左の日 / My Left Side Needed Some Love

久しぶりの「左の日」でした。
You can find the English version below.

年に一回ぐらいは、アニメーションをリリースしたいと思っています。今年も、性懲りもなく制作を進めています。すでにキャラクターは出来上がって、めぐみさんをメインにコラボ企画も動いています。
10月のGUTSでご披露できるでしょう。
それに合わせて「実写パート」も欲しいんです。かっこよく撮りたいから、練習は超念入りに。駄菓子菓子（だがしかし）、尺の問題ではないのですが、どうも「右側」だけだと説得力ないというか、なにしろ物足りないんです。仕方ないからオフサイドもやるわけですよ。でもでもでも…還暦を過ぎて3年が経とうとしています。かつては容易に出来たことが、ままならないお年頃💦。笑えないです。

というわけで、今日は徹底的にオフサイドのみ。「右」で確認したい気持ちをグッと抑えて、否応なしに左、左、左！ 老いた脳みそと筋肉に叩き込むには反復練習あるのみデス。

折れそうな気持を支えてくれたのは、巨匠のパドル。最近、巨匠の経験値を堪能できるので、ハマってます。このパドルのユーザーとして見合うような積み重ねを…いやいやいや、そんな御託はいいから、練習練習、練習せぇーーーーっ！
Practice never betrays me, maybe. たぶんな(笑)。

It had been a while since my last Left Side Day.

I try to release a new animation about once a year, and, against all evidence that I should know better by now, I'm working on another one this year. The characters are already finished, and a collaboration project featuring Megumi-san is also underway. With any luck, we'll be able to unveil it at GUTS this October.
To go along with the animation, I want some live-action footage as well. Naturally, I want it to look cool, which means the practice sessions have become very serious business.

There is, however, one small problem.
It's not a question of video length. The issue is that if all the rolling footage is on my right side, it somehow lacks credibility. Or maybe it's just boring. Either way, something feels missing.

Which means I have no choice but to work on my offside rolls.
Now, here's the catch. It's been nearly three years since I turned sixty. Things that used to come easily now occasionally require negotiations with both my brain and my body. This is less funny than it sounds.
So today's mission was simple: offside rolls, and nothing else.
Every fiber of my being wanted to switch back to the right side "just to check something." I resisted.

Left.

Left.

And more left.

To hammer the movement back into my aging brain and muscles, there is only one solution:

Repetition.

The thing that kept my spirits from collapsing entirely was the Master's paddle. I've become quite attached to it lately. Every time I use it, I can feel decades of accumulated experience behind its design.
Of course, I should strive to become worthy of such a paddle.
Then again... enough of that philosophical nonsense.

Practice.

Practice.

PRACTICE!!!

Practice never betrays me.

Maybe.

We'll see. 😆