Information: A doujinshi artist and high-level fujoshi, Kurihara Hibari’s sister Suzuka is also into BL. At one point while working on a doujinshi for Comic Marché, she runs short on ideas until Suzuka “convinces” her classmate Mimi into contributing her own secret BL fantasy.
Hibari is very confident about being a fujoshi. At one point, when Mimi begins to worry about how her newly developed fujoshi mindset might affect her friendships, Hibari tells her that any friend who can’t accept someone’s hobby is no friend at all.
Fujoshi Level:
Kurihara Hibari has reached the level of “kifujin,” which is described as being beyond a mere fujoshi. As evidence of this, she listens to BL Drama CDs on her speakers, implying that she cares little as to who hears them.
The parody mangaFist of the North Star: Strawberry Flavor, starring everyone’s favorite child slave labor, thronercycle-riding holy emperor Souther, is getting an anime.
Six years ago, I attended my very first AnimeNext and had a hell of an experience. Six years later I returned to the Somerset, NJ convention, only to find out that it’s the very last AnimeNext before it moves to Atlantic City in 2016. I feel glad that I could see it one last time before the big move!
Overview
AnimeNext in 2009 was well-populated, but it’s amazing how much it’s grown since then. Last time I went, I stayed at the Somerset Bridgewater Hotel in order to be close to the convention. This time around, it was part of the convention. As expressed to me by both my friends with whom I traveled and by AnimeNext staff, the convention had simply outgrown its space, necessitating the move to a more spacious location. Thankfully, aside from a terribly hot and humid first day, the weather was surprisingly manageable, which made the outdoor space between the three locations (Bridgewater, Double Tree, Garden State Exhibit Center) a nice reprieve between events.
Events
This year I helped out Waku Waku +NYC, an upcoming New York anime con this August 29-30, which made it so that I couldn’t attend quite as many panels and events as I normally would. However, the ones I did see where all quite interesting. The Penguindrum panel by the Reverse Thieves showed how the train imagery of the series incorporated both classic Japanese children’s literature and traumatic real world events. Land of Obscusion‘s “Greatest Anime We Never Got” told fans to find Sexy Commando, which I’m all for. The FLOW concert was fantastic, and I found myself singing along to the first Eureka Sevenopening, even though I swore I didn’t know the lyrics. I even got them to autograph my anime DVD box set, alongside the Satou Dai signature I obtained back in 2009, not long after I attended AnimeNext.
Studio Trigger
Speaking of autographs, the highlight of the convention had to be Studio Trigger, creators of Inferno Cop, Ninja Slayer, and Kill la Kill. I had heard how fantastic they were as guests last year, and so I had to speak with them. In addition to getting their autographs (Koyama Shigeto’s on Eureka Seven with a little Nirvash Spec3 sketch), most of the rest of the staff’s on Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, I also joined in on their press conference and attended their 2-hour panel on Saturday evening. One thing that was clear from the press conference and the autograph session was that the people at trigger loved Panty & Stocking and sincerely wish they could make more.
The press conference itself was brief but amazing. At one point, Koyama introduced himself in Japanese as the designer on Inferno Cop, to which the translator “assisted” him by interpreting his line as “designer on Big Hero 6” (which is true). They explained how Inferno Cop actually came out of a commission by Google of all things, which is made all the more surprising by how much money Google is known to have and how little money and effort was placed into Inferno Cop. This isn’t a knock at Trigger, as they themselves mentioned that they set a rule that they could only spend two hours a week on Inferno Cop, which, according to Koyama again is a very original series about a hero of justice with a flaming skull that is 100% original in every original way, really and truly. They also mentioned how their original idea was the story of an ordinary guy in a superhero academy, which they would’ve called Superson, except that it was a “crappy anime,” in their words.
As a final question at the press conference, I asked Studio Trigger about one of their more obscure works, Turning Girls, or more specifically how it came to be. The story of its creation turns out to be one of the greatest tales ever brought forth by humankind.
