Hello! It’s Toyoda.
This year is coming to an end soon… The calendar illustration and serialized novel “Isekai Ogiri,” which I started around this time last year, just concluded with its final chapter a few days ago!
Featuring peculiar outfits and situations, it was a long story that surprisingly followed the traditional Sonic narrative over the course of a year. I’m glad that everyone seemed to enjoy it!
As for a retrospective project on this, I’ll save that for another time…
Today, I’d like to talk about the calendar illustration project for the year 2024!
Next year will be packed with excitement!
- Determining one of the characters for the illustrations through a survey!
- Collecting text ideas for the completed illustrations through Social Media!
- Staff at Sonic Channel will introduce outstanding works!
- Presenting novelties!?
…So, with that in mind, we’re starting a new, diverse project, the “Ask! Creators Calendar Illustrations”! There are intriguing keywords like “Introduction on Sonic Channel” and “Presenting novelties” in the topics above…
Now, let’s call in my partner, “KIKUZO,” who is like the editor-in-chief of Sonic Channel, and introduce this new project.
Hey! KIKUZO~!
A lot of exciting plans, and looking forward to KIKUZO!
KIKUZO
Hey, everyone! Nice to meet you! I’m KIKUZO, a robot created by Dr. Eggman.
Toyoda
……and that’s just a Sega employee who’s convinced of that.
KIKUZO is the webmaster who has been managing the Sonic Channel for a long time, and we’ve been working together for over 10 years now…
KIKUZO
I work on Sonic Channel and various web content related to Sonic. Recently, I’ve been involved in creating a variety of videos too.
Until now, I’ve mostly been behind the scenes and not in front of the camera, but with the increasing variety of content, I thought it might be necessary to have someone explain things within Sonic Channel.
Toyoda
“Tell us, Creators!” is also something that KIKUZO is going to take care of, right? Please explain it right away!
KIKUZO
Understood.
The 2024 calendar illustrations are a project with the concept of “Let’s play together with everyone on Sonic Channel more than ever before!”
Toyoda
Yes, together!
KIKUZO
Every month, with the newly drawn Sonic calendar illustration, we’ll have everyone choose one character out of two through an “X” survey. After the illustration is completed, everyone can post interesting ideas on “X”! Up to this point, it’s similar to this year’s Isekai Ogiri.
Starting from 2024, Toyoda-san and I will read and comment on these posts, picking out the ones that resonate well. We plan to express our gratitude by presenting novelty items for the enjoyable submissions!
Toyoda
Yes, “novelty” refers to small goods or items. Things like Sonic character badges, for example.
KIKUZO
Yes! And let’s consider publishing the discussions, comments, and the atmosphere of the meetings in the form of articles on Sonic Channel… I’m thinking about it.
Toyoda
It’s like the J*mp Broadcasting Station!
KIKUZO
That’s a little too old. It’s like the Mish*aring Hour!
toyoda
But Tam*ri Club is already over (laughs).
We wanted to do something like that, but with a “Sonic Channel vibe” as a groove. The illustrations are always of the characters doing “something” together…
KIKUZO
What are the characters featured in the calendar “doing”? We want everyone to “create” and share their ideas freely through humor and creativity about what the characters are up to. We look forward to your contributions!
ToyodaKIKUZO
Calendar Illustration “Ask the Creators”!
Toyoda
…I think submitting creative ideas for this illustration is a great way to express the activity of enjoying life with Sonic, “SoniKatsu.”
KIKUZO
That sounds great! “SoniKatsu” is something anyone can easily and casually participate in at any time.
We look forward to enjoying “SoniKatsu” together with everyone by providing comments on the received submissions and expressing our gratitude with Sonic novelties.
And, with that said…
Toyoda
So, next year’s calendar illustrations won’t have an extended story like the “Isekai Ogiri,” but I hope to enjoy something like a dialogue with everyone through the submitted jokes. Thank you in advance!
KIKUZO
……Certainly, while Toyoda-san reads the joke submissions, he might spill some behind-the-scenes Sonic stories related to them, right? We might be able to create a radio-like atmosphere where the discussions expand based on the received submissions.
Toyoda
Great idea! It would be nice to have guests as well. We can even gather suggestions through surveys and collaborate with everyone.
KIKUZO
Let’s consider it!
Toyoda
The actual method of submitting jokes and any rules will be explained when we open the first illustration (looking forward to it!) for submissions.
KIKUZO
Yes, that’s right. So everyone, please wait for a while until then! The characters for the first January calendar are “Sonic and Marina,” and I’m also looking forward to it!
Toyoda
Above, this time I explained the plan for next year’s calendar illustrations along with introducing KIKUZO! Well then, everyone…
ToyodaKIKUZO
Please look forward to our new calendar illustration project Tell Us, Creators!
KIKUZO’s work
KIKUZO is involved in the operation of Sonic Channel, as well as various official websites for Sonic titles in Japan! In recent years, they have collaborated with Toyoda-san to create Sonic videos and even dabbled in VJ work!
Source: Sonic Channel
