Winter Season 2012

As we move out of the warm shows from the summer and fall, and into the winter season, we move towards the season of sequels. This is a big contrast to last winter, in regards to what I'm watching, to last year. Of course, last year we also had Madoka, and its very difficult to beat that. I could say I'm interested in the new shows, like Kill Me Baby, High School DxD, AnoNatsu, or Moretsu, but they aren't truly pulling my attention. Instead I'm keeping up with sequels or continuing seasons of shows I previously enjoyed. I'll be keeping an eye on how they stack up to their original seasons, if they're just as successful or if they're falling short where the other pulled through. I've passed through three episodes (or more in the case of Bakuman), so let's see how they're hanging in there so far.

Nisemonogatari

Significantly more awkward scenes this time around.

Picking up (mostly) where Bakemonogatari left off, Nisemonogatari continues the supernatural adventures of Araragi. While some of the animation is vividly different from that of Bakemono, the effects that were beloved in both it and Madoka are still present. Just as ever present are the hints to second meanings in conversations spread out as symbols or texts in the background. The characters are just as mischievous as their predecessors, perhaps even more so. A big reason for this is because they're no longer under the yoke of supernatural pain. Instead they've embraced it and as Araragi no longer has Oshino or a certain other character around, he can't balance his vampirism, which forces more character development on his side. The first chapter, "Karen Bee" hasn't concluded yet, but so far the show promises to be just as much of a story as its predecessor. It promises to hold true to its title of "Imitation Story." Although, if you haven't seen Bakemonogatari, you're going to be left confused. It's based off a series of light novels, so it only makes sense to watch them in progression as well. 

Bakuman

This isn't so much of a sequel as a continuation, so I won't have much to say on it outside of this. A series about one persons dream to become a manga author famous enough to get an anime is a little mediocre, but through in an exponential amount of rivals and a strong love interest and it grows up quite a bit. As an author, I love it. As a fan of anime and manga, I love it even more. I can't complain about the plot or how well it sticks to the original manga story as I've never read it. For what it is, I love it. I'm constantly looking forward to the next episode. The soundtrack is subpar, and the animation a bit turn of the century, but the plot carries it well enough. As a continuation, it stacks up. There is no gap between the first season and this one, which is terrific.

 Aquarion Evol

Is it me?

Let me say this right now: I love mech anime. All kinds of mech anime. If it involves giant robots, I will almost always watch it. Aquarion is perhaps my favorite though, because of the combination of religious themes, romance, and the fact that its directed by the man behind the genre. The man who created Macross and launched Robotech as a result. With that sad, I had rather high expectations for Evol. Did they hold up? ABSOLUTELY. Yoko Kanno returns as the composer, and for the first episode I couldn't pick up on any new songs, the soundtrack being largely recycled from the original Aquarion. Which is fine, they still fit in splendidly. By the third episode, however, I was hearing new music and loving it, as it fits in perfectly with the older compositions. Unlike Nisemonogatari, you don't necessarily have to watch the first season. But does it help? A little bit. It certainly makes guessing which character is which from the older series a lot more interesting. And of course, I'm happy as long as my favorite character, my first conspiracy theory character of the show, is there. Commander (now High Commander) Fudo is still alive and kicking, making my theory entirely valid. I'll talk more of that theory some other time, but for now I look forward to seeing just who the true Apollo is. 

Until Next Time, Sousei Gattai!

AAO

SOPA Blackout

SOPA, and its sister, PIPA are bills that seek to censor the internet. Content, such as what you find here, will no longer be available.

Look forward to a future as Shinji should they pass.

AAO

Happy New Year!

A happy new year to all you readers!

What is an American Otaku? Part II

Anime otaku are pretty crazy, and if you can't tell just from the blog, its pretty obvious I am one. There are other otaku as well, and ones that are just as prominent in American society today. They are not the ones wearing the word otaku on their sleeves, and are often the ones generalizing all anime into one lump sum. They are the ones calling on the powers that be that these nerds are weeaboos and anything they say is completely invalidated. The good news is that they don't know that to the non-nerd world, they are also otaku. So today we'll take a look at another type of otaku: the gaming nerd.