Turning Girls, which is named so because it’s about girls who are about to turn 30 and have hit a transitional point in their lives, is created and produced by the non-animator female staff of Studo Trigger. Essentially, they wanted to see how people with no experience in animation would make an anime. Though the series did not attract much of an audience abroad, the sponsor who asked them to do it in the first place keeps asking for more, against their expectations. During the Q&A session at their panel, I casually commented that they should produce more Turning Girls as well, to which they responded with “NO” in English. Also, it’s important to note that all of the girls are apparently based on the staff members themselves, and that one of them indeed carries shades of Kaerun, the highly abrasive aspiring idol from Turning Girls.
If there’s one major highlight of the entirety of AnimeNext, however, it has to be the return of Inferno Cop. This wasn’t just any episode of Inferno Cop, though. It was, in fact, an Inferno Cop x Little Witch Academia crossover. Sucy Manbavaran made an appearance in the episode while drawn (and voiced!) in the signature Inferno Cop style. While they showed a number of animated shorts created by the staff, this had to take the cake.
Thanks to Ani-Gamers and All Fiction for asking good questions at the press conference, and to Ani-Gamers in particular for providing the audio.
My Panels
I ran two panels at AnimeNext alongside my friend Alain from the Reverse Thieves. These were “Precure Party” and “Giant Robot Romance: Boy Meets Girl Meets Mecha.” The first covered the history of the immensely successful Precure franchise, which we might rename if we ever bring it back to make sure that people know that Precure is a mahou shoujo series. The second was about giant robot anime that focused heavily on romance and romantic relationships, taking us through a strange path from Toushou Daimos all the way to today.
If you attended either panel, thank you. The turn-out was somewhat small though I suspect that the inconvenience of getting to the Somerset Bridgewater where the panels were both held played a role. I definitely enjoyed running the panels, including the extra time we had to show fun clips for the audience at the end of the robot panel. I feel glad to be able to talk about two of my great loves, magical girls and giant robots, all in the same weekend.
Criticism
Aside from the location issues, which AnimeNext has been well aware of for years now, my only real complaint was that often the staff and volunteers weren’t much help. This isn’t painting all of the volunteers with the same brush, but on multiple occasions I had asked questions (best way to get to a location, where to line up for FLOW autographs), only to receive the response of “I don’t know.” Sometimes it was “I don’t know, let me check,” only for the volunteer to disappear into the aether never to return. Of course, a volunteer is a non-paid position, and I’m sure many of them were new, but after the 5th time it started to grate on my nerves. We all have to start somewhere, though!
Food
As my friends last year came back from AnimeNext, all I heard about was the gloriousness of the hot dogs at Destination Dogs. Seeing as AnimeNext was leaving the area after this year, it was a must-try place for me. I ordered the Boston (beef frank, baked beans, cole slaw), the Swede-Dreams (bratwurst, mashed potatoes, gravy), and the Charles Dog Gaulle (duck sausage, duck confit, foie gras). It’s tough for me to decide which one I like more, the Swedish dog or the French one, but the redundant duck action and the delicious yet controversial foie gras (which I had for the first time!) makes the latter feel more special. Will there be an adequate replacement for Destination Dogs in Atlantic City, or will we be doomed to always pine after it?
Cosplay
I usually leave cosplay for last in these con reports just so I can segue into a large cosplay image dump, but this time around I think it’s important. For one thing, this is literally the first time I’ve seen Precure cosplay on the East Coast! For a series that is over 11 years old and outperforms things like Sailor Moon, it is a shock that more people don’t know Precure. That’s why we threw the panel.
Other big trends were Kill la Kill, due in no small part to the presence of Studio Trigger, and Love Live! As a fan of the Love Lives, it was a pleasant surprise to see so many μ’s copsplayers around. Quite intelligently, many of them wore summer-centric costumes to fight the heat. The most popular by far was Kotori, followed by Nico. Sadly there was only one Hanayo cosplayer I could find, but I’m grateful that she had the wisdom and unbeatable sense of taste to pick the best one.
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Miyamoto Ariana is the 2015 Miss Universe Japan, and the first to ever be half-black. In an ethnically homogenous society, she has become a figure of both hope and controversy, defying and reshaping how people see the concept of being “Japanese.” One common question to her from reporters has been what she considers about herself to be most Japanese, and her response has been, “But I am always Japanese.”
