Category Archives: anime

Hey Ladies, Check Me Out I’m the Pitcher

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So ladies who read Ogiue Maniax, I have a question for you: Has the One Outs opening worked on any of you or any girls you know?

So we have this show whose full title is One Outs – Nobody wins, but I! It is, to sum it up, “Akagi + Baseball.” And it’s a rad show full of tests of will and strategy with an indomitable central character. It’s the kind of show made for guys.

But try to convince someone to watch the show based on the opening, and some people, generally the kind that are weak to the girlier aspects of anime, are likely to shy away. A similar thing happens with Ouran High School Host Club.

Clearly the opening to One Outs – Nobody wins, but I! (it entertains me to use the full title) is some kind of girl or fujoshi eye candy designed to draw them into watching a show they might normally avoid.

So once again I ask, any girls who’ve been taken in by Tokuchi Toua’s smooth abs and beady eyes?

Dragon Ball Kai and the “Sacred Original”

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Dragon Ball Kai, if you haven’t heard, is the newly redone, newly voiced, high-definition re-airing of the Dragon Ball Z anime starting April 5, 2009. And this time, according to Toei, they’re going to cut out the filler to make it more like the original manga.

There’s a certain level of importance placed on the “original” in anime, manga, and of course art and entertainment in general. Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” discussed the changes mass production could influence upon art and the concept and authenticity of an “original.”Star Wars is already a massed-produced work, but fans cry foul whenever George Lucas decides to revise the original trilogy, whether it’s deciding who shot who first, who appears in the sky as a ghost, or whether the Death Star should meet its end with many tiny explosions or one giant shock wave. Fans will argue that the plastic, rubbery look and the decisions made then, seen perhaps as weaknesses by some, are actually strengths of the movie. Originals, for better or worse, are often considered to be “sacred.” But what does one consider the “original?”

I bet a lot of people are fine with editing down Dragon Ball Z to remove a lot of the filler which bogged down the pacing of the series, and I am among them. In one sense, it is not the “original” because there’s a manga to base it on, a vision of what should have been. But what if Dragon Ball Kai was not a revision of Dragon Ball Z but the entire original manga retraced and made to look better than ever with “unnecessary filler” cut out? We know that Toriyama originally wanted to end the series at multiple junctures: the defeat of Piccolo, Jr. at the Tenkaichi Budokai; the death of Freeza; the death of Cell. Is the original his intended plan which never was carried out due to Shounen Jump editors wanting to keep making money hand over fist? If so, then surely the manga would have a huge chunk of its content cut out.

Now I’m not arguing against the concept of Dragon Ball Kai and its desire to tighten up the anime and remove the excess. I’ve established myself as being in support of the idea. However, when you sit down and try to consider what the “original” could be, it opens up a whole can of worms.

Today’s homework assignment is that I want you to think over the following two things. First, is the idea that the original creator(s) may not necessarily know what’s best for his own story, and that external factors which seem like limitations may sometimes produce better results (see First Gundam). Second, is taking the concept of “cutting out the boring and unncessary” parts and comparing it to dubbing practices of the 80s and 90s.

Have fun, though. That’s what’s most important.

Emotional Investment: An Introspective Un-Rant

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Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. Maybe from even your own mouth.

“Yeah the show seemed like it was well done, but I didn’t feel emotionally invested in it.”

Emotional investment, by nature of the words used in it, should be and is always a very personal thing, and yet the entertainment we read is supposed to do this for not just one person but many people.

This isn’t a topic that is terribly complex, the idea that people will enjoy shows that resonate with them better, but it always feels like such a dangerous thing to say that a show lacks that emotional connection. Is it your fault? Is it the fault of the show? Is it a fault at all? If not, how can any production compensate for something like this? Is this why in the end, art is art and science is science, and while there’s plenty of overlap some things are “just because?”

And then you have the other side, where people feel emotionally invested in a story. The setting, the characters, something about this piece of fiction you’re looking at strikes a chord deep down inside of you and you wonder how anyone could not like it. So when that story is attacked or trivialized by another, it feels like a personal slight, and saying that a show was unable to pull you in emotionally can sometimes sound like the ultimate insult to a show even if it isn’t meant to be.

There’s no real conclusion to this, no grand point I’m trying to make, I’m just using this post to collect my thoughts and record them as they are.

Mazin is Go

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2ch rumors abounded a while back that Imagawa Yasuhiro, famous for his work on the Giant Robo OVA, was being taken off of the upcoming Mazinger anime. It’s now been proven otherwise, but with the new announcement also comes a new title for this update to Nagai Go’s most famous giant robot: Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen or True Mazinger Impact!! Z-Arc. The “Shin” by the way stands for “True,” so like the Shin Getter in Armageddon and not the Shin as in New Getter.

