Sort of delaying "BLACK. WHITE. GREY." illustration book for a while...

Kuroi Kai just needs some time to make impressive illustrations. All he needs to do is to get rid of doubts in his mind...

So the illustration book for "BLACK. WHITE. GREY." will not be cancelled. Instead, it'll be delayed.

And in addition, he's got ideas for some crazy manga stories. Some part of them will probably be in the "BLACK. WHITE. GREY." illustration book as illustration or character art collections.

He said something about an anti hero pink bunny man... Oh and some crazy or weird super heroes and lame super villains... for the funny... What's up with that...?

Whatever Kuroi Kai is cooking, it doesn't sound impressive at all... But AKABUMI will see if it wants to use those crazy ideas. Crazy will probably be good enough to start something for AKABUMI...

"BLACK. WHITE. GREY." illustration book probably about to be cancelled...? Why...?

Kuroi Kai said that he's been feeling too depress to think about completing the illustration book. For some reason, I'm not so sure why. He wasn't even clear with his reasons at all. Hopefully he's not going to cancel his plans or AKABUMI will not have any books to publish...

He's been isolating himself a lot lately. And I thought that he purposely did it just to get his work done. 

So hopefully he's not really going to give it all up. Otherwise AKABUMI needs a better artist to replace Kuroi Kai. Otherwise, he should be fired from AKABUMI... But firing Kuroi Kai from his own company...?

"BLACK. WHITE. GREY" page previews...

Have a look at some incomplete works for the book by Kuroi Kai right here.

So send an email to Kuroi Kai at kuroi_kai_den84@hotmail.com or kuroi.kai.mangaknight@gmail.com and tell him what you think of his first few incomplete works so far before he's doing some more.

Or you can just tell him what you think about them on the CBOX in his blog. You don't have to tell him your email or URL if you don't have any or if you're too shy. Just tell him your name (or nick name or perhaps alias if you're also too shy to tell your actual name).

And please, don't be too critical on him.

BLACK. WHITE. GREY update on the pages...

Kuroi Kai had done up to 25 pages of illustrations and he'll keep doing some more for the "BLACK. WHITE. GREY" illustration book. It's going to be in black, white and grey (like what the title said). The grey parts in each artworks will be done with screentones.

Previews of the pages will be shown soon on his blog.

Fans of Sin City will also recognize the feeling of the shadowy effect in some illustrations.

Although Kuroi Kai does have a little doubt about doing the illustrations for the book. He said that he's afraid that no one will ever like his illustrations as he is not a professional artist yet. But even if he still has doubts in him, he's still going to do it anyway.

We all advice Kuroi Kai not to listen to what people say and do what is necessary.

Although some people kept telling him to give up as he is doing something useless in life... Well some people are very critical about what he's doing anyway. I guess that explains why he calls himself The Manga Knight.

The books in Japanese should use furigana text.

I believe some readers who are studying the Japanese Language should read Japanese books with furigana text. That way if they learn something new, they can refer to the dictionary for the meaning.

I remember going to Kinokuniya at KLCC in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia and I saw the Japanese translated version of the book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ("Sorcerer's Stone" in the USA) and I saw furigana texts which are easier to read than kanji alone.

Why Japanese texts have kanji (the Chinese letters)? Because they help show the meaning of whatever words we use when we speak in Japanese.

One time I talked to a Japanese sensei, she didn't understand one word I was saying so she asked for the kanji written letters for it just to know what I'm talking about.

I guess kanji letters are what makes Japanese language difficult to master. But for me it's easier to master katakana and hiragana. Well... some people in Japanese class are having trouble with either katakana or hiragana...

It's not like studying the Korean Hangul (or is it "Hangeul") letters which are harder for me since I'm not studying Korean. But both Japanese and Koreans also use Kanji (so don't get me started with what Chinese use because chances are... they're already using kanji letters themselves).

And if I remember clearly, in Korea, for those who mastered kanji, they get the kanji license. That's what someone from South Korea once said to me but I wasn't so sure. If I were to study kanji in South Korea, then chances are, I'd probably study the Korean pronunciations of each kanji instead of the Japanese pronunciations...

According to what I'm studying in the Japanese Language, there are up to 5,000 kanji letters... but people can understand or read up to 2,000 necessary kanji letters just to read the Japanese news papers.

Come to think of it, its sort of hard for me to find Japanese novels or light novels which are in furigana text. So what if AKABUMI starts one? Because I believe these days, a lot of people who have interests in Japanese Language and Culture as well as Japanese manga and anime are studying Japanese. And because of that, some people who are studying Japanese are reading Japanese Language manga with furigana text.

