you might have noticed a few changes.
Now, i am unsure of this kind of events in the past because i am relatively new to the fandom, but that does not mean we can't do it just because it has not been done in the past or has been done in the past.....
Anyway, i am someone who have been following Himaruya sensei's blog for quite some time now for a very obvious reason. In the past, he has released important materials through his blog around prominent holidays. In case you have forgotten everything France did during Christmas, well, i wouldn't have called it important, but it definitely spiced things up for all of us. Through my tracking of Himaruya sensei's blog, i have found he does draw things sometimes just to please the fans. You see, if your websites gets a cumulative trafiic of a nine digit number, you might know you have a fan base as well, not to mention you work with the anime adaptation team, and us fans certainly knows that the adaptation team does a lot of fan services.
Himaruya sensei is a planner. For the interesting materials in the past, he has informed the viewers from his website and his blog that bigger projects are coming. Sometimes he would surprise us with a thing or two out of nowhere, but it looks like that this Halloween, something big may be coming. Why you ask, well here are some explanations.
For a complex picture (again this doesn't happen always, just most of times) , he often would release a small version or an uncoloured version of his final picture a day or two prior. There would be little to no updates in between. After the release of a large picture, Himaruya sensei would take a break and come back after a few days (the average day of gap lies somewhere between 3 and 6, i have yet to find him not updating for more than a week) with a few sketches. The sketches would be very preliminary, mostly in pencils with rough lines. The sketch period, as i would like to call it, lasts for various times. Sometimes up to weeks, and even up to months. During his sketch periods, he would, on occasion, release refined pictures. After a while, Himaruya sensei would release a small portion of a large picture or the uncoloured version of a picture, and the cycle begins again.
And this is what has been happening for the past weeks.......
On September 17/18/19th (depends on where you were, and i have no idea how to check exactly when Himaruya sensei posted this blog), Himaruya sensei released a small, half coloured version of Italy (and eyes open) in Halloween related clothes and room. The next day, he released a music clip he created with Halloween themes. The day after that, he released another small chunk (mochi America) of a larger picture. On the 22nd, He changed the entrance picture to the big picture he drew with Italy and LOTS of rabbits and bunnies (completely Halloween themed though). This is when things take a turn of the interesting. Supposedly he is going back to sketches....but......a small portion of a larger picture of what appears to be Russia centered was released on the 27th. Well then, my initial thought was that after a few days of nothingness, we will get the whole Russia picture. However, for the next two days 28th and 29th, Himaruya sensei updated like three times. Each time a load of sketches that would normally come in a span of a few weeks showed up. And today, three refined picture of Poland, Lithuania and Estonia were released. Suddenly, a month worth of stuff came out in a week. Himaruya sensei has been doing a lot of drawings lately.....
It really looks like Himaruya sensei is working very hard on something, what would it be? Accompanying the small incomplete picture of Russia is (Okay, my Japanese is terrible, i am learning it on my own without teachers or instructors, which makes the whole thing ridiculously hard) a sentence seemingly suggesting an announcement is coming. What would the announcement to be? Why does the Italy picture seemingly suggesting the welcome of Halloween when it's still a whole month away? Even in cultures where Halloween is widely celebrated, October is the month remembered to be Halloween, why wouldn't he just release the Italy picture on the first day of October, much more consistent with the cultural norm and with Himaruya sensei's personality of making the interesting out of the uninteresting. It would have been perfect timing.
There are a million different kinds of ways to explain the happenings i mentioned in this blog, but i would like to believe he can't release the Italy picture on October 1st because he is going to release a much more phenomenal picture (with the things looking now, the Russia picture is probably going to be the one) on that day, announcing what he has prepared for us. It is possible that perhaps there will be a regular update for a themed topic for the next month, and the whole picture of Russia is going to explain what the themed topic is (probably Halloween related, but not necessarily).
Here is another thing. This may be complete crap. Tomorrow i will wake up to find a official statement from an official spokesperson of Himaruya sensei that indicates the tragic accident that had fatally wounded him. The end of Hetalia. Maybe he will read this blog post and refuse to update for the rest of his life and just laugh at us for overanalyzing. Maybe i am too stupid to understand the greatness and cleverness of Himaruya sensei that none of this make any sense whatsoever. Maybe i am just plain wrong. Maybe i should get a life.
Or maybe i am on the right track?
With all that said, i would like you to join me to speculate on what Himaruya sensei has prepared for us this upcoming Halloween.
PS. Do try to reason your theories, they don't have to be all serious like mine though XDD
PPS. Estonia looks SOOOO HOT!!! I need to stop screaming....