Setting aside in this instance the legitimate criticism of beauty pageants and the like, I want to focus less on the issue of judging people, especially by women, primarily on how they look, and more about how people perceive the way others “should” look. In particular, I want to focus on another less well-known controversy within fandom from a few years back, which is the idea that black girls shouldn’t cosplay white or “white-looking” (i.e. anime) characters.
This has justifiably received a great deal of blow-back from fans and cosplayers of all ethnicities, with people arguing that cosplay is something that transcends race. After all, it’s not necessarily about replicating the character perfectly in reality. The cosplayer is just as important if not more than the costume itself. However, while not wrong in any way, such an argument still comes from the idea that one is defying the presence of race through cosplay. With Miyamoto Ariana’s victory though, something even more fundamental to this idea of “cosplaying the wrong skin color” enters the equation.
Essentially, when it comes to anime characters especially, black cosplayers are working from the perspective that Japanese-ness doesn’t matter, and they’re basically right. What Miyamoto does is attack this at an even more base level: what does “Japanese-ness” even mean? You can look black, be Japanese, and neither is a compromise of the other, even if the surrounding culture (or subculture) tries to make it seem that way.
Of course, when it comes to both beauty queens and cosplayers, on some level image is important, but efforts by both black cosplayers and Miyamoto Ariana show how the very assumptions that go into how we see things, how we see the relationship between reality and fiction and at what point one appears to be the other, can be challenged and potentially transformed on a societal level. At least, that’s where I hope things will go.
The original Yes! Pretty Cure 5 was in certain ways a radical departure back to the familiar. Whereas the previous Pretty Cure shows had focused mainly on duos, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 went with the five-girl sentai team, reminiscent of Sailor Moon. In execution, it ended up being neither a better or worse decision in that each character still received plenty of the spotlight, but what really made the series stand out to me were the unique villains (a literally evil corporation with company hierarchy and everything), as well as a dedication to showing its heroines eating that surpasses even the likes of K-On!
The sequel, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go, brings a fresh coat of paint that keeps with the spirit of its immediate predecessor. Right from the first episode, the new outfits are much improved from the bizarrely beige/yellow costumes from the previous series, and the attacks are flashier and more impressive: Natsuki “Cure Rouge” Rin’s “Pretty Cure Fire Strike” involves kicking a soccer ball made from flames, for example. The characters’ personalities still provide plenty of humor and opportunities to talk about food, as well as some nice moments of development. The new characters bring excitement and intrigue, especially the mysterious Milky Rose, who comes to save the Cures but initially positions herself neither as ally nor enemy, and eventually starts shooting rose-shaped clouds of shrapnel.
Overall, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go is actually a sequel that improves on the original, as rare as that is. The show takes the time to how far the characters have come from the previous series, like when protagonist Yumehara Nozomi (Cure Dream) ends up tutoring Rin’s younger siblings and introduces to them her unique approach to learning. It also continues to do a great job of just showing how the characters are more than two-dimensional, like how Kasugano Urara (Cure Lemonade) is clever yet surprisingly naive at times, and how Akimoto Komachi (Cure Mint) takes her writing very seriously. That said, I can’t help but feel it lost a couple of important gems in the process.
The first is that the new group of villains, even if some of there are individually interesting, aren’t quite as memorable as the Nightmare Corporation from Yes! Pretty Cure 5. While an evil museum collector is a nice concept, and his assistant Anacondy brings in some of that much-loved evil bureaucracy (you can’t be truly evil until you’ve mastered evil paperwork), it just doesn’t feel quite on the same level. The second oversight is just a lack of Masuko Mika the school reporter, whose insatiable appetite for journalism and a desire to find out the secret identity of the Cures led the way to some of the funniest and most heartfelt episodes of the previous series. In fact, her doppelganger Masuko Miyo (intentionally a reference to Mika) probably gets more appearances in HappinessCharge Precure! than she does in Go Go.
If someone liked Yes! Pretty Cure 5 it’s hard to think they’d vehemently dislike Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go, and I even think the sequel can be viewed on its own without any prior exposure to Precure in general. That said, I do think that watching the first series can help, as it does a much better job of showing where the girls came from and how they developed over the course of their narrative.
There are two things I want to mention at the end. First, one of the most memorable gags for me is the gag above, which reminds us that Minazuki Karen (Cure Aqua) is indeed extremely wealthy. Second, if anyone ever wondered who the animators’ favorite character was, the exquisite fight scenes with Kasugano Urara (Cure Lemonade) removed any and all doubt.
