The Story of Making an Acrylic Stand of My Oshi

"Support your oshi while you can"
has long been the motto of otaku, and as someone who has an oshi who has already passed away, I can nod along to it deeply.

Even if they've passed away, you know. Like with dramas. Or manga. When there's some kind of movement, related merchandise often pops up.


From idols and 2D characters to actors, rakugo performers, scholars, and writers, I have supported various oshis so far, but...
In the end,

"This is where I truly belong..."

The ultimate oshi I settled on,
that is,

Yoshida Shoin.

He is the head of the "Shoka Sonjuku," a private school in Choshu (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture) that produced the so-called "shishi of the Bakumatsu period."

Born on August 4, Bunsei 13 (September 20, 1830).
Passed away on October 27, Ansei 6 (November 21, 1859).

He was 29 years old at the time of his death. Please remember today that he was surprisingly young.
29 is still totally a young actor, right? (Actor...?)

He might also be known to some as the model for "Yoshida Shoyo," the teacher of the protagonist Gin-san in the manga "Gintama."
For more details, please refer to Wikipedia.

By the way, it is said that he was the first person in Japan to use the first-person pronoun "boku."

As some of you may know, this is the origin of my pen name Shishida, and the source of my first-person pronoun.


My history of supporting Yoshida Shoin spans over 10 years, but
that aside.

This time,

I made an acrylic stand

report.
I have nowhere to brag about it. I couldn't find any place other than writing it on note.


During the 10-plus years I've supported Yoshida Shoin, there have been several times where I've had downer periods like,

"I'm going to stop supporting him..."

but there is always a rebound period after the downer phase, and yes, I am in that phase right now.

Since I usually get rid of my materials and the few goods I have in a fit of anger during my downer periods, I have to collect various new things during the rebound period. I want goods, so I started looking for them, specifically an acrylic stand.

None.

I had a feeling, but well, there were none.

If the situation were like "there's no way an acrylic stand of a historical figure exists," I could give up completely, but

there are acrylic stands of Hijikata Toshizo...

In this world...
Maybe it's because he's cool.
I guess he has a lot of fans...
Wait, why isn't there a Yoshida Shoin acrylic stand?

If it doesn't exist, why not make it?




Yes,



I will make it.

Strike while the iron is hot, so I got an app for ordering acrylic stands.

I don't have time to worry about them not existing,
it's more meaningful to worry about the design if I'm going to worry.

I've never done design before, though.


The main body was decided quickly with the portrait of Yoshida Shoin drawn by Matsuura-kun (read the wiki for details), so the problem was the base.
I want to express some kind of philosophy of Yoshida Shoin...
Isn't it good to have him sitting on his own philosophy...?

I thought about various things.

Like this,

Or like this.

After trial and error, I decided that I really wanted to quote a long sentence written by the man himself,
and this is how it turned out.

A Chinese poem titled "Kyogu" (Mad Fool) whose content I like.

Kyogu sei kawai, sairyo sei ka u.
Kyo tsune ni eishin shi, gu tsune ni so hisu.
Sai ta kiben no shi, ryo ta kyogen no to.
Ryuzoku ta tento, mokujin kokon shu.
Sairyo ni sairyo ni arazu, kyogu azan kyogu naran.

My own loose translation is, "The ones who push the world forward are the crazy ones, and the ones thought to be normally excellent are surprisingly not. Social evaluation can be completely wrong." Probably. Maybe.


Once the content and font were decided, the next step was color.
Since it's just a base, I wanted it to have some affinity with the main body, or rather, a color that blends in (even though I was trying to make it loose and fancy...?). The material is transparent acrylic, so I wanted to use tricks like outlining the text or adding shadows so that when the main body is inserted or displayed, the text on the base doesn't disappear or become hard to read—aiming for something that can be read if you try. That said, it's an otaku's heart to want to give it meaning as much as possible, not just visibility. That's when I remembered that among the autumn colors of "Kasane no Irome" (traditional color combinations), there is a color called "Hagi" (Bush Clover). It's a combination of purple and white, and Yoshida Shoin's birthplace is also a place called "Hagi." Of course, I want to use that color combination, right!? Right?!

