Here are the following Sonic Channel wallpapers with Japanese themes.
Amy's Hinamatsuri. (For March 2014)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51882632.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
Vector's Setsubun. (For February 2014)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51880158.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
Sonic the Werehog and Chip's Tsukimi. (For September 2013)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51868113.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
Silver's Seventh Moon... er, Tanabata. (For July 2013)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51861712.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
Big and Kaeru-kun/Froggy's Tsuyu. (For June 2013)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51858093.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
Cream and Cheese's Hinamatsuri. (For March 2013)
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51848098.html <- The announcement page.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en..._1920x1200.zip <- The actual wallpaper.
More about Hinamatsuri, Setsubun, Tsukimi, Tanabata, and Tsuyu will be explained later on in the post.
More wallpapers can be get here. http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/enjoy/index.html
March 2014 fanarts can be seen here. http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/fanart/
The theme for April 2014 fanarts is "Spring"/"春".
As usual, the deadline for sending fanart is always the 20th day of the Month.
To those who want to send fanarts to the Sonic Channel team, here is the Form for it.
http://sonic.sega.jp/fanart/fanart_form.html
The information needed for the Form are:
* 'Pen name'/"ペンネーム" (Nickname. No real name please). In 15 letters or less.
* Gender: Male ("男") or Female ("女"). Left is Male, Right is Female.
* Actual age in years. That is okay, they will even take fanarts from those in their 30s~40s.
* Electronic Mail address. Since that this is an Electronic submission.
* Location. Choose the very bottom option ("日本以外") if one is from outside Japan.
* The fanart. Click the "Browse" button to tag the computer file containing the fanart.
* The title of the fanart. In 15 letters or less.
* The comment on the fanart. In 120 letters or less.
The accepted electronic file formats for the fanarts are: JPG, GIF, and PNG.
The maximum size allowed is up to 650 pixels, both for width and height.
To send the whole information in the Form, click on the "Transmit"/送信" button on right.
(The button on the left is the "Reset"/"リセット" button, to reset the Form into a clean state)
Do not worry about sending the comments in English,
there is someone in the Sonic Channel team that can translate those into Japanese.
Of course if people want to send them in Korean, Chinese, and any of the South East Asian languages.
Plus even European languages such as Spanish and French.
Well, the Sonic Channel team might need to send them outside the team first to get them translated.
Anyway. It is kind of strange that Miss 'Little Green Space Alien' has not showed up in the last months,
considering that she is quite famous in the Sonic Channel fanarts page.
But the Sonic Channel team probably want to promote Zina first as part of the deals they had made.
Though for some reasons, the recent Sonic Channel blog entry seems
to be going a bit 'moe' with all of those green letters and 'buds'.
http://blog.sonic-channel.jp/archives/51883323.html
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...12540;サ
Maybe our dear little fox is going to be reunited with his girl?
It should be noted that while each month there is a theme on the fanarts,
the Sonic Channel also accept fanarts of any kind of theme in any month.
Not only on the games, but also other kind of medias. (As shown above)
So if one wants to send in any of the Archie Comics characters, feel free to do so.
After all, they already had Scourge the Hedgehog for May 2012's Golden Week theme.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/fanart/pic/1308.jpg
So far though, they had not put a crossover fanart of Mina with the X-Tornado.
Though they certainly had already put on some unusual things, such as human Sonic characters.
http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/fanart/pic/1564.jpg
Regarding Hinamatsuri, Setsubun, Tsukimi, Tanabata, and Tsuyu.
Hinamatsuri (ひな祭り). "Hina"/"雛"="Girl"/"Doll";"Matsuri"/"祭り"="Festival".
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/attraction..._fes_hina.html
Hinamatsuri is the tradition of displaying dolls, that is usually done every 3rd March.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...SCjYwCvHdfKcYw
Though the Hinamatsuri done by Amy for March 2014 is more about
Yurihonjou Hinakaidou (由利本荘ひな街道), it means "Yurihonjo Girl Road"
An event regulary held at Yukihonjo, Akita.
It is kind of strange that they repeated the same theme two years in a row,
perharps it is a coded message for another talk again like last year?
Or maybe they are running out of materials since that
the newer materials still had not got the permission to be released.
Or maybe it just means that SEGA of Japan made a Sonic deal with Northern Japan.
Nevertheless, the Hinamatsuri Amy got lipstick on her lips.
This gives her a more 'adult' look toward her overall appearance, that makes her look like an Oiran.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...=1#post7719442
Setsubun (節分). "Setsu"/"節"="Segment"/"Tune";"Bun"/"分"="Moment""/Minute".
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/attraction..._setsubun.html
Setsubun is the tradition of throwing beans, to prevent demons from coming inside the house.