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After a five year hiatus due mostly to not be in the United States, I am making my triumphant return to AnimeNext in Somerset, NJ from June 12-14. I also have two panels I’ll be running alongside the Reverse Thieves’ Alain.
Precure Party
Friday 2:15pm -3:15pm BW Panel 6
We’ll be talking about the crazy enormous Precure franchise that’s now 11 years old and even more popular than Sailor Moon ever was in Japan. Whether you’ve never heard of Precure or you’re a die-hard fan, we think you’ll have a great time seeing magical girls punch monsters in the face.
Giant Robot Romance: Boy Meets Girl Meets Mecha
Sunday 11:15-12:15pm BW Panel 6
Love triangles and star-crossed lovers are a common trope of giant robot anime, but this panel focuses on the series where romance is of central importance to the story. See how love has evolved over time in the world of mecha. We’ll be featuring shows such as Macross, Aquarion, and more!
Also, I’ll definitely be at this panel if you want to chat in person
Kill la Kill, Inferno Cop, and [Redacted] with Studio TRIGGER
Saturday 9pm-11pm Panel 1
See you there! I hope we can all sing the Inferno Cop theme together. Also, if you’re cosplaying Fight Club Mako, I’ll give you a high-five.
Information: A quiet girl with little presence, Katsura Mimi is a friend and elementary school classmate of Illyasviel “Illya” von Einzbern and Miyu Edelfelt at Homurahara Academy. At one point she discovers Illya kissing her cousin Kuro (actually a magical doppelganger), which puts her on a path towards writing erotic fantasies in her notebook, both yuri and yaoi. Though Illya, Kuro, and Miyu are all magical, Mimi is unaware of this.
Mimi gets roped into the world of doujinshi when her friend Kurihara Suzuka takes her hidden fantasy writings and uses them for her sister’s doujinshi at Comic Marché. After that, Mimi begins to see the world almost purely in terms of same-sex relationships.
Fujoshi Level:
In addition to managing to exceed her friend Suzuka in terms of fujocity, Mimi states that she simply believes boys should be with boys and girls should be with girls.
A lot of things have happened over the past month at (or around) Ogiue Maniax. Observant folks might have noticed that I’ve started linking to other posts on this blog. That’s because I’ve started contributing to the social media for an upcoming convention in New York City, Waku Waku +NYC, and this includes writing blog posts for them. I hope you enjoy the extra material, as while they’re not quite the same as what I’d normally write for Ogiue Maniax, they’re still intended to be fun, informative, and promote discussion.
However, if you look at the actual Patreon page, I don’t include those extra blog posts in my creations, as I believe it’s not quite fair to bolster my numbers like that when it’s all content supported by another organization not explicitly for Ogiue Maniax. Readers, do you agree, or would you rather see everything I make go on there?
This month’s special sponsors are:
Ko Ransom
Alex
Johnny Trovato
Anonymous
May was actually the first month where I wrote two sponsored posts:
I definitely enjoyed writing them, and they got me to look more into topics I’ve had only passing familiarity with, and if you like what you see, why not consider becoming a sponsor? At $30 a month you can request topics as well.
I’m also still putting consideration into a new sponsor level, which is to have Skype conversations with me every week, and a milestone, which will involve me writing a negative review of Genshiken just for fun. The goal would not be to exaggerate, but to fairly state the flaws of my favorite series. What do you think? Would that be fun?
Information: Kurihara Suzuka is an elementary school student at Homurahara Academy in Fuyuki City and a friend of Illyasviel von Einzbern and Miyu Edelfelt. Though Illya becomes a magical girl and gets involved in the world of the occult, Suzuka for the most part remains unaffected and unaware of this.
Suzuka helps her sister Hibari create yaoi doujinshi, and ropes her friend Katsura Mimi into participating at the doujinshi event Comic Marché. She also expresses BL interest in Illya’s brother Emiya Shirou paired with his friend, Ryuudou Issei.
Fujoshi Level:
Though referring to herself as “pretty rotten,” Suzuka also expresses the fact that she is not quite as extreme as her sister or Mimi.
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