Gaming Otaku: A Brief Introduction

SOCIAL STIGMA MAN!!!

Gaming in America is plentiful: there are a plethora of games coming out, even for kids as young as five. Of course, there are a variety of gaming otaku, just as there are for anime,  because there are just as many genres. The three major ones are, of course, the first-person shooter (FPS), the Japanese Role-Playing Game/Role-Playing Game (JRPG/RPG), and the Massive Multi-Online Player Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Of course, there are those that specify their otakudom to consoles: those that solely play X-Box, Nintenerds, and those that will eat up anything on a Sony console. No matter their preference, gamers still have a stigma associated with them, in much the same way otaku do.

The FPS players largely focus their console attention on X-Box, and hold their own stereotypes. These are usually the same people who are military otaku: they have a Michael Bay complex (needs moar explosions), can tell you everything about the guns in game and out of game, and can be heard uttering BOOM! HEAD SHOT! across mikes everywhere. Obnoxious as they may be, and though the player demographics are largely pre-teens, the reverse is also true as there are older gamers that enjoy them (and enjoy shooting the real life counter parts just as much). The gamer that plays these knows everything about a series and is always after the newest one (like Call of Duty or Gears of War). So they are a type of obsessive fan, and thus an otaku, all they may not be aware of it. Getting along with them is fairly easy, and spying them at conventions is even easier (they're the ones walking around in those really nice Halo cosplays, one more reason they are a part of the otaku world). You only need to play with them, and even if you are better let them win every once in a while.

The JRPG/RPG player is even more prominent as an otaku. They're games are often direct ports from Japan, translated but never watered down. These are the gamers that play for story, and are obsessive compulsive about having a perfectly organized inventory (otherwise how else are you going to get the item you need when you need it?). They vary back and forth between Nintendo and Sony consoles, and can usually agree that neither one console or the other is better. It's all about what you want from the game, and that's usually storyline.

Then there are the MMORPG fans, responsible for killing time the world over. While graphics are nice, they are not necessarily the most important things to the game. The three biggest companies, what I would consider anyway, are Blizzard, gPotato and WeMade. Pegi3 has some good games for the Western market, but not necessarily the best. World of Warcraft is still by far the most popular, and as a result of BlizzCon possibly the nerdiest thing to hit American soil.  If there was anything that came closest to being the sense of otaku in the original sense, the fans of MMORPG's are the closest. There is a definite stigma against players of the game, and a certain obsessiveness from the players. A part of it comes from the fact that the mechanics of the game are designed for repetition for success, giving the game indefinite life. A good deal of JRPG/RPG games follow this same idea to extend gameplay, something they invented and MMORPG's profit on.

Regardless of game genre, gamers still remain otaku. Their tendencies towards obsessiveness with what they enjoy, and their culture. A great deal like to argue that their genre is the best, similar to the way in which anime otaku argue over which show is the best. It leads to competitions, but rarely violence, which is by and far a good thing.

Especially when you have situations like this.

Until Next Time!
AAO

What is an American Otaku?

It helps that we don't have this guy either...

I feel like this is something that needs to be explained. You see, there is a very big difference from what otaku are in America and what sort of connotations it holds in Japan. Originally it was a polite term meaning "your home," but the term has since picked up negative connotations. There is a stigma that accompanies that does not quite carry over into America, but then, we also have never had the "Otaku Killer" either.

Because no one wants to be this person.

Regardless of why, there also needs to be a distinction between otaku and weeaboo. For those unfamiliar with 4chan shenanigans, just know that weeaboo is not a good thing. It's a terrible thing. What you want to be is an otaku, someone who appreciates the culture and shows of Japan, and doesn't just think everything is ultra-super-kawaii-desu! Instead the otaku who appreciates makes an effort to learn the language, if they are so inclined, or otherwise leaves it alone. They may write an article on their favorite show, or blog about it (like this particular one does), they may even get into heated debates about whether or not something is possible. I once had a ten minute argument with someone, for instance, over the aerodynamics of a Berserk Fuhrer from Zoids and whether or not it was truly possible. It should be noted, that not all otaku like anime either, sometimes the word otaku can be applied, just like in Japan where it acts as "obsessive fan (often to the point of it being detrimental)," they all have their separate interests. So lets take a look at the different type of otaku, but not all at once. For now we'll just take a look at the anime type otaku.

