Question: What’s the difference between a bowl of blueberries and an anime club?
Answer: One is full of of antioxidants, while the other is full of anti-occidents.
Monthly Archives: August 2010
A Common Misunderstanding
Continuing Con Con
Over the past 9 years or so, I have gone to a number of conventions. Large or small, anime-focused or emphasizing other areas of geekery, I’ve gone from a relatively inexperienced con-goer to one with agendas. As I have grown as a geek, so too have my tastes developed, and I realize that as much as I find my growth to be a good thing, I sometimes wish I knew less.
When I went to my first convention, the science fiction-themed Lunacon, I recall there being quite a few things I wanted to see (Godzilla vs Megaguirus comes to mind), but at the same time I allowed myself plenty of opportunities to just wander into panels just to see what was going on. But now that I’ve developed my focuses as an anime fan, as a nerd and admirer of fiction and art, I feel myself less able to wander.
Sure, when it’s small and there aren’t very many good guests or must-see events it’s easy to remain the con flâneur. But when there are a ton of worthwhile things to see, then I start to feel like I’ve affixed myself to some rails. The rails may be of my own design, and I am capable of deviating from them, but they can still feel somewhat restrictive. I could try to just float through the convention, but then I’d be missing so much.
It’s kind of like going to a restaurant. If nothing on the menu looks familiar to you, you’re more likely to just try something new, but if you happen to see your favorite dish on the menu, then it takes no small amount of willpower to not order it and go for the new and the mysterious.
Somewhat Less Perilous: MD Geist the Comic
Rarely do I get review requests for Ogiue Maniax, but when I was told to review MD Geist, I knew I had to take on the challenge.
MD Geist is somewhat of an anomaly in anime. Largely ignored in Japan, this OVA found success in the United States in the 80s and 90s and helped to define “anime” as something more adult (or at least indicative of hormonal teenagers). With the titular character eventually becoming the “face” of anime through his role as mascot and “spokesmecha” for the anime company Central Park Media, you will find that a certain generation of anime fans feels a close connection to the title. Years later Central Park Media would fund a sequel.
But wait, this isn’t actually a review of the MD Geist OVAs, but of the American-produced comic adaptation by artist and VOTOMS expert Tim Eldred. And through the lens of Mr. Eldred, interesting things happen.
Before I get into the comic though, I have to state what is a commonly-held truth in anime, restated time and again over the past few decades: MD Geist is bad. Its designs are unsuited for animation, its story is paper-thin, its action scenes are only really enjoyable on a surface level, and its characters are poorly realized. At the same time however, it is an enjoyable sort of bad. In many ways it represents a generation of mediocre straight-to-VHS anime.
But it’s difficult to recapture that sort of accidental magic. Tim Eldred understood this well, I assume, as he doesn’t try to bottle magic. Instead, he takes the patches strewn across the floor in disarray and attempts to sew them together into a complete quilt. He adds a back story, he adds character motives, he turns MD Geist into a “real” story rather than an incongruous facsimile of one.
The MD Geist comic is divided into two parts: an origin story for MD Geist and a retelling of the first OVA, with the intent to flesh out Geist’s character. Not only was he a “Most Dangerous Soldier,” but you learn why exactly he was imprisoned and about the woman who first assisted/controlled him. Through this, you get the same impression as one would reading fanfiction. I do not mean that negatively. One of the great strengths of fanfiction is that fans of a series can take the odds and ends of their favorite series and then speculate until their brainstorming session has gone far beyond the original source.
On its own, the MD Geist comic is decent. The only issue with that is that it comes at the expense of the extreme amounts of ridiculousness which pervade the source material to the extent that the original creators cannot even remember why they made any of their creative decisions (check the director’s commentary track on the DVD). Reading the comic over seeing the anime will get you a better story, but it won’t necessarily get you MD Geist.
