Author Archives: sdshamshel

MF Ghost and the Passage of Time

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One of the Fall 2023 anime I had been anticipating was MF Ghost, a sequel of sorts to the famous downhill street racing series Initial D. While I’ve never been a car person, I could never deny the excitement the series brought me, nor the clear influence Initial D has had on car culture in Japan and abroad. But MF Ghost takes place in a speculative(ish) future, and the differences between it and its predecessor remind me of just how much technology has changed in that time.

MF Ghost is set in a time when environmental concerns (including volcanic eruptions in Japan) have made it so that most motor vehicles are electric and self-driven, and the only traditional cars are used purely for sport—particularly a legalized version of street racing known as MFG. It has fans worldwide, who can watch thanks to drones streaming live feeds, and it features cars from around the world rather than just Japan.

The drones following the cars, and the fact that everyone watches remotely, highlights the fact that a very visible aspect of Initial D is not present in MF Ghost: the crowds of onlookers watching the races in person. While there might be technical reasons for this (perhaps the author just didn’t want to draw them), I think it also draws a huge contrast with Initial D because of the latter’s time frame. In other words, when Initial D debuted in 1995, cell phones were still a pretty rare sight, let alone phones that could display video (that wouldn’t come for another four of five years). Sure, one other big factor is that the racing in Initial D was technically illegal and would never have big broadcasts regardless of technology levels, but the in-universe gallery for these mountain races wouldn’t even have the opportunity to be a live audience in any reasonable way.

Plot-wise, Initial D starts in the 1990s and ends only a year or two after the start, so all the tech remains of that era despite the fact that the manga ended in 2013. As a result, the jump to MF Ghost represents over 20 years of change at the very least. It’s wild to think about.

I referred to MF Ghost as “speculative,” and I meant it in a fairly tongue-in-cheek way. “What if the future had cool races using known car brands like Toyota and Ferrari” isn’t exactly the height of creative imagination or science fiction. However, there is one aspect of MF Ghost as a story set in the future that warms my heart. In Initial D, the character Takahashi Ryosuke (adversary turned mentor to the protagonist, Fujiwara Takumi) loves street racing more than circuit racing because of how unpredictable it can be and how there are elements beyond the drivers’ control. Now, the same mountain racing that was relegated to a select few enthusiasts has become a household name. Isn’t that grand?

Attack on Titan: The Final Conclusive Ending Denouement

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“Why I Like Eren Jaeger.” That’s the title of a post I wrote 10 years ago. 

A lot of things sure have happened since then.

The anime Attack on Titan recently concluded after what seemed like an eternity, and we the viewers have been left to interpret Eren in his entirety, from the hotheaded protagonist he was at the beginning to the apocalyptic villain he becomes by the end. Given all that has transpired, not least of which includes mass genocide, can I still say that I “like” Eren?

WARNING: SPOILERS OF THE END OF ATTACK ON TITAN AHEAD

Obviously, I can’t condone genocide no matter how it might have come from a place of wanting to protect his friends, or even if the alternative was a different form of genocide. But the reasons I was fond of Eren as a character ten years ago had little to do with anything like moral and ethical values or good decision-making. Instead, it was because he’s a deeply flawed character with some genuinely positive traits—namely his ability to motivate others through the sheer force of his ceaseless drive to press ahead. 

In 2013, this is what I had to say:

I see Eren as the kind of guy who makes people better than him feel worse for not accomplishing as much…. This is mainly what drives his relationship with Jean, as Jean is clearly smarter, wiser, and comparable in physical ability to Eren, but lacks his ability to throw himself into danger. On the other hand, Eren’s narrow-mindedness is the reason he can’t accomplish everything on his own, and…if he were a leader of men…he would probably send them all to their deaths just by being himself….

The result is that the Scout Regiment (or Survey Corps), a group infamous for being full of eccentrics with death wishes, gains and benefits from one of the most rational and reasonable individuals. At the same time, it means Eren has always been someone who needs others to keep him from being a living train wreck.

This is not a defense of Eren but an understanding of his relationships and the effects he has on people who are better than him. He inspires others to do what they thought impossible or inconceivable. Nowhere is this more relevant than with his closest friends, Armin and Mikasa. He pushes them to achieve greater heights through the example of his will, and this remains true even as Eren turns them against himself.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin are parts of a whole, and it’s a relationship that persists even in opposition. I think that Eren purposely pushes his friends away because he knows they have what it takes to stop him. Similar to Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen, Eren becomes able to move in four dimensions, and this ironically makes him unable to challenge fate. But Mikasa and Armin are not beholden to such cursed omniscience, and they ultimately defeat him and help remove the titan ability from the entire world.

