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Description
made with GenZArt app, color and size adjusted in Windows 11 photo editor

FROM THE ISLAND OF FORGOTTEN ANIME

Promotional artwork from Viva Las Vegas, an anime created by Johnny Yamada, and first aired in 2017, for 3 seasons of 65 episodes each. The anime was unusual due to the fact that although the show was produced in Japan, by Japanese artists and animators, it was produced for the American market, by an American producer, and starred American voice actors, and produced in English, and didn't air in Japan until 2021. Viva Las Vegas takes place in the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and is about the various people in the town. Each season is divided into five 13 episode arcs, each arc devoted to a different main character. "Double Heather" is the second arc in the first season, it centers around Heather and Heather McElroy, dicephalus conjoined twins who front a local hard rock band, which is named Double Heather, a play on "Double Header". Their backstory is that their when their mother was pregnant with them, their parents had decided on the name Heather if they had a girl, and were unaware until they were born that they were having twins in the first place, let alone conjoined twins, so they named both girls Heather. However, the McElroys gave each Heather a different middle name, the one to their right has the middle name Marie, while her sister has the middle name Amara. The picture is the cover photo from their first album, entitled Two Heads Are Better Than One, a play on the fact that, as they do admit, they have the appearance of a woman with two heads, as opposed to twin sisters.

According to a press release, the characters of Heather and Heather McElroy were inspired by a trip to the United States J0hnny Yamada made in September 2012, for his cousin's wedding. While in the United States, he was watching TV one night, and flipping through the channels, and came across Abby and Brittany, a reality show chronicling the life of conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, who are joined the same way as Heather and Heather. For some reason, he made a sketch of sisters who happened to be joined the same way, and filed them away, and forgot about them. When he was creating Viva Las Vegas, he knew one story arc would involve the lead singer of a local rock band, and wanted something to set them apart. While visiting Los Angeles for a meeting with the American producers of Viva Las Vegas, Yamada was watching an episode of The Flintstones, the one where Fred invents a new super glue, and he and Barney somehow both get glued to a bowling ball. When Barney makes a joke about how he and Fred could get a job at a circus as Siamese twins, When Yamada heard that line, he remembered the sketch he had made, and realized that making the lead singers conjoined twins would definitely set them apart. So he used the sketch he had made as his inspiration, and created the McElroy twins. The idea to name them both Heather came from Heather Has Two Mommies, a children's book about a girl named Heather, who's the daughter of a lesbian couple. At first, Yamada planned on having the twins have a daughter named Heather(which, if he had gone that route, seeing as their conjoinment means they share a reproductive system, Heather would literally have two mommies), but when invited to attend a doubleheader between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Minnesota Twins(one game being a makeup game for one that had been rained out earlier in the sesaon), Yamada came up with the idea of having both twins be named Heather, and the band called Double Heather(he also reportedly took inspiration from boxer George Foreman, who named all his sons George).

TRIVIA TIDBITS:

1. Marie and Amara Hawthorne, the voice actresses who play Heather and Heather, are conjoined twins themselves.
2. Frank West, who plays the drummer for Double Heather, was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where the show is set.
3. Originally, Marie and Amara Hawthorne were cast as the singing voices for Heather and Heather, taking over their speaking voices when the actresses cast as their speaking voices, Kym and Gina Gilman, who were originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, were deported when it was discovered they were in the United States illegally.
4. There was a minor controversy over the use of the term "Siamese twins" to describe Heather and Heather. When asked whether they preferred being called Siamese or conjoined twins, Marie and Amara Hawthorne said they didn't care which, just as long as their paychecks cleared the bank.
5.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: While the exixtence of the Viva Las Vegas anime is simply a figment of my imagination, the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, where the show is set, is a real placeCity Government | Las Vegas NM )

Description
made with GenZArt app, color and size adjusted in Windows 11 photo editor

FROM THE ISLAND OF FORGOTTEN ANIME

Promotional artwork from Viva Las Vegas, an anime created by Johnny Yamada, and first aired in 2017, for 3 seasons of 65 episodes each. The anime was unusual due to the fact that although the show was produced in Japan, by Japanese artists and animators, it was produced for the American market, by an American producer, and starred American voice actors, and produced in English, and didn't air in Japan until 2021. Viva Las Vegas takes place in the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and is about the various people in the town. Each season is divided into five 13 episode arcs, each arc devoted to a different main character. "Double Heather" is the second arc in the first season, it centers around Heather and Heather McElroy, dicephalus conjoined twins who front a local hard rock band, which is named Double Heather, a play on "Double Header". Their backstory is that their when their mother was pregnant with them, their parents had decided on the name Heather if they had a girl, and were unaware until they were born that they were having twins in the first place, let alone conjoined twins, so they named both girls Heather. However, the McElroys gave each Heather a different middle name, the one to their right has the middle name Marie, while her sister has the middle name Amara. The picture is the cover photo from their first album, entitled Two Heads Are Better Than One, a play on the fact that, as they do admit, they have the appearance of a woman with two heads, as opposed to twin sisters.

According to a press release, the characters of Heather and Heather McElroy were inspired by a trip to the United States J0hnny Yamada made in September 2012, for his cousin's wedding. While in the United States, he was watching TV one night, and flipping through the channels, and came across Abby and Brittany, a reality show chronicling the life of conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, who are joined the same way as Heather and Heather. For some reason, he made a sketch of sisters who happened to be joined the same way, and filed them away, and forgot about them. When he was creating Viva Las Vegas, he knew one story arc would involve the lead singer of a local rock band, and wanted something to set them apart. While visiting Los Angeles for a meeting with the American producers of Viva Las Vegas, Yamada was watching an episode of The Flintstones, the one where Fred invents a new super glue, and he and Barney somehow both get glued to a bowling ball. When Barney makes a joke about how he and Fred could get a job at a circus as Siamese twins, When Yamada heard that line, he remembered the sketch he had made, and realized that making the lead singers conjoined twins would definitely set them apart. So he used the sketch he had made as his inspiration, and created the McElroy twins. The idea to name them both Heather came from Heather Has Two Mommies, a children's book about a girl named Heather, who's the daughter of a lesbian couple. At first, Yamada planned on having the twins have a daughter named Heather(which, if he had gone that route, seeing as their conjoinment means they share a reproductive system, Heather would literally have two mommies), but when invited to attend a doubleheader between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Minnesota Twins(one game being a makeup game for one that had been rained out earlier in the sesaon), Yamada came up with the idea of having both twins be named Heather, and the band called Double Heather(he also reportedly took inspiration from boxer George Foreman, who named all his sons George).

TRIVIA TIDBITS:

1. Marie and Amara Hawthorne, the voice actresses who play Heather and Heather, are conjoined twins themselves.
2. Frank West, who plays the drummer for Double Heather, was born in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where the show is set.
3. Originally, Marie and Amara Hawthorne were cast as the singing voices for Heather and Heather, taking over their speaking voices when the actresses cast as their speaking voices, Kym and Gina Gilman, who were originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, were deported when it was discovered they were in the United States illegally.
4. There was a minor controversy over the use of the term "Siamese twins" to describe Heather and Heather. When asked whether they preferred being called Siamese or conjoined twins, Marie and Amara Hawthorne said they didn't care which, just as long as their paychecks cleared the bank.
5.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: While the exixtence of the Viva Las Vegas anime is simply a figment of my imagination, the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico, where the show is set, is a real placeCity Government | Las Vegas NM )