Now, prior to this announcement, we all thought that the new Mazinger anime was gonna be based on Z-Mazinger, i.e. Mazinger with a Greek mythological influence, and it was touted as such. And even before then, there were interviews with Nagai where he talked about how he wanted to finish off the Mazinger saga he never could back in the 70s due to various difficulties. And now we have what looks to be a total original Mazinger Z remake. What a crazy journey for this show!

But then you notice that last crucial part of the title, “Z-Hen.” Hen means volume or compilation, I translated it as (story) arc, so I think the potential implication is that after these 26 episodes are up, we might get a 26-episode Great Mazinger series, and then possibly more and it actually might finally close out the Mazingers forever. Or until the next remake.

Also, Kabuto Kouji has a new voice actor. Much as I wish the great Ishimaru Hiroya to take the title role again, I’m fine with getting newer blood as well.


The Otaku Diaries: Helping Otaku Learn About Themselves

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Hisui and Narutaki over at the Reverse Thieves have an interesting project going, which they’ve called the Otaku Diaries. They basically want you, John Q. Otaku, to fill out their anonymous survey so that we can learn things about otaku beyond the trappings of anime and fandom. And you know me, I’m always a fan of these sorts of projects. Hisui and Narutaki introduce their own project better than I could, so I’ll let them do the rest of the talking.

We at Reverse Thieves are looking to do something a little different.

We are proposing a project called the Otaku Diaries. We are looking for people who consider themselves anime fans to participate in an anonymous survey. It will be profiling the lives, loves, and losses of these individuals and how their hobby has related to shaping them. We will also be looking for patterns as well as differences in the cases. We are looking for diverse people who are not afraid to get personal, questions will include topics like prior relationships, profession, and sexuality.

This survey is about a story, not about numbers.

If you are interested here is how it is going to work. Send us an email at otakudiary@gmail.com with a brief description of yourself include your age, sex, and location. No names need be exchanged and your anonymity will be protected, create a separate e-mail account just for this survey if you wish. If you are selected to participate, you will be given a case # to which all your answers will be attributed. After all the data is collected we will be doing several blog posts about the results.

We hope to start at the end of February, depending on the number of responses.

Thanks!

I’ve already filled out and sent in my survey! And you want to be cool like me, right?

Fighting Lena Sayers is Like Fighting Five Anime Characters at Once: My-Otome 0 ~S.ifr~ OVA 3

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Yes, she’s still Lena Sayers of course, and this time packing the Blue Sky Sapphire.


But she’s also Sänger Zonvolt.


And Hurricane Polymar.


And Asuka Eiji (Pilot of the SPT Layzner)


And even Kinnikuman!

And I haven’t even shown you all of the fighting that goes on in this episode.

Yes, Plot Stuff happens in the 3rd OVA of My-Otome 0 ~S.ifr~, aka the Lena Sayers Power Hour, and it’s all well and good, but the entire episode is just one continuous fight scene after another. If it’s not Lena fighting robots, it’s someone else fighting robots. If it’s not ships exploding it’s meteors getting rocked. In that regard, the episode really delivers, and just like the previous two OVAs you can really tell that a lot of care was put into it, especially in regards to lovingly rendered nipples and split kicks. Hey, that’s Otome for you. Probably the most significant thing that you find out in the third episode is that Lena is perhaps a little too powerful for her own good, and also that Shiro is further HEAVILY IMPLIED to be Lena’s future husband and father of her child. And who can blame him? If Lena Sayers is even remotely smitten with you, you GRAB THAT OPPORTUNITY AND NEVER LET GO.

Overall, it’s been a fun OVA series and everything I expected from a HiME series at this point, except the ending is incredibly open-ended… only it isn’t because I already know Lena Sayers’ ultimate fate. For some, cute girls fighting is not enough to carry a show, for others that’s all they really want or need. In the end, My-Otome 0 ~S.ifr~ is very well-executed Girls Fighting, and I mean it. You won’t see too many better sci-fi/fantasy mega fights. Take out of that what you will.

Maybe a Ninja

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I Do Not Envy the Staff of Before Green Gables

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Before Green Gables, known also by its Japanese title Konnichiwa Anne, is a prequel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original Anne of Green Gables (Akage no Anne) anime. It’s even being done by the same production company that did the original. Obviously with the show a month or two away by this point I have no way to actually judge it, but what I can say is that its predecessor is a tough act to live up to.

