In the event you're curious as to who the creator of this so often ill-fated comic* is, here's more than all of the information you need to know!

Name: James Ludden (otherwise known as Kashi*)
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Likes: Goofy Logic, General Happiness, Computers, Video Games
Dislikes: Temperatures above 75°F, Real-life Drama, Most Anime*

"Why have you failed, time and time again, to get your stupid comic going?"
The latest title on the main page says "I mean it this time" for a reason. In past attempts I was never sure exactly what I wanted to do with this comic. The story has been brewing in my head for years, and keeps changing bit by bit over time. The original was simply going to be little more than a string of gags about video games using characters that were hastily thrown together for silly chatroom RPG stuffs. The original designs for the characters, which I might have to try and replicate again someday for humor's sake, were The annoying thing about Insert Credit is that while I have always had a generally good idea of how I wanted it to end, I have always been unhappy with how I had it begin, and I've had even less of an idea of what would come in the middle. Each time before I have started the comic, been immediately unhappy with how I started it, then lost interest in it, not coming back to work on it for months, often giving me enough time for random drama to attack me in the meantime, making me even less focussed on working on the comic.

In recent months, however, everything for the comic has been coming together in my mind. I've actually got an idea of how I want to execute the comic, and other extra things on the side are starting to come together in my mind as well, only this time I'm making a point to write them down as they come to me.

Part of the trouble with Insert Credit is that, to me, it's not just a comic. While the other parts of it might never see the light of day, there are a lot of different projects and ideas that have been wandering around in my head. The hard part is trying to work on all of these projects at the same time, but I figure so long as I budget my time between working on the comic, going to school, and playing video games, everything will come together nicely. (I will keep lying to myself that this will happen until it somehow does.)

"What are these projects," you ask? Nifty things I want to do with the story involve Flash cut scenes, a Japanese language version, and a card game, to name the major things. The card game was actually unrelated to Insert Credit, but the characters have become effective guinea pigs for the game's creation. In any case, finishing any one of those will take time, especially since I'll be working on the comic simultaneously.

"Wait, what's a Kashi? Isn't that a cereal?"
"Kashi" is a relatively bizarre story. A long time ago, some once friends of mine were messing around, and for some reason chose to start firing out the lyrics to "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" In my token foolishness, I decided to say "I am the Muffin Man." I figured this was appropriate, since I was rather fond of muffins, along with all baked goods, but the nickname kinda stuck for awhile, long enough for it to give me the alter-ego "Tuxedo Muffin" for a short time.

In any case, some time later I had downloaded some new chat/IM program or another and needed a screen name. I was also just getting interested in Japan at the time, and figured I should use a Japanese word because that would be neato. I figured I should go with whatever the Japanese word is for "muffin," but as it turns out, there isn't really one. The closest thing was to just type it the way they say it, which is effectively "maffin," which sounds really bad. I started looking for alternatives and found the word "kashi," which means "pastry."

I used this for some time, but when I started using it as a sort of fake-pen name (that's sort of redundant, I think) I was informed that the "shi" symbol in "kashi" was the same symbol "ko" that is found on the end of girl's names in Japan. Not willing to stand for such nonsense, I once again began searching for alternative symbols with the same sound and ended up finding one that meant "teacher." I use that version of "kashi" as a pen name to this day, the "ka" meaning "confection" and the "shi" meaning "teacher." My favorite translation from a Japanese person thus far is "Snack Master."

Later I added the "G.T.," as my ambition to become a teacher has since increased, those initials meaning "Great Teacher."

And now you know the rest of the story. Good day!

"Wait, wait, wait, you don't liek anime?! OMG j00 sux0rz!!!1!1shiftone!lol!1"
Well, for the most part I don't. When it was new and different I, as with most of you anime fans, liked the greater majority of it without discrimination. However, over time most of it started to wear on me, especially after taking repeated trips to Japan. You begin to realize that most of it is simply not very good.

Still, my favorites are Kodomo no Omocha and Cowboy Bebop (random note: For some reason people in Japan have no idea that Cowboy Bebop exists. They haven't even heard of it in passing. No, I don't understand it, either). I'll still occasionally watch new stuff, but it's not very common. There are only so many robots you can watch explode before you realize that you simply don't care about the political subplots going on in the background. After you've been sitting there for 23 episodes and the guy still hasn't gotten the girl, and this is the 5th series in which you've endured this kind of romantic tension, you stop caring about happiness and just want one of them to get shot.

Most people in to anime are also in to Japan, or so they think. Go hunt down some Japanese music or something. Find some obscure stuff, so even your anime-watching friends who listen to Hamasaki Ayumi, BoA, and Namie Amuro have to ask you "who/what the Hell is that?" Start hunting down Japanese movies. Real ones. You know, with the people in them. Go watch Seven Samurai. Can you endure its 3 hours of glory? There's only one way you'll find out.