Mascot

I have been dreaming up of a mascot for my beloved blog for a while now, but never took the time to properly think about it, until recently. Few weeks ago, I brought up this idea to great artist and comrade Radiant, who helped me a lot to mature my mascot concept, and in the end did an awesome work to make it a reality.

So today, I am proud to introduce NAHIA and TXIKI, the official mukyaa.com mascots!

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Concept

I wanted a mascot which could properly portray both the blog’s purpose (quite logical actually) and its author’s origins. Indeed, since I live in the very south-west of France, I have often regretted being so far away from where every interesting events regarding Japanese culture take place (conv, concerts), which in France is mainly in Paris. But this brought to light a certain originality I decided to exploit to design my mascot, especially since I am quite attached to this lovely Basque country region ^^

So, thinking about all this and figurines, Japan, animes, photography, France… I came up with this idea of an anime-like character, in sum pretty classical but with some very personal touches : Nahia.

Nahia (pronounce “naya”) is an eternal 20-year-old photography student. And she is French. Her name’s origin is Basque, and means “desired, wanted”. This is a pretty popular name in my region lately if you look at the past years’ satistics. No wonder, since I think parents are more and more looking for both original and local names. And well, the meaning of the name describes well the parents’ feelings toward their girl, doesn’t it?
I also chose Nahia because of its origin and meaning : I have always wanted a lovely mascot I can identify myself with, and I want to dedicate this blog to my passion, wishes and desires for Japan, its culture and pop culture through anime figures. Nahia also sounds almost like a Japanese name, which is cool for an anime-like character.
Somehow she is really attached to the Basque country where she is from… too. Thus, she always keep her red beret and makes her pet wear a red scarf. Two typical symbols.
Talking about this cute mongoose-like pet, it is called Txiki (pronounce “tchiki” which means “small”, still in Basque). It follows Nahia everywhere, and loves hanging on her shoulder or hidding under the beret. It makes a perfect photography subject, but Txiki can be a bit rebellious sometimes.
I kind of hope that Txiki will remind mukyaa.com readers the origin of the blog’s name, since it draws its inspiration from one of those stupid screams you can hear from scatterbrained but adorable Megumi “Nodame” Noda, main heroine of drama/anime/manga Nodame Cantabile, which I love.

Feel free to visit the blog of Nahia and Txiki second father, at www.radiantdreamer.net, to learn and enjoy more about their birth process. Everything is detailed here with a how-to video as well. Radiant regularly shares exciting drawings and photoshop works, and you can watch the whole process since everything is recorded and available on his blog or youtube channel. You can aslo find good tips to keep in shape your beloved figures. So feel free to follow him, if not already the case ^^

Purpose

By making a retrospective over my blog’s evolution since its early days, I realised I have been looking for a way to give it an identity. I changed the title font and style many times, tried to add well-known anime characters, attempts to create a logo… but never ended up with something I really liked. I needed to go further, and naturally the idea of a mascot came up.
A mascot or logo is a powerful assets to promote a name, a brand, a blog etc. It makes what it symbolises unique, and consequently reminds people of it directely. Just look how many they are in Japan! Everybody has a mascot, from telecom brands to fireman brigades.
But let’s be realistic. I am not expecting miracles from this new project. Beyond the promotional aspect, having a mascot was mostly a selfish wish to fulfil my own desire and satisfy my frustration. I will fiddle with the look of the blog again and again for sure anyway, I know it. I am the kind to get bored quickly, and always feel the need to improve change few things here and there ^^;

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I have a bunch of ideas in mind for the future of my mascots, but nonce I will just let them settle in. So, please give a warm welcome to Nahia and Txiki! Hope you will like them ^^