Anime Otaku: A Brief Introduction
Anime found its way to America in a very interesting way. When most people think about early anime in the U.S. they think about Astroboy and Kimba, but what really set it off is a little ditty known as Robotech. You see, as the fans of these early shows matured so, too, did their tastes.  They were no longer satisfied with the terrible dubbing of Speed Racer and so the mech anime found its own little niche to fill. The first season of the show, based off Superdimensional Macross tears apart and redubs the entire work. A whole new script was adapted for the show, and it was a great success. One of the earliest science fiction anime to hit U.S. shores it completely remade what fans thought of anime, and brought in many new fans. Shows like Gundam, Voltron, and Star Blazers made their way into U.S. timeslots and were devoured by the enthralled geek, a mere five years after the first Star Wars film hit theatres. People were hungry for action and for sci-fi and anime provided exactly that.

Robotech: They just don't make classics like it anymore.

After the advent of these, which had already started to grow the otaku fanbase, a little known hit called Akira made its circle through bootlegs and art screenings to secure what became a future for the anime industry. Small company Pioneer set up its store front, licensing Tenchi Muoyo! for VHS and LD (that's Laser Disc for you younguns) and, though expensive, the company soon started to grow until it finally changed its name to Geneon Entertainment. Yes, that same Geneon that imploded several years ago as internet piracy slowly made its rounds. They produced a series that is now most famous world wide, and even bigger than Mickey Mouse in Japan: Neon Genesis Evangelion. But let's back up just a moment. There's another very important note in anime history that helped launch not just otaku, but the cyber-punk movement. That's right, if it weren't for the Japanese animation many people hate, there would be no cyber-punk. That means no Matrix, no dreams of virtual reality, and no dreams of cybernetic reality. Thanks to Ghost in the Shell, such ideas were secured, and nerds everywhere rejoiced, and not just because of the scantily clad Major Kusonagi. No, it was because it showed there was real thought going into anime in Japan, and Evangelion would later secure this fact. Albeit in a very different manner.

For every cross, a pouch of human Tang has just been opened.

So with all this history behind us, where does that leave the Peter Pan generation like myself (I wear my nostalgia goggles with pride)? Well, we came onto the anime scene at a very young age, and grew up with it along the way. Two that almost everyone in my generation remembers, whether otaku or not, is Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. Boy or girl, whether you watched one, the other, or both, you knew what the deal was with these shows. Of course, the show that is most known and what I am truly an otaku (in the Japanese sense, its sad really) about is Pokemon. Yes, that loveable creature show where all Ash Ketchum wanted to do was catch them all. To this day I can tell you everything about the games, and almost everything about the show and manga too (again, I live a sad life). This show, the games, everything was huge in the nineties and as 4Kids realized the cash cow that it was they started to license more and more anime. Sadly, they all received the 4Kids treatment, and just for shiggles heres everything I can remember that wormed its way into my childhood. "Your childhood," you ask as I talk about the nineties, "Why, you were just talking about the eighties as if they were yesterday!" Yes, I was. I do my research and watch what these shows too. It's important to know your roots when you're living in an over saturated culture. Now then, here's the nostaligic list of import love:
Mew Mew Power
Digimon
One Piece
Sonic the Hedgehog (and Sonic X)
Kirby
Beyblade
Yu-Gi-Oh
Shaman King
Magical Do-Re-Mi
Cardcaptors
Fighting Foodons
Ultimate Muscle

