The manga drawing style and Japanese animation have reached the same level of recognition as other literary genres, such as novels or poems, even before I was born, back in 1983. I grew up with classics such as “Doraemon”, “Sailor Moon”, the “Dragon Ball’ series, and many others, including Mr. Osamu Tezuka’s “Tetsuwan Atom” (translated here in Indonesia as “Astro-Boy”). During my childhood, there were countless reasons to love the anime-manga style. One of these reasons was closely tied to the screen in your living room – the television. However, it wasn't just TV programs that sparked my imagination. In the mid-'90s, video game consoles such as Nintendo, Sega, and even Sony Playstation became ubiquitous, capturing the minds of almost every child, including mine. Among these, video games had two elements that influenced the flow of imagination: illustration or graphics, and music. In short, these two elements played a significant role in shaping my early endeavors in storytelling and music composition.

The manga "Altaira Soldiers" originated from a simple idea conceived by a child whose imagination was limited by both opportunity and a lack of resources. This child, myself in the past, harbored a simple desire to witness a group of soldiers defending justice against evil. However, this vision remained unrealized due to various interruptions such as school, courses, and other responsibilities, as well as my own tendencies towards self-improvement, which often led to revisiting and restarting the story from scratch. Over the course of several years, significant developmental milestones marked by story revisions, character redesigns, and even a change in title (originally conceived in 1994 as "The Star Goblins," later renamed "Altaira Soldiers" in 1997) shaped the narrative. "Altaira Soldiers'' narrates the tale of twelve characters, each representing one of the twelve Western zodiac signs, hailing from diverse backgrounds and timelines. Despite their differences, they are bound by a singular goal: to uphold justice across two worlds, Altaira and Gaia. The true meaning of "justice" for both Gaian and Altairan beings becomes the central pursuit, with their destinies converging to face and conquer their own battles amidst larger calamities, including the disruptive influence of "Asthrodos."

The story of "Altaira Soldiers" has woven itself into the fabric of my life, becoming a lifetime narrative. The painstaking process of crafting the right plot felt like traversing centuries (even though the turn of the millennium had already passed in 2000). Each attempt to envision the ending, the middle, and the climax was often thwarted by the challenges of drawing up improvement schedules, encountering setbacks, making corrections, erasing and redrawing, taking breaks for weeks or months, facing unhelpful suggestions, grappling with bouts of laziness, experiencing a dearth of ideas or resources, encountering the absence or distortion of romantic elements (a significant factor, particularly in the character of Taura, who represents my first love), or succumbing to wavering confidence. These were the obstacles that kept "Altaira Soldiers" on hold for many years. Bringing "Altaira Soldiers" to completion has long been a cherished dream of mine, particularly in the form of an animation. Through this exhibition, I hope to reverse the entire process by involving everyone with a stake in the characters from the outset, providing opportunities and seeking support. "Altaira Soldiers" has languished in obscurity for far too long. Following this, the characters will embark on the next phase: the manga itself. The transition from "Gaia" (Reality) to "Altaira" (Dream), from the earthly realm to the celestial skies, echoes a common motif in many works of fiction. Isn't this also a hallmark of manga and music?