Yesterday, my oldest best friend, Rickard Edlund, has sadly and unexpectedly passed away in his sleep in his 30s. He was my dearest comrade in terms of anime/manga, cartoons, movies and games since school days. A man of unlimited fantasy, humor, charisma and heart.

At the beginning, he started off as my childhood nemesis. But as my art grew, he grew fascinated with my work and shows a much kinder side of himself. It was then our friendship started to bloom and we share many common interests. We became as close as brothers.

In fact, it was HE who convinced me to draw more girls and after some practice, I got hooked. If it weren’t for him, Lassie, Bomba and my many other female characters might have never turned out the way they did.

RIP, my dear friend.