Category Archives: anime

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.

What to Do Against the Superior Race?

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Anime and manga that focus on competition often have a far-away goal for their protagonists, and in many cases that final obstacle is something or someone foreign to Japan. In American football, it’s African-Americans. In Go it’s Koreans. And in multiple instances of boxing, it’s  guys from Latin American countries.

Takamura in Ippo and Yamato Takeru in Eyeshield 21 are both said to be unusually large for Japanese men, as if to use the exception to make the rule. According to Hikaru no Go, Go is treated much more seriously in Korea than Japan. Like in the case of Starcraft, Korea apparently has a more robust infrastructure which allows it to create superior players. While not always strictly a matter of genetics, these masters are often portrayed as having some sort of amazing inherent advantage over their Japanese counterparts. The Japanese characters often have to either realize their disadvantage or use something inherently “Japanese” in them to try and make up for the skill gap, though keep in mind again that Japanese-ness is usually not genetic but rather a learned trait from growing up in Japanese society. At times the Japanese X-Factor will be family, friends, perseverence, hard work, all things that probably anyone Japanese or otherwise can relate to, though they seem to have a strong place in Asian cultures in general.

Rooting for the underdog is something that’s been spoken about by countless people since long before any of us were born, and I think that certainly plays a factor, but I get the feeling that this specific method of portrayal of an underdog while not strictly Japanese is also something that is not surprisingly a product of Japanese entertainment, especially Japanese entertainment geared towards boys. While I do not think Japan as a society enjoys being the victim, would it be a stretch to say that Japan has wanted these stories since Commodore Perry arrived and perhaps even before?

CHU RU YA!!!! スモークでチーズが落ちてくる～ん

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Japanese meme superstar Churuya-san’s gotten her own official anime, and Haruhi-chan is a super deformed series designed to poke at the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise despite the fact that Haruhi is already about poking fun of itself.

The best part of course is that both Nyoron Churuya-san and Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu are on Youtube, translated, on Kadokawa’s own page. So this is legit, guys. Totally on the up-and-up. And while neither are really the pinnacle of anime, it’s good to know that they’re looking out for us. You know, after trolling Haruhi fans everywhere and driving them into a mad rage swearing off the Haruhi franchise forever.

If you’ve seen the Churuya comics, there’s nothing really new for you except you get to hear the actual voice actors play their 4-koma counterparts. Asahina Mikuru here has shades of her Gotouza voice, and it is excellent if very brief.

Update: It seems that after a period of time the episodes go down so I’ve unlinked the videos and added a link to the Youtube channel itself.

Hots Dogs

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Perhaps she is the main character.

Why I Like Ogiue, Part 5: Join Me

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The Megatokyo Forums are having some kind of Saimoe-esque Character Battle right now, and I was informed of Ogiue’s participation, and implored to stick up for her as that’s a common thing in these competitions. Below is the post I wrote. A lot of the ideas have been explored by previous Why I Like Ogiue segments, but this was written for the uninformed.

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I have been awoken from my SLUMBER, called upon by higher powers called duty and passion, to pass on to you my love for one Ogiue Chika, Shiiou University undergraduate and member of the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture.

Ogiue is a very unique character in anime and manga, and it comes from a realistic personality that’s almost tangible. You can practically hold her personality in your arms, and what you will find is a multi-layered cake filled with the most bittersweet cream.

Ogiue is a self-loathing fujoshi whose desire to fit in is off-set by her secret love of yaoi. So strong is her perversion towards boys’ love that she is able to take a simple thought and construct the most erotic homosexual fantasies possible. It is this conflicted personality which bleeds into Ogiue’s every action and word. She tries to be polite, but comes off as blunt, tries to be innocent but you can hear the guilt in her every syllable. Still, deep down she is the most genuine otaku you will ever see.

It is only after she joins the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture, a club which already houses the misfits of the world of misfits, that she begins to open up. It’s not an easy process, and there are many trials along the way, but in time she begins to accept herself as an otaku. Anyone who has ever had issues with being an otaku should look to Ogiue and understand her message: You can’t stop what you like.

Ogiue is tsundere, but this is not like any tsundere you’ve ever seen. She is every spectrum of tsundere, both traditional and modern. Her feelings gradually change over time, from that of terse rebellion to genuine love, but along the way she still maintains that hint of shame which keeps her from openly talking about herself and her desires except in the most private of moments. There are many tsundere in this world, but Ogiue is one of the few you can call a Complete Tsundere. Not complete as in it’s the only part of her personality, but that her tsundere has so many gradations you cannot call it simply tsun or dere.

That is Ogiue. That is the girl to whom I’ve devoted my fandom. Join me.