Another Kind of Radio Exercise
I don’t remember when exactly it happened, but at some point in the 2000s, New York City got a couple of new Chinese radio stations. Currently on AM 1480 (Cantonese) and AM 1380 (Mandarin), these stations provide much-needed entertainment and news to people who are not as comfortable listening to English language radio stations. But they also provide something else, something I can only describe as “mind-boggling song selections that appear half-born out of geekery.”
What do I mean? Well, back when the radio stations were first starting out, I noticed an oddly familiar song amidst the usual selection of Chinese-language pop music. It stood out for a number of reasons, not least of which was that it was purely instrumental. As the ominous tune played on, it suddenly hit me: It was Kefka’s Theme from Final Fantasy VI.
“What? Really?” What was this doing on Chinese radio? What absolute nerd was in charge of music programming?
But aside from the occasional Utada Hikaru song, there wasn’t much else. Not much else that is, until the station started playing the theme song from The A-Team.
And no, it was not that one song from Full Metal Panic!
Once again, I had to question just who was in charge of selecting the songs for the Chinese residents of New York City. I have no idea how popular The A-Team was or is with Chinese people, but I don’t even think that’s a factor.
Then yesterday, I heard the most unusual song of all. This time the song was entirely in Cantonese, but it sounded odd, or at least odd for a tune on the radio, resembling more the theme of a TV drama or 80s anime than anything else. Like Kefka’s Theme years earlier, it started to sound more and more familiar. Then the chorus hit and I realized that it was a Cantonese version of Sentimental Over the Shoulder from Megazone 23 (Part 1).
So here I am, trying to find this mysterious Chinese rendition of Eve’s famous song, and I simply cannot do it. I definitely did not imagine it, but I honestly have no idea what I should even be searching for. Does anyone out there listen to WZRC AM 1480? And are you a huge anime nerd? Because if so, maybe you can help me identify just where exactly this song came from and who exactly sings it.
To Be an Electric Type is to Be One with the Speed of Light! …or Not
Ever since the first games, I have been a big fan of Pokemon, particularly when it comes to multiplayer battling. I remember the absolute Psychic dominance of Red, Blue, and Yellow, and I know well the competitive trends from sequel to sequel. And even though Pokemon as a whole is not the most balanced of games, it’s clear that the creators have tried to make some concessions to multiplayer fairness, strengthening some things while weakening others.
While this effort towards balance is much appreciated however, I feel that there has been an increasing amount of homogeneity in Pokemon moves, removing some of the individuality and uniqueness of each Pokemon type.
Since the early games the Normal type has had a certain identity associated with it. In terms of effectiveness versus other types, the Normal type is the only kind that is not super effective against any other type. On the other hand, very few things resist it, so it’s fairly neutral overall. But what made Normal type attacks so special is that they had by far the most range and utility in the game. You had kamikaze attacks in Selfdestruct and Explosion. You had Hyper Beam, a powerful technique which exhausts the Pokemon after each use. You had the purely random Metronome. You had Swift, an attack which always had perfect accuracy. You had Quick Attack, a move which lets the Pokemon hit first no matter the actual difference in speed.
And so each Pokemon type had associated with it certain strengths and weaknesses well beyond that 17 x 17 grid denoting super effectiveness. But let’s take a look at what’s happened to Quick Attack since then. You now have Extremespeed, a rarer form of Quick Attack which is twice as powerful. But then you also have Mach Punch, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch, Ice Shard, Shadow Sneak, and Vacuum Wave, all differently typed attacks which do the same thing as Quick Attack. Where is the type identity? What happened to the time when you could say that Fighting attacks tended to be powerful yet risky, or that Grass attacks tended to be fairly weak but had their place in taking out specific threats?
I will say though that there have been some advancements. The Dragon type for example has benefited greatly in terms of becoming more pronounced in its identity. Dragon is the only type more neutral on offense in Pokemon than normal, hitting 15 of 17 types for normal damage. In the first game however, there was only one Dragon attack, and because it inflicted a set amount of damage no matter what, it was almost pointless for it to be a “Dragon” type attack. But as the games continued, Dragon gained a reputation for extreme power and the ability to end matches quickly.
