Category Archives: anime

An anime industry in a terrible economy

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As disposable income decreases for anime fans across the country, it becomes increasingly tempting to resort to alternative, less legitimate methods of obtaining our fix. This hurts an industry which is trying its best to stay alive in an increasingly volatile environment, but ultimately a person with no money to spend on entertainment will choose free entertainment over no entertainment. It’s an absurd level of Catch-22, with both and neither side to blame.

Anime companies want to take as much of our money as possible, and it’s only fair that they do so. I may often say that “I want to support the shows that I like,” but I also know that in the end, no matter how friendly the higher-ups and the employees are, a business is a business. Anime companies want to maximize their profits, but we fans have limits on how much money we’re willing to spend, especially as of late. The issue then becomes finding an amount that’s agreeable to both sides.

I know this sounds incredibly obvious, but we’ve seen at least one company (Bandai Visual) eat dirt because it didn’t even consider compromise.

Let’s Up Our Japanese Reading Comprehension

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So with the JLPT getting too close for comfort, I realized that I need to get used to reading huge blocks of Japanese text quickly. It’s something I was fairly decent at before, but lack of practice has hurt me. At the same time, I want to learn more about anime and manga.

Solution: Reading Japanese wikipedia entries and Japanese online newspaper entries about anime!

Already I’ve learned that Sakigake!! Otokojuku actually goes from a gag manga to actually being serious with tournaments and what-not, and that its popularity increased upon becoming serious.

Here comes old-fashioned Japanese test. All tests are stupid!

So let’s take a script, and then build a table out of it

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Today I realized just how much bad writing can hurt an animation. When a script is late, or poor in quality, or both, as in the case of SEED Destiny, it seems to impact the entire production. There’s this disheartening feeling that no matter how much it’s worked on afterwards, no matter how much wax is applied, its fundamental flaws will still be there. And sure, greatness might be achievable, but to start off on the wrong foot like that just makes things all the more difficult.

I wouldn’t say that writing is more important than art in animation, but it’s a simple fact that it’s easier to animate based on a script than to write a script based on an animation.

Also keep in mind that when I say poor writing, I don’t mean using too many cliches or bad use of vocabulary, though those can hurt. The kind of poor writing I’m talking about is more along the lines of not understanding the very characters you’re writing. Again, like Seed DESTINY.

Good Slow Power Creep

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Hajime no Ippo is getting a new anime this winter. Eyeshield 21 just finished what one might call its “Part 1.” Both have gone on for many chapters, and both are excellent examples of how to properly show the progress in skill of their characters. There are many reasons why I call this Good Slow Power Creep, and much of it has to do with making the increasing skill levels feel as natural as possible.

In both Hajime no Ippo and Eyeshield 21, the natural progression of their main characters’ abilities in their respective endeavors are tied to the natural progress of the art by their creators. Both start off weak and dumpy-looking, visually the art styles are decent but could stand for major improvement. As the series have progressed over the years, both Sena and Ippo begin to look better and better, gaining maturity and confidence just as the artists have as well. As the artists’ techniques become more sophisticated, Sena and Ippo make leaps and bounds over their former selves. It’s as if the effort of these heroes is a direct result of the effort put forth by their creators.

The best thing about the gradual and almost-unnoticeable power creep is that neither series feels like it’s jumped any sharks. Quite the opposite, they feel like they’ve only just begun. If ever either series begins to falter, I think it’ll be evident in how (un)natural the skill progression will feel.

Can the Dirty Wash Their Hands?

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Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the most popular female characters ever. With such popularity, it’s very easy to look at Sakura and assume that she’s just a manufactured collection of moe features, or that she’s purposely designed to appeal to pedophiles, to which she is no doubt a popular character. Here is where I tend to argue that people who claim this to be the case are seeing the fruit and not the root. Sakura was not forged in the fires of Moedor but is rather an innocent character so well-conceived by her creators that people could not help but like her. This is what i believe.

But then consider the creators of Cardcaptor Sakura, the all-female manga duo CLAMP. CLAMP is no stranger to the world of otaku. They love manga and anime themselves. They miss deadlines because they played too many video games. Most importantly, prior to their big break they were doujinshi artists drawing things like Saint Seiya.

Kamichu! is the story of a junior high school girl who finds out that she is a god. It’s a sweet kind of slice-of-life story. The creator of Kamichu! is Naruco Hanaharu, artist of many, many pornographic comics.

The question  I ask here is, can a character truly be innocent if their creator has publishing material under their belt that is anything but? Is extensive experience on the adult side of manga a detriment to one’s ability to produce works of innocence, and if so is the damage too much?

I personally believe that it is possible to wash your hands clean and have work that is separate enough that they do not hold sway over each other if the creator so chooses. However, I know that some would disagree with me, and I have little confidence that I’ll be able to just outright convince people otherwise, especially if it’s a strong belief. What I will say is that in comics in general, there’s a lot of proof of comic artists around the world who have done children’s comics and then some “extra” work on the side. Are they all condemned as well?

