Production Notes — The Story of Hope Princess Santaria Begins Here

We are now beginning full production of OKURU- Star of Mary ― ChristmasFantasy. These are production notes, written at the starting line, to record what we are thinking, in what order we will work, and what we are trying to make. Where something has not been decided, we will say so; where something is not yet done, we will say that too. We think that is the most honest form a record of a journey in progress can take.

Why manga, music and pictures

This work tells its story in three forms: manga, music and pictures. People sometimes tell us it would be more efficient to focus on one. We chose all three for a reason.

Manga carries the time of a story. As the eye moves from panel to panel and page to page, time flows within the reader, and you can spend the seasons alongside the characters.

Music carries what cannot be put into words. Sorrow and joy, and the stillness of prayer, sometimes reach us more directly through a single melody than through any line of dialogue. You can listen while picturing a scene from the story, or you can listen to a track simply as a track, without knowing the story at all. Music has the power to open many doors into a work.

A picture carries a single moment. The time we spend standing still in front of one picture gathers up precious moments that might otherwise spill out of the flow of the story.

Time, what cannot be put into words, and the moment. Only when the three come together does one world stand up. That is our belief, and so we decided to grow all three forms side by side.

Our heroine, Hope Princess Santaria

At the center of the story is Hope Princess Santaria. As her title says, she is a princess who bears the name of hope.

The word "hope" can sometimes sound light. Bright words can feel far away to someone in a hard place. That is exactly why we do not intend to draw Santaria as someone who is simply cheerful and untroubled. She hesitates, she stops, and still she reaches out her hand for someone else. It is in that figure that we want to draw hope in its true sense.

What kind of world Santaria is born into, whom she meets and where she is heading will become clear little by little within the story. If we said too much here, we would take away the pleasure of reading. We will tell you only one thing: like the journey of the Magi to Bethlehem, hers will be a journey of walking in trust of a single light.

We plan to add Santaria and the other characters to the Character Encyclopedia gradually, as the story progresses. Many shelves are still empty now, but as the story moves forward, the plates will increase, one character at a time.

Three things we want to portray

The details of the plot will become clear in the main story from here on. Instead, here are just three things we hope to portray through this story.

The first is waiting. Before Christmas comes Advent, a season set aside for waiting. To keep believing and waiting for what does not come true at once. Waiting is not doing nothing; it is setting the heart in order and preparing to welcome what is to come. In the story, too, we want to portray, without hurrying, the times that are not quickly rewarded.

The second is giving. The "OKURU" in the work's title comes from the word for giving a gift. A gift takes its meaning not from its size or its price but from the care for another person behind it. We want to portray the small gifts exchanged within the story, and how they bind people to one another.

The third is being guided. The Magi went to Bethlehem guided by a single star. People cannot always find their way by their own strength alone. There are paths we can only walk once we are guided by someone's words, by an unexpected encounter, or by a small light in the night sky. Santaria's journey, too, will be a journey of being guided — and of guiding someone else.

Music first

In terms of order, we have worked on the music first. The Music Home on this site already holds 111 tracks. It may seem a little strange to have so many tracks before the main story has been published.

For us, though, the music was something like a draft of the story. We would picture a scene and look for the sound that fits it. Once the sound was found, it would in turn call up scenes that had not yet been drawn. In this way, with music and story calling to each other, the world has slowly taken shape.

If you look at the track titles, you will notice that many still carry the date they were made. Some tracks were made in 2020, others in 2026. Some still carry words like "revised," "final" or "work in progress." We could have chosen only the finished pieces to display, but we deliberately kept the traces of trial and error. We consider the path by which one world has grown, slowly, over many years, to be part of the work as well.

As production continues, we will add new tracks to match the main story: theme music for each scene, melodies for each character, and a main theme that holds the whole story. We want you to be able to watch, on this site, the story and the music moving forward at the same pace.

Pictures and covers

Each track comes with a cover picture. Recently we gave many of the tracks the same cover: a chapel with light pouring through stained glass. The sight of many-colored light falling across the floor felt like the best expression of the atmosphere this work is reaching for.

From here on, we will gradually add pictures of the story's scenes and characters to the Gallery and to the covers. Apart from the manga itself, we also plan to draw pieces meant to be enjoyed as single pictures.

How an episode is made

Each episode of the main story takes shape through several stages. First, we decide in a few words what the episode will portray: who, where, what they hesitate over, and what they choose. We keep thinking until we can state the question at the heart of the episode in a single line.

Next, we build the panel layout and the flow of dialogue in rough sketches. At this stage we redraw again and again. We cut lines, swap panels, and check what the eye will meet when the page is turned. We value the pauses on the page, so that the story moves with the reader's breathing.

Once the sketches are settled, we finish the artwork: refining the lines, laying down color and painting in the light. In this work we take particular care with how light is drawn — light through a window, stars in the night sky, the glow of a candle. Where the light comes from and what it falls on changes the meaning of a scene.

