It had been a long time since I had met a grouch. Usually, I can identify these people and I try to avoid them whenever possible. But, right off the bat, something seemed odd about the guy. I pried. Over the course of the dinner, Kato and his very close +1 male companion began to open up. I told him that I was a big fan of Kobato (very true) and Tenshi ni Narumon (very *not* true). The first title did not impress Kato at all. But the second one piqued his interest. So, Kato followed it up by asking me who my favorite character was. I responded with "Sara". Kato informed me that I wasn't like other women. He complained that women only cared about bishies because all women are incredibly shallow.

Ouch.

I wasn't about to let this go lying down. Yeah, I like my bishies to a certain extent, but I love good character development as well. So, we talked about Sara. And Natsumi. And how Kato is fixated with the concept of a wish being a curse in disguise. By the end of the two hour dinner, Kato had begun to open up. He showed me the mobile platform game he had been working on, and despite warnings from the translators, drew for everyone at the table.

This was the only sketch available at the auction that featured Kobato. It was the only thing I really wanted and I fought insanely hard for it. Definitely my most expensive sketch ever, but it's quite large, so it was well worth it.

Interestingly enough, there's a legitimate copy of this sketch out there. While the artwork is the same on both of these sketches, the coloration is different, namely because Kobato has grey hair instead of brown. The copy was sold at Anime Expo in 2015 by a private seller. I actually witnessed the hand-off between Kato and the private seller at the dinner.