Examples of Japanese manga with furigana texts are the Weekly Shounen Jump magazine, Jump SQ (Jump Square) magazine, Monthly Magazine (if I can remember clearly) and probably other manga magazines published by Kodansha.

Well whatever the case, it's definitely better to have furigana texts in our books which are in Japanese language. And hopefully readers are able to read furigana texts (despite the very small hiragana letters on top or on the side of the kanji letters). But for that case, I also hope that people who are studying the Japanese Language master their katakana and hiragana.

Especially for those who are studying Japanese in Brunei... Because I believe there are a lot more people taking Japanese classes in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and others... Even if there are some who quits easily, there are still a lot more students who are willing to proceed.

Books to be published by AKABUMI which are in Japanese furigana texts will be novels, light novels, manga, educational books and so on. I just hope that it will be helpful for those who are studying Japanese or taking Japanese classes.

The only problems that AKABUMI is facing are:

A) Budgets

B) People to hire or to recruit

And on top of that, we are currently working on our first book to publish...

But this will be a start for AKABUMI...

What is AKABUMI?

AKABUMI is actually a name which uses two different words from two different languages. The word AKA which is written in Japanese hiragana as あか means "Red" in Japanese and BUMI which is written in Japanese katakana as ブミ means "Earth" in Malay or Bahasa Melayu (which is a spoken language in both Brunei and Malaysia).

So literally it means "Red Earth".

It's not quite original. But it'll do for a company name for now... or should I say a Doujin Company for now...

Kuroi Kai hopes that this company name will collaborate with other companies like Shueisha, Shougakukan, DC Comics and other publishing companies. And hopefully this company will bring more Bruneians to do comics and to bring the Japanese to work in Brunei for animation and manga or to teach Japanese language someday.

Hopefylly this company will also bring Bruneians to Japan to do manga or to become assistants for mangaka in Japan.

But for now, this company needs to think of something smaller first.

English and Japanese light novels can be nice too...

I know that some young people who are around their late teen or around their 20's today enjoy reading light novels like Suzumiya Haruhi or Full Metal Panic as well as KURENAI.

Hopefully after working on our first book, "BLACK. WHITE. GREY" by Kuroi Kai (A.K.A. The Manga Knight). Well have the time to do light novels as well as educational books and other manga books. Recently he just done 2 rough illustrations worth 3 pages and 5 inked illustrations which needed screen tones.

This is why we need story writers who can write stories up to 12 or 14 chapters long with only 100 pages and above. And hopefully there will also be those who can do the illustrations for the books besides Kuroi Kai or Saiko Dude. Those two are sort of like Batman and Superman of AKABUMI.

Unfortunately Saiko Dude is sort of busy with is work as well while Kuroi Kai is busy entering an academy.

Is there anyone who's willing to write stories while Kuroi Kai and/or Saiko Dude can do the illustrations? Kuori Kai is more into the Japanese style while Saiko Dude is a mix of American comic and Japanese manga style.

Manga books that teaches you Japanese and make you laugh...

I remember watching the TV show "All That" on the channel Nickelodeon long ago. I was watching the part where Kenan Thompson played a silly French teacher named Pierre Escargot in one skit. In that skit, while Pierre Escargot takes a bath wearing a rain coat, he teaches the viewers some stupid French words.

The French words he speaks in are nothing but gibberish. But it's just something to make viewers laugh anyway.

This sort of gave me an idea of my own Japanese lessons for Japanese manga lovers everywhere. People who are studying a language also needs laughter so that they can enjoy their lessons more.

In one page, on the first panel, a characters speaks in Japanese and then in the next panel, he translates it into English. That's how it should be. And in some pages, the manga should explain about the sentences.

Of course, it's also good to write the Japanese text with furigana for those who find kanji really hard to read or understand.

Going to publish our first book

The first book will be an illustration book by Kai Kuroi (A.K.A. The Manga Knight) titled "BLACK. WHITE. GREY". Sill not so sure how many pages it will have. Depends on the progress and budget as well.

Hopefully there will also be educational books which teaches manga lovers to speak in Japanese or simple Japanese.

Actually AKABUMI has started since 2007. Unfortunately we don't have much people to recruit... Hopefully we will have many people joining like editors, story writers, other artists, etc. So for now, AKABUMI will be a self-publishing company (or a doujin group).