That said, I do draw the line at a certain point, which is when you draw smut of your own characters who are supposed to be innocent. So sorry, Gunslinger Girl, you have author-drawn doujinshi of the non-wholesome variety. You do not pass this test.

The Fujoshi Files 7: Asano Yukina

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Name:Asano, Yukina (浅野 ゆきな)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Midori Days

Information:
Asano Yukina is a soft-spoken girl who has been drawing manga since she was little. As a child, she had formed a friendship with one Sawamura Seiji, who would later grow up to be feared by men and women alike for being one of the toughest delinquents around. Asano is well aware that Sawamura had a tremendous crush on her, but it appears to not have affected their friendship in any negative way.

Asano’s favorite manga character is Amagasaki Iori, whom Asano refers to as “Iori-sama.” Her favorite pairing is Iori x Fuyuki. So strong is Asano’s love of Iori that she can ramble on endlessly about his wonderful qualities both as a character and as a person.

Fujoshi Level:
Asano Yukina is a fearsome fujoshi who has rejected the realm of 3-D men. In her eyes, none living or dead, fictional or non-fictional are greater than her Iori-sama. She generally considers real men to be selfish and unkind, and seeks comfort in the purely 2-D arms of Amagasaki Iori. Even when her feelings are stirred by a brave display from her friend Sawamura, Asano’s first instinct is to turn him into a manga character, as if to say she prefers to like the fictional Sawamura over the real one.

A Maiden’s Virginity: Is it as “Necessary” as We Believe?

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Recently there’s been some controversy among otaku on both 2ch and 4chan regarding Nagi from Kannagi. A recent manga chapter, or perhaps the minds of the otaku reading it, have posited the idea that Nagi is not a virgin. And this is apparently tainting Nagi in the eyes of some of her fans. However silly you think this to be (in my case very), it brings up the question of how valued “virginity” is for idols, fictional or otherwise.

Idols in Japan are not supposed to have boyfriends to give the illusion that any fan has a “chance.” Is this the same ideal that surrounds wanting an anime character to be pure and virginal? Both the real-life idol and the anime character are for all intents and purposes unattainable by the fans, but notion that a female idol will retain her virginity for her fans is futile at best. Maybe that’s part of the appeal of the anime-character-as-virgin, they can maintain the status forever.

(Actually, in some cases, I don’t think the fans mind. Momoi had a concert where she was already pregnant, and she was still loved by her fans.)

I was in contact with Ogiue fans in Japan back when Ogiue first lost her virginity in the manga. What’s odd, relative to this whole Nagi thing, is that Ogiue entering a clearly sexual relationship did not turn off her fans. It did not push them away, or cause them to call Ogiue a “slut.” It only made them love Ogiue more, not because she had sex but because it was a result of her finding happiness. Perhaps the place where it differs is that Ogiue’s sexual relationship was pretty much the resolution to a story while Nagi’s is background information?

Dithering While Breaking the Speed Limit

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A few weeks ago made a post concerning dithering and its place in this current age of advanced visuals.

Here, the Kannagi anime is using exactly that effect to give the impression of otaku seeing the two girls as if they were characters in an erogame.

Though with using dithering when this is clearly supposed to be a modern pc visual novel, I have to wonder if this isn’t the visual otaku cousin of those scenes in tv shows where you hear bleeps and bloops as someone is supposedly playing a video game.

PS: Takako is wonderful.

I too shall lament the unlikelihood of Tatsunoko vs Capcom reaching American shores

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Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the crossover fighting game which allows you to pit Roll from Megaman againt the ill-conceived-yet-somehow-awesome Gold Lightan, is probably not going to be for sale in America. Much like the Super Robot Wars series, which only managed to legitimately reach beyond the shores of Japan when it released games with Original Characters Only, TvC’s problem is primarily on the T end.

As anime gets licensed in America, there is no hard-and-fast rule that one company’s shows must all go to one US licensing company. This is good for us because if one company goes under it doesn’t take too many shows with them, but it’s also bad because negotiating any sort of crossover game is more difficult than trying to translate Hong Kong subs into sign language. Capcom and Tatsunoko are not Scrooge McDuck, they do not own giant money bins in which they can perform backstrokes, and it only makes sense that they avoid trying to release their mutual effort in game form over here, especially because Tatsunoko is not exactly well known in America. Maybe they could do better in  Spanish-speaking countries.

There’s always the rumor that they could take the engine and modify it into a new Marvel vs Capcom. I don’t know what’s up with the Marvel game license.

In conclusion, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe has terrible Fatalities. I don’t mind the lack of gore, I mind the lack of creativity.

One month to JLPT

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And I am totally not ready yet.

Grammar and kanji are not up to snuff, though I’ve definitely made progress. I still have a month to go, but Japanese of this level is not something you can cram for in such a short amount of time.

All that’s left is to bank on that 50% pass mark, or to truly believe that courage will turn 50% into 100%.