Grand Showdown

The History of Grand Showdown

"Grand Showdown" started as a concept back in 2007, it all began on a small notebook I kept during my days in Elementary School. Back then, it was the only way to pass time and during class, (must admit, I was not a good noodle back then and would often have my parents come to school for random reasons.) I would flip my notebook to the very last pages where I kept a collection of poorly-drawn figures, mainly mutated people with powers (such as Fire-breathing) and every 2 weeks or so, I would show my drawings to my friend and he would rate them on a scale of "wow to "yikes". Eventually I bought a separate notebook that served as for Drawing purposes, and again, I filled it with poorly-drawn characters with superpowers. It ranged from a Hero that can materialize a weapon simply by touching any solid surface, to a Trickster who manipulates space and reality, but as always, I tend to balance them not to over-exaggerate. One particular character that stood out and I still remember every detail was " Areasotaku " A pyromaniac that feeds on metal to power his mobility and strength. That was my greatest creation that time, back in 2008

After I graduated and entered Middle School, I lost the notebook at some point, but that didn't stop me from drawing. I drew numerous characters from the same concept, even attempting to bend Areasotaku's personality to be a Pyromaniac and a Serial Murderer that feeds on metal and the fear of his victims. (But I scrapped that idea, and instead gave it to a different Protagonist from a different story, a "serial murderer" but on a good way. ). Areasotaku will soon be the Protagonist of this story.

After I graduated elementary in 2013, I lost the notebook once again, my first assumption was that my sister or my parents threw it out. I have this uncontrollable habit of hoarding my belongings regardless of its value. Because I know for sure one day I will need it again. But still, I can confirm that notebook was already thrown to the trash because my parents already complained about my room being small with the unnecessary papers taking up space under the table. There was no point in arguing, I just went with their decision while bottling the frustration that I'll never be able to see nor remember those characters again.

But after everything, I still remember the very few details and specialties that made up one of those unique characters. In highschool around mid-2015, I got my very first laptop, it was low-end, compact and freezes a lot. But it helped me start conceptualizing the actual details of the character, I went through numerous name changes for that character, my first pen name back then was Mizari "Shiro" Saiko. It was a combination of logic and wording.

But after a few months of character developments, I decided it's best for "Areasotaku" to carry my pen name, so I renamed him "Shiro", with his description; "a lonely scavenger with his primary weapon being a glove that emits fire, based on Pyromaniacs". Ideally I could have given him explosive arsenal, but that would be too ridiculous and overpowered. As I gradually progressed through high-school, I started drawing his physical appearance, I based him on my figure, tall and slender. And I gave him white hair, because of his name. Over the course of just 7 months, I made a friend. She liked the concept of Shiro. It motivated me to work on him, so I started shaping his background story, personality, and eventually, his purpose. This story would have already existed 2 years prior, had it not been for the constant pressure of schoolwork and other projects.

I graduated high-school, (except there were mandatory additional 2-years of education before college, so technically I'm still in High-School) and Shiro was no more than a guy who likes to mind his own business, with his unnamed friend, I decided to reference one of my old guildmates who I used to play with Online, his username was "Jin_0X" and we used to play FlyFF together back in 2008. He eventually stopped playing, and I never saw him again, I too stopped playing. We had our fair share of spending hours on that game, grinding XP and messing around in Guild. So to honor him, I officially named Shiro's friend; "Jin" the surname was soon suggested by a friend of mine. "Matsuoka".

I eventually gave Shiro a surname; Yukihara. It's an inside joke about Yukishiro (Snow White, and living on a snowy, post-apocalyptic country.) And rewrote his background story. Before graduation, I ran through several processes;  "If Shiro was to be in a story, what'd it be called?." I went through various brainstorming sessions and started off with "Mysterious Person" but as I matured, I came to a realization that it sounded stale and edgy, but mostly cringe. Just by reading it out loud. One idea struck my mind, what if his Pyromaniac habits were implied in a fight? That idea alone was enough to solidify the title "Grand Battle", the origin is the main character having the greatest fight of his life.

At one point, something came across my mind, "A battle is great, but if Shiro was the only one fighting, wouldn't it sound too obvious that he will be the winner?" So after even more brainstorming sessions, I changed the Battle to Showdown. Implying that Shiro (with Jin) will have the greatest fight of their lives.

2 years later, after exhausting schoolwork and piles of redundant university activities that is irrelevant with my selected course. I was finally free and able to work on this story. I rewrote the descriptions of a few characters and redrew their concept art. Ultimately, it looked better than before, much less stiff facial expressions and more flamboyant and striking (but iconic) appearances. I even expanded the connections. e.g I shaped Yukihara's father to be a vital reason why he became like this and that

Timepass to my freshman year, I worked on the initial stages of the story; lore, origin, character developments and the like. I had fun writing the first few chapters every midnight when my family is asleep, unfortunately, I also realized I'm more capable of writing at long periods when there's not a single person looking/judging me while I type from my laptop. I really feel the zone with my laptop being the only source of light as I type away in the dark without anyone batting an eye from my back and quietly criticizing my work.

Thank you for reading this Intro, I'll see you in the future.

-𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓸 𝓨𝓾𝓴𝓲𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