While in the same time, it is also a tradition of keeping good fortune inside the house.
The whole wallpaper probably started as a drawing of Vector or someone else celebrating New Year,
with a Sake Box (Masu/枡升). Before it got 'CERO:A-ized'.
It should be noted that Vector's outfit match with same style of Japanese clothing as:
Empusa from Puyo Puyo!! Quest.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...23064;！
And Hikari from Alice Detective Agency. (Who was based on 'Princess Kaguya')
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...n-Landing-quot
The 'Nobunaga' outfit.
Tsukimi (月見). "Tsuki"/"月"="Moon"/"Month";"Mi"/"見"="View".
http://japanesefood.about.com/od/hol...sukimifood.htm
Tsukimi is tradition of Moon watching, that is regulary held at the 15th of August.
It is usually regulary done with snacking, with odangos as one of the food types served.
Odango type hairstyle is also a well known type of hairstyle, originating from China.
<- Princess Iron Fan.
That is also worn by one well known Japanese character that is connected to the Moon.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...=1#post7991226
That SEGA of Japan honored by using it on one of their 'Kaguya's.
<- One of the 'Kaguya's.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...12426;っ
Her original game voice actresses also voiced for another Odangos wearing character ('Akkari~n'),
though it is so far unknown to most of the public on why she flirts with Shadow.
Empusa also had the odango style accesories, in the form of her 'Mantis Eyes'.
Tanabata (七夕). "Tana"/"七夕"="Seven"/"Seventh";"Bata"/"夕"="Evening".
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/folk/tanabata/
Tanabata is a traditional festival honoring the story of two lovers that were separated.
It can be considered as the Chinese-Japanese version of Valentine,
considering that it is also one of the traditions imported into Japan from China.
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/esse...idays/qixi.htm
The story on how the two lovers got separated varies,
from two heavenly beings separated from each other,
to the usual 'a surface dweller stealing the robe of a Valkyrie (Swan Maiden)'.
The Sonic series though got the Swan Maiden story in the form of the Super Dimension couple,
whose love story was erased before the game was even released. (Their son though 'survived')
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...12540;ト
Eventhough she got 'Elise'd and so far still has not make her official appearance,
she kept calling his name (See Above), maybe in the hope of 'that world chain would be untied'?
http://youtu.be/BIgpJAoUNls?t=3m19s
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...aru-Michi-quot
It was attempted to be rebooted into the Princess Kaguya story,
do not know though if it is going to be rebooted as the Feather Robe story (the Tanabata story).
But if it is going to be 'Ayashi no Ceres' style, they should at least put Iwao Junko (岩男潤子) in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8pLocgSG2M "Touya...!!!"
As long that it is not that Eternity/Infinity girl... Or that Gaia Eyeball girl.
Tsuyu (梅雨). "Tsu"/"梅"="Plum";"Yu"/"雨"="Rain".
http://gojapan.about.com/cs/weather/a/rainyseason.htm
The rainy season occurs during summer, when that happened, Japan basically got soaked.
It is more about a natural event than a festival like the other events above.
The original Big wallpaper probably was supposed to represent Children's Day in the 5th May,
that is also known by Puyo Puyo fans as Amitie's birthday (a.k.a. '10th October'/2).
Big with his fishy appetite was supposed to carry fish flags,
just like this: http://blog-imgs-56.fc2.com/p/s/o/ps...pso2_777-1.jpg
It is also possible that Silver was also planned for Children's Day.
SEGA of Japan seem to have developed various designs on the 'Umbrella Girl'.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...12540;ル <- 'The Umbrella Girl'.
http://image01.seesaawiki.jp/d/s/dra...377244901f.png <- 'Ole Lukøje' from Dragon Coins.
Here are possible interpretations on codes in the wallpapers.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.ph...12364;み
In 2012. http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicChannel/en...paper/008.html
Due the political climate back then. The answers consist of mostly simple answers:
Yes. http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/sonic_cha...7/07d39020.jpg
No. http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/sonic_cha...7/a7145b89.jpg
Maybe yes, maybe no. http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/sonic_cha...b/2bc8a957.jpg
So for 2012, they are: Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Maybe. No. Maybe. Yes. No. Maybe. No.
'You do know on what will happen if you betrayed us?' (Blaze's December 2012 wallpaper)
(And from there, Phantasy Star Online 2's North American version was cancelled for 2013)
In 2011. Due the political climate at the time, the wallpapers are mostly devoid of codes.
After March 2011, there is no 'Go word' given to new projects. The focus is just on existing projects,
either converted or many of their releases were put on hold until next year and so on.
Those who said that there is a new project started in 2011. They either lied or had betrayed.