And every one of them I enjoyed...at the time. Looking back there are those that still have their nostalgia value, and there are those that just make me shake my head in shame. There are also some that manage to be just as epic, despite that treatment. Of course, 4Kids was not the only company out there licensing anime for the ninties-naughts mind. Toonami enjoyed a long run, and even had a midnight run before Adult Swim hit the airwaves. This was when you stayed up late, because you knew after the week of G Gundam and Tenchi Muoyo you were gong to get something good, and you were rewarded with anime untouched by 4Kids and taken seriously. Shows like YuYu Hakusho, Knights of the Zodiac and .hack//sign were welcome, along with Gundam Seed after G Gundam had finished. They did meet their fair share of censorship too, but it was mostly the usual DBZ edits: blood was black, etc. etc.. Yet this started a desire for the seriousness anime could provide, and so kids who had never seen Robotech or Akira slowly started to join the otaku generation. The advent of Adult Swim is where, I think, a lot of people started their love of anime, and with early shows like Inuyasha tempting fans to watch the late night blocks, otaku obliged and with good reason. If you ask anyone from this era what anime they would start a new comer on most will answer with one of two things: Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. It's because these shows are good, and have remained good despite the test of time. It was during this time that Evangelion and FLCL made its way to domestic shores as well, and nearly six years later FLCL was finally released as a box set while Evangelion is being remade in theatrical installments. This brings an entirely new set of fans who missed these shows a chance to view them, and yet there is still one largely over looked series among these hits.

It's not about furries, I swear!

Very rarely do I come across the fellow Wolf's Rain fan, despite it being on during the same years as these shows, which is a bit odd really. Stranger still is the person who's never heard of Paranoia Agent, one of Satoshi Kon's later works. What has stuck around the otaku fan circles for years now is Full Metal Alchemist and my oh my has it acquired quite the number of otaku over the years. It showed that even without the touching of 4Kids and by keeping a show pure, it can still remain a hit. It's one of Funimations earliest licensed works, and they still continue to pull in the checks off of its movies and release of the show again through Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. You can find a good number or people discussing it for its philosophical merits but it also started one of the biggest weeaboo booms ever. It was not a hard series to find subtitled, and once fans discovered they could watch other series, even ones they had never heard about online, the metaphorical pile of crap hit the metaphorical fan. There was more of an appreciation for art quality and story, and less for what it was about. Less gab, more stab, was the general logic. Of course, this meant many shows were released that might not have found their way to shore were it not for the demand of more anime. Some found their way spiraling out of popularity, while others climbed the charts. And others, for all their merits, never found their way over.

Bakemonogatari hasn't been licensed, but oh, the brillaince!

So then, if the otaku is now living in a market saturated with stuff they like, but don't necessarily want, what makes them different from the weeaboo? As I said before, these are the people who want more gab and less stab. With companies like Crunchyroll and Viz offereing the raw product, it is the otaku who is answering the call of fandom. They're the ones out there watching Steins;Gate and Deadman Wonderland. Their devouring the existential crises of Madoka Magika and their revisiting the philosophies of Revolutionary Girl Utena. The weeaboo continues to sit back and cry for more Hetalia and Naruto, thinking they know everything about Japanese culture, ever, from shows like this. Because "Ninjas are sooo kakoii! Dattebayo!" And so I leave you to think about that as you walk around and proudly say you are an otaku. Are you certain you are one and not just one of those weeaboos devouring everything thrown your way from Japan? Be careful of the line all geek culture must walk.

Until Next Time!
AAO

It's Been A While, Let's Revolutionize the World!

After a long haul through the summer and the beginning of the semester, I hope you’re all glad to find me back and blogging again. Unfortunately  this is going to be just as sporadic as ever, especially with  my class load (the professors have conspired to give me three research papers at the same time).  I know it must be fall, as people are getting around to discussing the Ao no Exorcist finale, and from what I can tell the only worthwhile part of summer were the continuation of spring series such as Tiger and Bunny and Hanasaku Iroha (even Gosick finale’d over the summer).

As for my anime fix, I’ve caught up with Tiger and Bunny and am catching up with Hanasaku again. Nichijou is my “wake-up” show, though I haven’t watched it in a while to help wake up. Apart from these I’ve been going through Naoki Urasawa’s Monster and Revolutionary Girl Utena with my roommate. As a result there are a large number of quotes taped up around our room, though more from Utena then anything else.