Mikasa killing Eren is not only one of the most powerful scenes of the finale, but a key moment in the series as a whole. The presence of titans in their world for 2000 years is because Ymir, the Founding Titan, is trapped by her undying and contradictory love for King Fritz, her longtime master and abuser. Despite knowing how much Fritz saw Ymir as nothing more than property, her feelings keep her loyal out of a desperate need for human connection. Seeing Mikasa behead the love of her life for the sake of the world shows Ymir that it’s possible to break the mental and emotional chains binding her. And all of it comes back to what made Mikasa fall for Eren in the first place, back when they were children: When others would have said to run, Eren implored her to fight. He pushes others to not give up, even if it means he himself becomes the enemy. 

So the answer is yes: I still like Eren Jaeger for the mess that he is. I can’t support the consequences of his actions, but the story of Attack on Titan is very much about the ugliness of humanity, and in many ways, Eren exhibits some of its worst qualities. However, much like how there are glimmers of hope that flicker in and out amid despair, he casts a light on others and gives them power, however great or small, to do more—even as he himself is subsumed by darkness. Ultimately, he ends up being a unique protagonist turned antagonist, a child given far too much responsibility and burden, a cautionary tale of why you don’t have to automatically cheer for someone just because they’re the main hero, and a figure remarkably complex because of his profound limitations.

Hololive and the Year of Amazing Dancers

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I once described La+ Darknesss as having a level of skill and confidence in dancing nearly unmatched all of Hololive. That was back in March, shortly before 4th fes (the latest of the annual live concert events), and at the time, I left a caveat that there were actually a number of members who had yet to debut in 3D, and things might change.

Well, things have changed.

At this point, every girl in Hololive outside of the most recent debuts have gotten full 3D models, and many have shown themselves to be noticeably amazing physical performers. Among these talents, there are three that stand out to me in particular.

Hakos Baelz of Hololive Promise.

Vestia Zeta of Indonesia Gen 3.

And Vestia’s genmate Kobo Kanaeru. 

I have zero technical or artistic knowledge of dancing (outside of reading Wandance!), so my praise of them is mostly based on vibes. From that limited perspective, I get the sense that they move better than the vast majority of their fellow Holomembers. On top of that, they all seem to approach dance in different ways compared to one another, to the extent that I start to feel like their personalities and quirks come through in their respective performances. 

To me, Bae moves as if her entire body from head to toe is equally super-charged, Zeta from the ground up (with her legs being a big focus), and Kobo like she’s acting just as much as she’s dancing. La+, in comparison, seems to dance from the core and then have her energy radiates outwards into the rest of her body. I don’t know if this is even accurate or makes sense, but I start to wonder if I might be able to recognize each of them through their dancing even if they shared the same 3D model. Either that, or I’m just overestimating myself.

We might be entering a new Renaissance period of VTuber dancing. The recently announced 5th fes, Hololive Island, is likely to feature all of them and be an incredible showcase. On top of that, an upcoming Riot Games event in Japan is going to have a performance by Murasaki Shion and three of the names I’ve mentioned above: La+, Bae, and Kobo. And with ReGLOSS’s Todoroki Hajime making dance a major part of her character, I can see things only getting more exciting in the near future.

Happiness vs. Greatness: Hasegawa Kokoro in Smile Down the Runway

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Smile Down the Runway is a manga and anime series about pursuing dreams that are supposedly impossible. Whether it’s an aspiring fashion model whose short stature is seen as too high a hurdle to reach the upper echelons of the industry, or a hobbyist clothing maker up against the biggest names in the business, part of the appeal is seeing them strive against the odds and change how the world sees them. Outside of the main characters, though, there’s another whose plight intrigues me, as it speaks to the classic divide of talent vs. hard work, but not in the typical way: Hasegawa Kokoro is a generational talent in the modeling world whose true passion actually lies in fashion design.

The character of Kokoro presents a number of interesting problems in terms of how we view whether a person’s endeavors are worthwhile. Many people in the world can only reach a decent level of competence in whatever field they work in, while Kokoro just naturally excels at her job. If she’d be a top 1% model but only a top 20% designer at best, going with the latter might be seen as a sheer waste of talent. And with a natural height and an unmistakable aura that make her the envy of her peers, wanting to instead pursue a different path that she enjoys more can come across as a luxury few would ever have the opportunity to utilize. It can sound like the plight of the privileged.