Finally, we choose music that suits the episode, and compose new music if needed. Only after checking how scene and sound overlap, so that you can "read while listening," do we publish. It takes time for an episode to be finished, but we will keep stacking up each of these stages with care.

Order and pace of publication

The main story will be published chapter by chapter, as each is ready. To be honest, we have not yet settled when, or at what pace, we will be able to publish. We are a small team, and we want to make each piece with care.

Rather than hurrying to increase the quantity, we want each episode to stay in the reader's heart. There may be long waits at times, but in exchange we want to take responsibility for everything we publish. When we publish a new chapter or track, we will announce it in the News on the top page.

There are still many places on the site marked "in preparation." We could have hidden them, but we have deliberately left them visible. An empty shelf is a place where something will be placed. We think the sight of the shelves filling one by one is also a record of the journey.

Making it as a small team

This work is made not by a large production company but by a small production team at IHS Bethlehem Church. The people who think up the story, who draw the pictures and who make the sounds shape it little by little, watching each other's work.

Being a small team has its inconveniences. We cannot make many things at once, and things sometimes take longer than we expect. But precisely because we are small, the makers' eyes reach every scene and every track all the way to the end. Things with a real feel to them rather than quantity; things that last rather than speed. That is the way of making we have chosen.

From time to time we plan to share the progress of production in the News, in the form of a production diary. We will keep not only finished things but also the hesitations and discoveries along the way, as a record of the journey.

Watching the stars and making stories

Alongside making the work, IHS Bethlehem Church also observes the night sky: analyzing publicly available astronomical images in search of asteroids and comets no one has found yet.

The work of observation is quiet and demands patience. You compare image after image, look for points that move, and check whether each is a real object or an error. Most of the time, what you find is an object already known, or simply a false detection. Even so, you do not stop looking up. That attitude is very much like the work of making a story.

A story, too, is built from attempts that are redrawn again and again, checked, and mostly never used, until at last one scene stands up. We think of searching for stars and making stories as two forms of one and the same prayer. Someday, the night sky we have actually looked up at may appear in the story as well.

Together with our readers

We do not think this work can be completed by its makers alone. A story only comes alive when there are people who read it and people who listen.

You can leave comments in the track rooms and on articles. On the message board, you are free to share impressions, analysis and conversation. In the Creators' Plaza, you can post what you have received from this creative world in the form of illustrations, manga, music and more. The production team reads every word and every work we receive, and they will be an important guide for our work from here on.

At the same time, to keep this a quiet and warm place, we ask a few things of you. Please refrain from abuse, trolling, and reposting other people's work without permission. Some places require an account registered under a pen name before you can post, and registrations are approved by the operators. We are sorry for the extra step and grateful for your understanding, so that everyone can feel at ease here.

Bringing it in two languages

This site is published in two languages, Japanese and English, because we want the story to reach readers across the sea as well.

In translation, we try not merely to replace words but to lose as little as possible of how they sound. For example, of the proper names in track titles, some have been replaced with English of a similar meaning, while others keep their original sound. Neither is simply right; we decided each one while thinking about the role that name plays in its world.

The lettering inside manga images and song lyrics are sometimes left in the original. Forcing a replacement where picture and text are one can change the feel of the work. We will keep looking for the balance between lowering the language barrier as much as we can and leaving the work itself unchanged.

What we want to keep

As we begin production, we want to write down a few things we intend to keep.

The first is not selling the work. It is made as nonprofit work. Reading it, listening to it and looking at it cost nothing.

The second is protecting quiet time. We carry no advertisements. We will not let unrelated things cut in on the time you spend with the work.

The third is keeping an honest record. We will not write about what is not done as if it were done. Where needed, we will keep trial versions and works in progress as they are. We will record, without hiding them, the things that did not go well.

The fourth is portraying hope. Not a story that is merely bright, but a light that rises even out of darkness and hesitation. So that the people who read it can believe in tomorrow, if only a little. That is our deepest reason for making this work.

What comes next

Here is what we will work on next, as far as it has been decided. As for timing, we will announce each item in the News on the top page as it becomes ready.

The first is publishing the first episode of the main story. We are preparing the first chapter of Santaria's story so that it can be read in the Reading Room.

The second is adding characters to the Character Encyclopedia. We will introduce the people of the story one by one, on numbered plates.

The third is opening the Gallery. We will gradually exhibit past works and studies, and pictures of scenes from the story.

The fourth is making new music, beginning with the main theme. As the story progresses, we will add music for its scenes and its characters.

We also plan to publish records of our night-sky observation alongside these. Everything here has only just begun. We would be glad if you would watch over it on this site as each piece takes shape.

At Christmas

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the start of production has fallen in the Christmas season. To set out in the season of the longest nights, trusting a small light — that is the very story this work is trying to tell.

Where the journey that begins now will lead, even we cannot yet see entirely. But like the Magi who walked trusting a single star, we want to go forward one step at a time. Nothing would make us happier than to have you watch over that path with us on this site.

The story of Hope Princess Santaria begins here.