And among the Hagi-related color combinations, there is one called "Hagi-tate-ao," which is blue, but looks greenish. Perhaps because Yoshida Shoin has "Matsu" (Pine) in his name, I personally have an image of green, so yes, please take another look at the color of the text on the base.

I did my best.


I chose the climbing rose-like pattern in the middle from the default stamps.
Rather than being fashion-conscious, if I didn't put something in that physically connects them, it would have been cut off in the middle. It's a connector.
But I was able to adjust the color so it doesn't feel out of place.

It was my first time ordering and making an acrylic stand on my own, so there were many things I didn't know, but it worked out when I tried it. Now, how long will it take to arrive...
I saw reviews saying they waited a month during busy seasons... I also saw some saying it arrived surprisingly quickly... When will it come...

Just as I was thinking about that,

it arrived in 3 days.

I'm strangely happy that the back is reversed... I definitely thought it would be pure white or something... Well, when you reverse it, the kimono overlap is reversed, but he's a deceased person anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Also, I didn't have to make a base; a transparent base was included as a service. Thank goodness.

Wow, this is pretty good, isn't it?

If I had to be picky, placing it right in the center means you can't really enjoy the entire Chinese poem at a glance, but I wanted him to be floating right in the middle of his own words, so I think this is fine for now. I did my best for someone who is a complete amateur at design. I'm satisfied.



Now that it's come to this, I want an acrylic stand case,
because I want to carry it around with me.


I'll make an acrylic stand case, too.

A friend of mine who is an idol otaku taught me how to make acrylic stand cases a long time ago, but a quick search suggests that DIY acrylic stand cases aren't very popular anymore, are they?
Well, there are certainly many more cute acrylic stand cases for sale now than when I was taught how to make them.

Nevertheless, I don't care about what others think; I want to go my own way.

For now, I'll make one myself.
Because I have the materials for it at home.

The case is a plastic one I bought at a 100-yen shop.
I'll cut the sponge sheet into the shape of the acrylic stand.

As for the sponge sheet,the only colors I happened to have in stock were these, so I chose pine green and tiger yellow.

Did you wonder why a tiger suddenly appeared?
Yoshida Shoin's common name was,

Torajiro, you see...

Shoin is his pseudonym.
By the way, his real name is Norikata.

Cut the sponge sheet, decorate the case,

Satisfied.

Or so I thought.

Let's say it's good that I was able to make an acrylic stand case.
Thanks to that, even if I carelessly put it in my pocket and went to work, Shoin-san (the acrylic stand) was able to spend the day without any mishaps.

However.

I realized that

nowadays

there are so many cute pouch-style acrylic stand cases
that let you carry your favorite around,

aren't there?

Wait, I want to carry my favorite around too???


I don't want to secretly hide it in my pocket, I want to show it off while I carry it around???




So, I went.

To the Sanrio shop.

And so, I captured Tuxedosam.


When I looked at the store, there were two types of acrylic stand cases, but I chose a pouch with a vinyl window on the front so you can see the acrylic stand inside. It's the type that can also be hung on a bag with a lobster clasp. It's also very nice that the case itself has a plush-like cuteness. So soothing.

Inside this, I will,

put my favorite!

I don't know, I feel like I could make it even cuter.
Since I'm at it, I feel like I want to add something.


I happened to do the bookstore gachapon that's been rumored lately, and I just got the bookstore book cover mascots, Libro-san and Book First-san,

if there's a book, even while traveling in the pouch,
it seems like it would be fun, right(?)

And,
I also want an official item to be with it, since I'm at it.

The result is this.

Sooooooooooooo cute.

Good. Very good. I am extremely satisfied.
And Tuxedo Sam feels great to the touch, too. I'm so happy.

It has calmed my heart.

It's been over 10 years since I started supporting Shoin Yoshida.
That said, I haven't exactly studied him systematically, and due to my personality—or rather, the down periods caused by my mental ups and downs—there have been gaps, so there is still so much I don't know. But since I've finally obtained my cute favorite character not just as a concept, but physically, first of all,

I want to take him out.

(Wait, what about studying???)

We'll talk about that later.