However, it all leads to the question of what makes a person happy, and how much we value that feeling. It’s common advice that if a job is making you miserable, you should quit if you can afford to, or at least look for opportunities to begin breaking away from whatever hellscape you’re chained to. But what if you find your current job—one you excel in—to be pretty okay? Is it worth your while to transition to a field where you’d potentially be an also-ran? Do we value immense skill so much that small sacrifices of personal contentment are okay? We presume that being at the summit is the ultimate satisfaction, but Kokoro and people like her might obtain bliss just climbing a path they’ve found rather than one bestowed upon them. 

In this sense, Kokoro reminds me of Hololive Virtual Youtuber Calliope Mori, who has spent the past year and change taking herself in different directions that challenge the initial image she presented as she rose to prominence. There are differences—Calli continues to embrace her initial persona for the most part—but the decision has brought on supporters and detractors alike for all the reasons detailed above. 

When it comes to the notion of talent vs. hard work, stories like the ones found in manga often focus on one area. How does the genius compare to the grinder? But to have both in the same character—as is the case with Kokoro—adds wrinkles to the juxtaposition that make me think about what people, both individually and as a whole, see as important to a good life.

When Am I?: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for November 2023

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We’re at November already?! I really can’t believe it’s this close to the end of the year when the summer months felt like forever. New York Comic Con is in the rear-view mirror, Anime NYC is up ahead, and I’m still struggling to keep up with the anime that’s out this season—including the long-anticipated Pluto (aka one of the best manga ever).

Due to a combination of a busy schedule and my silly brain, I’ve actually been struggling more than usual to write about anime and manga. I can’t seem to read manga fast enough to satisfactorily write about series I’ve been reading, but maybe I should just deal with it and write even after reading just a single volume.

It might also be because I’ve been diversifying my media choices (and watching a bunch of VTubers), but I feel it important to keep Ogiue Maniax as primarily an anime and manga blog.

Thanks so much to my Patreon subscribers for November:

General:

Ko Ransom

Diogo Prado

Alex

Dsy

Sue Hopkins fans:

Serxeid

Hato Kenjirou fans:

Elizabeth

Yajima Mirei fans:

Machi-Kurada

Blog highlights from October:

Reminiscing About Right Stuf in Its Final Days

Farewell to the best online anime and manga shop ever.

New Frontiers with Old Lessons: Hololive Advent and ReGLOSS

Some thoughts on the recent Hololive groups that have debuted.

The Emergency Heteronormative Character

Thinking about a longstanding trend in the world of anime and manga.

Kio Shimoku

More Kio playing Elden Ring.

I also dedicated a post to his Star Wars parody!

Closing

I am actually extremely excited to watch Pluto. Even if you know nothing about it, it’ll probably be worth checking out.

Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights October 2023

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Not much to speak of this month, but I did post this right before Halloween, so there might be something interesting in the next few days (that I’ll be posting in November).

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1708401814427869231

High-quality version of the color art from Chapter 26.

Kio responds to my tweet about the Genshiken pop-up store merch I procured.

Kio rewatched Girls und Panzer: das Finale Part 3 in anticipation for Part 4.

Before seeing Part 4, Kio was looking forward to seeing how the first-year team would do. Now that he’s seen it, he seems satisfied.

Kio defeated a Gargoyle outside the Bestial Sanctum in Elden Ring, and also is 33% through the story after beating Radahn. At first, he thought it’d be too strong, but managed to pull it off using the Watchdog’s Staff.

He had a tough time with Crucible Knights, but thinks they have cute tails.

Kio wonders if he can play The Last Guardian on PS5, and is informed that the PS4 version should be compatible. 

Kio defeated Astel and moved on to Liurnia.

He wants to beat everything, DLC included, but doesn’t know if he’ll be able to.

Kio wanted to re-read the vale tudo arc of the karate manga Shura no Mon (Asura’s Gate), which made him want to re-read the Showa arc of the similarly named but unrelated manga Shura no Toki (Time of Asura).

When asked if his next manga’s going to be fighting-based, Kio denies it.

Kio saw the movie Undercurrent, and thought it was a really good adaptation of the original.

Kio plans to watch the “Jungle Revenge” special for How Do You Like Wednesdays, but only got four hours of sleep, and is thinking he might doze off partway. Seems like this special is a follow-up to a DVD that was released six years ago.

In Elden Ring, Kio got a Dark Moon Greatsword.

A super-spicy curry for lunch followed with some Häagen Dazs.

