! I feel kinda guilty because I'm always shamelessly stealing from you. In this case the Green Day chapter titles from VxV .... And of course, Misaki's last name .....
Really appreciate your comments, though. You always point out stuff that never occurred to me, like the 'green' and envy motif. When you pointed that out, it gave me a real "Huh. ... Oh yeah!" kinda moment. Which in turn actually inspired in part the entire climax scene when Misaki faces her true feelings. Because up until that point I didn’t have a good grip on how the whole thing would play out. I was still considering having Misaki being attacked by the fake FAC(T) and the whole thing being the result of (albeit delusional) self defense. But while writing it the whole envy/jealousy angle (courtesy of your comment which was in the back of my mind all this time) stood out to me and so I really leaned into it. I think it’s more interesting how it turned out this way.
... oh and one last thing I just absolutely have to mention.
I cannot overstate just HOW much restraint it took, not to have Lotte say, during Misaki/Midori's re-appearance in the clubroom:
"Take a look at banner, Midori!"