Speaking of Utena, Rightstuf has a promotion going on that if you order all three limited box sets, you’ll get a reproduction of the rose ring famous in the series. I couldn’t resist, but it was well worth it. I can’t say much on the third box set as that was a preorder, but the digital remastering of the Student Council and Black Rose saga are fantastic. Reading through the booklets that come with each of the sets describes what the process entailed. For those working on the film itself they had free reign on formats: they could move from the 4:3 ratio of old televisions to the high def ration. Every part of a scene is present again, and it definitely frames certain times a lot better. When Anthy is in the garden, for example, you can see the entire garden around her. The recoloring and touchups (removing character skeletons that might have still been visible or overall brightening of a scene) also serve to enhance the original show, bringing it up to par with today’s standards of animation, yet also leaving a nostalgic feeling.

Due to higher resolution, you can see things you couldn't before, like Utena's ahoge!

They remastered the sound as well, though this is not something I can really experience in a dorm room (You’d need a Surround Sound system). They’ve added more bells to create a fuller sound, but also moved around some of the dialogue in comparison to insert sounds. One sound that is clearly added in the remastering is a sort of shimmering when Utena draws the sword from Anthy. As I watch the dub, I can’t say much for the lines that were rerecorded in the Japanese version (the dub is the same old dub as before), but apparently Utena’s seiyuu was still spot on after fifteen years.

The power of Dios that rests within me...

To some, the show itself may be a bit dated, as it did come out in the nineties shortly after Sailor Moon. But like Sailor Moon it is dear to its fans hearts. There’s so much that happens in it, and it is one of the few fencing animes I know of (if not the only fencing anime I know of). What makes it really unique is the meaning behind each of the episodes: during the School Council saga we see Utena overcome several virtuous obstacles, and in the Black Rose saga…well that’s for another time.

Look, look at how red my hair is now!

There aren’t too many things coming out in the fall I’m particularly excited for, as most are continuations of shows from last year (Squid Girl, Bakuman, Working!!). To be honest, though, there are still quite a bit of shows in summer I want to finish up that never had the chance to watch. I might take up a couple of shows, and I might just finish up my Tutu review, so stay tuned!

Otakon 2011

Yes, I know, it's a week later, but I had work pretty much everyday last week.

News, news, news! I asked a great deal of questions when I was at panels for Japanese directors in particular I tried my best to ask good questions. You can actually see one on Anime News Network's coverage of Otakon 2011 in the Madoka panel (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2011/otakon/8). Iwakami and those asking questions were great about the fact that we had to go through a translator to get all our questions answered. I was pretty glad to have made Iwakami smile just by mentioning Bakemonogatari, as the show didn't take off quite as much in the States as Madoka has. Essentially I asked him if he used his experience from working on Bakemono to work on Madoka, and he said that they did. He also confessed that the witches' labyrinth was not how it was originally planned, but there was originally a tentacle monster. And we've all seen enough hentai to know what that means.

I also attended the Who Wants to Be a Voice Actor panel, and it was pretty gosh darn fantastic, I was glad to have gotten in! For auditions they essentially picked three people at random, had them read a part (females read the female role, males the male) and they would deliberate. Then one winner was picked for each part and the scene was read. As luck would have it I did get picked and it was for the scene that was filmed. You can watch me make voices you wouldn't expect right here:

For those of you who ever wondered how to cute, cute, that's it. There were a lot of announcements that were made at industry panels, but for those I would take a look at ANN's coverage, since they did a great job.

Panel wise I would say this year was a little disappointing. Out of all those I attended (OC Remix and Voice Actors After Dark included), I would say Akira after dark was the most entertaining. From what I can gather Anime: Myths and Legends was not the same panelist as last year and was very disappointing, which is a shame. It's a little strange that Otakon cut so many Acafan panels, considering last year offered a lot of entertainment. The lines were also a bit frustrating as for the panels I did attend I waited in line for a maximum of an hour. Yes, otaku are professional queuers, but even we have our limits. That's all I have to say about that.

AAO Signing off!