Kio drew 100 pages of his ero manga, but still doesn’t feel that the end is in sight. He’s dumbfounded that he drew what he has, though.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1716645177186730450

Watching an “intense” turtle race on iZoo. Kio mentiones that there are even crashes.

Kio was having some trouble starting Twitter on his PC, but it was just because Microsoft Edge updating broke the start menu shortcut.

https://twitter.com/kioshimoku1/status/1718497276929470513

High-quality version of the cover to Genshiken Volume 7.

Read Chapter 1 of Kio Shimoku’s Genderbending Sci-Fi Parody, Sister Wars

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Kio Shimoku, author of Genshiken, is a fan of Star Wars. He even contributed to a Star Wars art anthology. Recently, he finished the first chapter of a genderbending fan parody called Sister Wars, which is based on Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Kio has the full chapter up on Pixiv.

The story of the creation of Sister Wars is like a low simmer. Some years ago, Kio quietly participated as a vendor at a Comic Market, where he sold copies of his rough manuscript for Sister Wars. This was relatively unknown, until he did an interview with Nijisanji VTuber Luis Cammy and briefly discussed its creation. Later, he mentioned it in passing in the above-mentioned anthology.

But then, in 2023, Kio announced that he would begin the process of actually bringing Sister Wars to life, and started posting full-color pages to Twitter.

It’s uncertain if or when he’ll get around to completing it, but I’m thankful that Kio is continuing to create.

The Emergency Heteronormative Character

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There is an archetype in anime and manga that I’ve begun calling the “Emergency Heteronormative Character.” 

In the beginning, many manga creators do not know where their comics will end up. Rose of Versailles was supposed to focus a lot more on Marie Antoinette than Oscar. Kinnikuman famously began as a superhero parody before it turned into a full-on wrestling manga—and all because its authors, Yudetamago, really got into the latter. A single storyline in Yu-Gi-Oh! about a trading card game permanently altered its entire trajectory. I think the same thing happens with series where character relationships are important.

Some love triangles know exactly who the end girl will be, whereas others might not arrive at an answer immediately (or ever). But I have also seen series where a particular character, usually a minor one, seems to exist just in case, as if above them is a message that reads “Break Glass if Heternormative Romance is Necessary.” 

I have never read Slam Dunk, but I’ve heard about Akagi Haruko: the female love interest of the protagonist, Sakuragi Hanamichi. She is a fairly important character at the start (being the one to spark Hanamichi’s entry into basketball), and she’s even the focus of the anime’s extremely beloved first ending sequence. But over time, she recedes into the distance because the dynamics between the players themselves are what really draw people in. 

The appeal of shounen sports series for shippers plays right into this pattern. Whether it’s Prince of Tennis or Yowamushi Pedal, there often seems to be a girl character who is like an anchor on the port of heteronormativity, allowing a manga creator to double back if need be. Even Saki has some of this energy in the earliest volumes. The character of Koutarou began as the sole male member of the mahjong club, acting as a potential male audience stand-in to witness the girls in their nonchalantly risque glory.

BL and yuri potential often drive a good deal of the relationship interest in series like the ones mentioned. However, the Emergency Heteronormative Character can even exist in series that are pretty heterosexual too. In Rokudo’s Bad Girls, you have Tsuyukusa Mizue, the only non-delinquent girl in the series. She’s meek and cute, and always worried about how the main character Rokudo seems to be turning to the dark side. And while the anime is on an accelerated timeline, the early part of the manga makes it pretty clear that she could have been Rokudo’s “saving grace” if the series had gone a little differently.

Emergency Heteronormative Characters aren’t automatically bland, and they can be fun and charming in their own right. That said, they often feel like the product of an author hedging their bets, and they typically shine less brightly because they are simply not meant to be in the spotlight as much. I also have to wonder if these characters exist on some level for in case a title needs a quick romantic conclusion should things need to wrap up quickly. However, as we further leave the era where nice and neat heterosexual relationships are seen as necessary, maybe the archetype will have to evolve into something else entirely.

My Personal Challenge: Deciding What Language to Work On

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Whether by circumstance or choice, I’ve had the benefit of knowing, learning, and at the very least being exposed to multiple languages. I’m native in one, grew up with a second, and work extensively with a third (Japanese). I love learning about languages. However, as I try to improve my understanding, I keep running into a couple of issues where I feel that I probably know the answers but am afraid to fully open my eyes.

First, what language(s) should I be focusing on? One connects me to my background and culture. Another helps me professionally. And then there are a few others I’ve been exposed to over the years that I’d like to at least get a grasp on.