If you look at the staff for the original Anne of Green Gables anime, you’ll perhaps see some familiar names, and none more familiar than “Miyazaki Hayao” and “Takahata Isao.” That’s right, this anime was made by the team that would go on to form Studio Ghibli. Sure it was back when they were younger and less experienced, but I really do not envy the current staff.

Perhaps they can benefit from the fact that it’s a 30th anniversary and many people today would be too young to remember the original. In any case, I feel like no matter how the show ends up I want to do my best to not constantly compare the two works. You know, despite this entire post being all about the comparison.

Karaoke is the Thinking Man’s Sport

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Did some serious hardcore karaoke yesterday with some compatriots, among them the Ninja Consultants, Sub, and Dave (but not Joel). It was a totally smashing (without being smashed) good time, and I’ve learned and relearned quite a few lessons on karaoke combined with my joining them briefly on Saturday at New York Comic Con.

-Alcohol while Karaoke-ing is fine but it does nothing to help you soothe your throat. After an intense, manly song, water or coke with lemon are good bets.

-I cannot sing Japanese rap without knowing the lyrics well in advance. Sorry, m.o.v.e., but I won’t be shouting THE DOG FIGHT any time soon.

-It’s all about the pacing. Can’t have every song be an intense giant robot super song or else you’ll wear yourself out early. I personally threw in a bunch of girly songs like the Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san opening and the Attack No. 1 opening.

-It is very possible to do an all-Lucky Star karaoke ending themes extravaganza.

-While knowing the song is important, you don’t have to KNOW the song. There were times when I thought I wouldn’t know a song went but as it was going I was able to find my place.

-Crystal King and JAM Project make everything a lot better. Or a lot worse, depending. See the part above about preserving your throat.

-Japanese karaoke is excellent for testing reading comprehension.

-For those who want to sing anime songs but can’t sing in Japanese, keep in mind there are plenty of mostly English anime openings.

-Sing whatever the hell you want but also be kind to those around you. Karaoke in a group is a team effort.

And Then Emperor Palpatine Fell Into an Explanation

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The other day I went to see the movie Fanboys, about a group of Star Wars fan one year before the release of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. I won’t say much about the movie itself except that I thought it was hilarious, but it reminded me that there’s a lot of Star Wars “lore” out there. I had borrowed a Star Wars character guide from a friend long ago, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, so I decided to hop online and take a look at the compiled information on the universe that is Star Wars. Upon reading I began to feel this sense of dread.

One of the very important lessons then Western Art took from Eastern Art was the concept of negative space, that leaving spaces blank can be just as effective a tool as filling in every detail. Essentially, it means less can be more. When applied to storytelling, it means that not every detail has to be explained and that in many cases the more explanation that arises the less effective the storytelling becomes. This is what I saw with the information on the  Star Wars Universe. I saw unnecessary explanation after unnecessary explanation, as if making sense of the world and filling in the gaps is far more important than maintaining the feel of the story and characters.

The idea of fans filling in the gaps is not something that’s necessarily bad. In fact many times I consider it to be a good thing as I feel it’s a very important foundation of fandom, whether it’s imagining stories in between major events, inventing new characters, or even fleshing out one-dimensional characters. One can argue that having these complex technical explanations is one type of fan’s way of exploring the universe of the story, but once it reaches a point where it becomes some kind of hybrid canon/fanon that influences or restructures the original story, I can’t help but feel that it is done at the detriment of core vital elements of a story. Obi-Wan and Yoda learned how to maintain their identity in the Force. Why does this need an explanation? Obi-Wan is a magical old man, and Yoda is an even more magical and even older man. There, that’s your explanation.

I think one of the many reasons why I like anime so much is that it seems to understand this idea of effectively using the gaps in storytelling. It’s not just about fueling imagination so that we the viewer may fill in the blanks, but using that sense of ambiguity to excite and drive us forward. Gurren-Lagann is an excellent example, because the characters utilize this vague, ill-defined power to achieve victory after victory. They are literally powered by a lack of common sense that keeps them from questioning if anything they’re doing is truly possible. “Do the impossible, see the invisible,” as the saying goes. One does not need to explain what doing the impossible entails or how it works other than that it was driven by the hero’s desire and the support of his friends.

A more apt comparison might be Star Wars and Gundam especially given the way they’ve influenced each other, but for all of the detailed explanations and added material that has been placed into the Gundam Universe, I feel that Gundam has handled it far better than Star Wars. What even its most hardcore fans ultimately enjoy appears to be more the story and the characters and the way great tales are told, rather than little details.

Wasn’t Star Wars once in its own in a way similar to Gurren-Lagann? There was the Force as a vaguely defined aspect of the universe with vaguely defined skill sets available to its users. What’s the difference between a normal man and a Jedi? That one is a Jedi and one is a man.