I just hope that with Pokemon Black and White that we move towards more pronounced differences in Pokemon types so that each of them can shine in different ways, as opposed to the exact same glimmer.
He’s So Through, You Know
Parkour is an activity French in origin where practitioners try to get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible, usually navigating through obstacles rather than around them to save time.
I can think of at least two anime characters who already have the right mindset for this non-competitive physical activity.
Kageyama Torako (Hyakko)
Her obsession with moving in a straight line towards her intended goal no matter the circumstance means that Torako has a bright future in Parkour, though she perhaps has to work on the fact that she actually ends up taking longer to get to her destination.
Raoh (Fist of the North Star)
Physical roadblocks actually mean nothing to him, as the man is actually unwilling to walk around a building if he can simply walk straight through it. Some might say that he’s too lacking in acrobatics for Parkour, but I think his spirit is in the right place.
Can you think of any other potential Parkour specialists out there in anime and manga?
The Internet, Ladies and Gentlemen
On Powerful Female Characters
Seeing the comments I received on my post about strong female characters two days ago, I noticed that much of the difficulty in the discussion comes from people disagreeing on the very definition of the term (as is the case with so many anime arguments). Re-reading the examples given there and elsewhere, I’ve come to realize that the issue stems from the fact that when many people use the term “strong female character,” they actually mean “powerful female character.”
It’s a simple yet profound difference. Think about how you’d use the two words to describe a real person.
“That woman is strong.”
“That woman is powerful.”
It rings differently, doesn’t it? Power can refer to a number of things. Physical ability, political influence, knowledge, specialized skills, it all comes down something which gives a character the tools to do things better than others. But when you say someone is strong, you’re generally talking about something deeper inside, such as an iron resolve or strong convictions.
That’s not to say that just because a character is powerful can’t meant they’re strong or vice versa, of course. And many times a series can potentially undermine a strong character by intentionally or unintentionally placing emphasis on “power.” Even so, I think this is where most of the misunderstandings occur.
So I guess the real solution is to ask both questions.
What do you think of the status of strong female characters in anime and manga?
What do you think of the status of powerful female characters in anime and manga?
Chun Lead
To commemorate the different yet similar directions we’re all taking in life, kransom, Sub, and I decided to have a couple of sessions of 3-player mahjong yesterday. We sadly could not find a 4th person, but 3P does well in a pinch; this is exactly the kind of situation it was made for.
For the Otakon mahjong panel, Sub and I mentioned that he’s a little more of a “digital” player and I’m a little more “occult,” which is to say that he looks more towards statistics and probability and I play more with intuition. At least that’s what we like to think. I’m pretty sure we’re both actually pretty bad and these kinds of distinctions don’t apply to our low level. However, please humor me for a moment when I say that yesterday’s session made me realize that I am indeed more of an occult player than Sub.
In one hand, I ended up getting 3 of the Chun, or red dragon tiles, early on. This is a good thing, as it means my hand automatically has value and the ability to win. Then kransom discarded the 4th Chun, and in most cases I would have no reason to steal the tile as the action itself doesn’t make the Chun tiles any more valuable, and in fact in many situations is a bad idea. But I had a hunch, an odd feeling, that I should take the tile.
Now when you declare “kan,” or the fact that you have 4 of the same tile, you get to draw an extra tile. This turned out to be a dud, but soon I realized that my intuition was slightly off. The real surprise was when the next dora indicator was revealed, and it turned out that Chun was the new dora (dora being a sort of supplemental bonus multiplier in mahjong).
So suddenly my 1-multiplier hand became a 5-multiplier hand, bringing its minimum potential score from about 1300 points to 8000 points, and it all had to do with a sudden feeling. In the end, I ended up having a 16000 point hand.
Sometimes I talk to people who play Poker, and from what they’ve told me, the only approach to Poker is scientific or digital. I’m sure that’s fun, but I’ll stick to mahjong.
It was really a great game, and I’m glad to have comrades in both mahjong and anime.
OGIUE MANIAX 