Second, if I want to get to a point of fluency in a language, what do I need to do? For that matter, what kind of fluency am I looking for?

From my having studied Japanese, I’m aware that there is a point at which a language will just click into place. I have vivid memories of having spent time there after taking classes back home, and one day just being able to understand so much more, as if my brain finally “got it.” So the best solution to start with is probably to stick with one language until it entrenches itself in my mind, because outside of head trauma, you can’t ever fully lose it.

I also know this because my second language is something where I have an intrinsic connection. My parents have spoken it all my life, though I haven’t always reciprocated in kind. I’ve spent much of my life in a situation where I can often understand what is being said to me but can’t always find the words on command, and my reading ability is subpar at best. When it comes to really complex topics or idioms, I am out of my depth. Even so, I can tell that it’s in settled deep in there. My specific dilemma here is whether I should be satisfied with only that much.

So the specific goal depends on the language because I have different degrees of familiarity with each. When it comes to Japanese, I would seek a greater mastery so that I won’t get caught off guard by unusual words or phrases, be they extremely archaic or all too modern. For my parents’ tongue, I’d like both literacy and enough of an expanded vocabulary so as to not sound like a child even well into my adulthood. And as for other options, I’d really just like to be able to read comics in a target language so I can appreciate them more.

The hard pill for me to swallow is that the best thing to do, almost without a doubt, is to concentrate heavily on one so that the neural connections can form. Be as active as possible about it too, consuming all the media I can, and maybe even seek out language partners or take classes. From there, once I feel comfortable with one, I can maybe consider trying another. 

However, there are some barriers, mostly having to do with time and mentality. While I’m very fond of language learning, it’s not my only hobby or even my primary one (see: this anime and manga blog). Also, whenever I stray away from a language, I end up feeling guilty about neglecting it—even if it’s to work on another one! Despite knowing full well that learning new languages is hard, I feel stuck in limbo, worried that I’m simultaneously spending too much and too little time and effort. If I can overcome that block, I can probably make greater strides instead of moving forward bit by bit.

My intent is not to become a polyglot. I don’t have a goal of wowing my friends with all the languages I can possibly speak. If I were to achieve such skill, I’d surely be happy about it, but it’d be just one more tool I could utilize to explore the world and its stories better than ever. Now, if only I could make sense of my jumbled thoughts.

Why It’s So Hard for Shounen Battle Manga to End on a High Note

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The author of One Piece, Oda Eiichiro, once stated that he always wanted to make a manga series where the ending is the most exciting part. Right now, it looks like his flagship series could very well be heading in that direction. However, when I thought about whether this is possible, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that the graveyard of shounen manga is strewn with series that failed to hit that goal—if they even had a chance at all.

So many shounen manga, particularly popular battle manga, usually peak well before the end. While taste is subjective, I think it’s a common opinion across various titles. In Kinnikuman, the tournament to determine the king of Planet Kinniku is actually pretty good, but it kind of pales compared to the Akuma Daishogun arc. Fist of the North Star peters out after Kenshiro’s climactic clash with Raoh. Naruto and Bleach have many possibilities as to the best arc, but it’s definitely not their finales. L in Death Note is remembered far more fondly than other rivals. Even with Oda’s beloved Dragon Ball, Majin Buu is not usually the villain people would regard as the best or most memorable.

That’s not to say it’s impossible. Two answers I received when I asked on Twitter were anything by Fujita Kazuhiro (Ushio & Tora, Karakuri Circus) and Yu-Gi-Oh! Funnily enough, these two examples also came up in a private conversation I had on the same subject. Nevertheless, the odds are not in One Piece’s favor.

The reason for this hurdle is pretty simple, I think: Most successful shounen series end up getting somewhat zombified, as they’re expected to keep going for as long as they’re popular in the hopes of bringing in more readers. No matter how creative manga authors might be, or how well they can plan, it just gets increasingly difficult to run on all cylinders. On top of that, even if an author has a brilliant ending in mind, they might still get canceled early, or their attempts to force a finale are ignored. Toriyama, for example, clearly tried to finish Dragon Ball in the Freeza and then the Cell arcs, only for the manga to keep going.

One big X-Factor is that Oda is on another level in terms of long-term planning. His signature series is basically an armory full of Chekhov’s guns situated next to a clothing store dedicated to alternating shoe drops. If anyone can pull it off, it’s surely him, but when your manga has been going on for almost 30 years (!!!), that is a whole lot of anticipation to live up to. Good luck, man.

So…Can you think of any shounen battle manga that was at its best and most exciting by the end?