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Since the Olympics are over, thought it'd be nice to do this all at once.
Longtime Digimon designer Kenji Watanabe has drawn a shikishi for Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu to congratulate him on his gold medal at the Olympics.
Hanyu had mentioned that he likes to listen to Kaze by Wada Kouji to help him get pumped up before skating and also when he needs his spirits lifted. Kaze was used as an insert song in Digimon Tamers, which is why the shikishi is Tamers themed.
In addition to the song Kaze specifically, Hanyu has also mentioned enjoying Digimon in interviews:
FeelMee, the publisher for the majority of Digimon music uploaded Kaze to Youtube after hearing this.
Watanabe also added in his tweet where he shared the image of the shikishi:
(The "I hope it gets to him" it is in reference to it being a gift that the Digimon staff simply decided to send him.)
Watanabe wasn't the only Digimon staff who drew an image though...
Volcano Ota, director of the team that created Digimon, mentioned Wada inspiring people in reference to Hanyu talking about listening to Kaze:
He also did his own drawing. He describes it as just a rough doodle that he did during a spurt of inspiration that he figures he should upload. He calls it HoneyAngemon, the ice dancer who wears the wind.
The inspiration comes from a few obvious places: Hanyu being a skater, Wada Kouji's favorite Digimon being Angemon, Kaze being a song that inspired Hanyu, and I think honey is from another favorite of Hanyu's which will be explained below...
Some details about Yuzuru Hanyu and his skating career:
He's the first Asian skater to win gold at the Olympics.
His gold medal win in Sochi in 2014, along with his new gold medal at Pyeongchang makes him the first male figure skater in 66 years to win gold back to back in men's singles figure skating.
He's the first to break 100 point in the short program and 200 points in the long program, and in total combined scores.
He's the first to land a quadruple loop in competition.
He's won the world championship twice, the Grand Prix Finals four times, the Japan Nationals four times, among other wins.
He's considered one of the greatest figure skaters in history and is still actively competing.
He's 23 years old.
Along with that he's also a big fan of Winnie the Pooh (plushies of Pooh are often thrown onto the rink after he's finished a performance) and anime in general (other anime and manga creators have offered their own drawings since his win at Sochi in 2014.)
Him being a fan of Wada Kouji and Digimon pleasantly surprised a few Digimon staff members alongside the previously mentioned Watanabe and Ota, most notably Tamers series composer/writer Chiaki Konaka and the producer who runs the Digimon Music Twitter.
Thanks to Japan Times and ANN for some material.
Huge thanks to shin for the translations and most of the details.
For those who want Kaze, it's available on a number of Digimon CDs including, but not limited to: (CDJapan affiliate links)
The Biggest Dreamer
Wada Kouji Digimon Memorial Best -sketch 1-
Longtime Digimon designer Kenji Watanabe has drawn a shikishi for Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu to congratulate him on his gold medal at the Olympics.
Hanyu had mentioned that he likes to listen to Kaze by Wada Kouji to help him get pumped up before skating and also when he needs his spirits lifted. Kaze was used as an insert song in Digimon Tamers, which is why the shikishi is Tamers themed.
In addition to the song Kaze specifically, Hanyu has also mentioned enjoying Digimon in interviews:
(Kaze translates as wind.)
Watanabe also added in his tweet where he shared the image of the shikishi:
(The "I hope it gets to him" it is in reference to it being a gift that the Digimon staff simply decided to send him.)
Watanabe wasn't the only Digimon staff who drew an image though...
Volcano Ota, director of the team that created Digimon, mentioned Wada inspiring people in reference to Hanyu talking about listening to Kaze:
He also did his own drawing. He describes it as just a rough doodle that he did during a spurt of inspiration that he figures he should upload. He calls it HoneyAngemon, the ice dancer who wears the wind.
The inspiration comes from a few obvious places: Hanyu being a skater, Wada Kouji's favorite Digimon being Angemon, Kaze being a song that inspired Hanyu, and I think honey is from another favorite of Hanyu's which will be explained below...
Some details about Yuzuru Hanyu and his skating career:
He's the first Asian skater to win gold at the Olympics.
His gold medal win in Sochi in 2014, along with his new gold medal at Pyeongchang makes him the first male figure skater in 66 years to win gold back to back in men's singles figure skating.
He's the first to break 100 point in the short program and 200 points in the long program, and in total combined scores.
He's the first to land a quadruple loop in competition.
He's won the world championship twice, the Grand Prix Finals four times, the Japan Nationals four times, among other wins.
He's considered one of the greatest figure skaters in history and is still actively competing.
He's 23 years old.
Along with that he's also a big fan of Winnie the Pooh (plushies of Pooh are often thrown onto the rink after he's finished a performance) and anime in general (other anime and manga creators have offered their own drawings since his win at Sochi in 2014.)
Him being a fan of Wada Kouji and Digimon pleasantly surprised a few Digimon staff members alongside the previously mentioned Watanabe and Ota, most notably Tamers series composer/writer Chiaki Konaka and the producer who runs the Digimon Music Twitter.
Thanks to Japan Times and ANN for some material.
Huge thanks to shin for the translations and most of the details.
For those who want Kaze, it's available on a number of Digimon CDs including, but not limited to: (CDJapan affiliate links)
The Biggest Dreamer
Wada Kouji Digimon Memorial Best -sketch 1-
