Category Archives: industry

Buy Strike Witches: You Can Call this a GONZO Editorial

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GONZO’s new tv series Strike Witches has begun airing, and GONZO, as it did with Blassreiter and Druaga, is putting the show online with a good translation for the enjoyment of English-speaking anime fans. It’s an mp4 file, approximately 200mb, with hard-encoded subtitles. It’s even free of Digital Rights Management shenanigans, which is a big plus in my book.

Unfortunately, what I’ve heard is that someone has put the episode on bittorrent.

I will acknowledge that it’s iffy to put money into a series you haven’t watched yet, but GONZO is trying hard to reach out to us in the English-speaking anime fandom, and to piss away their good will just makes us look terrible.

If you don’t like Strike Witches, or are afraid of watching yet another GONZO series, then feel free to ignore it. I’m not expecting people to buy something they don’t have any interest in, but if you think you’re going to enjoy it, I ask that you at least try it out.

One thing to keep in mind is that you have 14 days to download each episode so you can’t really wait until the series finishes. That said, this also means you can perform a 3-episode test. I’d also normally say that you could possibly wait for the DVDs if you want to support them with your wallet, but there’s a high probability that Strike Witches DVDs will never see the light of day.

You can purchase episodes of Strike Witches via Bost TV for approximately $3.00 US. Keep in mind you have to spend a minimum of $10 in order to buy the points necessary, which is kind of annoying, but that has less to do with GONZO itself and everything to do with Bost.

Episode 1 Review
Strike Witches is the story of a squad of young and powerful soldiers augmented with technologically advanced armored weaponry in order to combat the alien menace known as Neuroi. Its protagonist is Yoshika, a girl with a strong dislike of war whose father died during the conflict. However, a chance meeting with an old friend of her father’s puts Yoshika in a position she never expected.

All in all, Strike Witches is very cute, awfully fanservicey, and  well-animated. The main appeal is that its important characters are basically Mecha Musume. It’s a simple show that is clearly targeted towards otaku, so don’t expect it to be any more than what it tries to be.

Observations Concerning Dub Openings

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I’ve recently become interested in examining modern (mid-90s – present) dub anime openings to see how they correlate to the notion that children have very short attention spans that are gradually decreasing as time passes.

Note: If you’re looking for a point or thesis, there really isn’t any. All I present here is possible evidence.

I began by comparing dub openings to their original Japanese counterparts. This has nothing to do with quality of music (or lack thereof), so you won’t find me making any comments regarding the actual themes.

YOHOHO HE TOOK A BITE OF GUM GUM.

Okay, last one. I promise.

Aside from the difference in length (the common 1 minute, 30 seconds in Japanese openings is hardly ever reached), the biggest difference I’ve seen is in the rate at which imagery will flash on and off the screen. In the English openings, there tends to be a much higher rate of changing imagery.

I give as an example a Yu-Gi-Oh opening in English, and one in Japanese. They are both the “second” openings, but keep in mind the English dub has fewer openings overall. To keep from having the different songs influence you, I suggest turning down the sound.

English

Japanese

As you can see, the dub opening is just a lot more frenetic, eager to keep your attention with rapidly changing colors.

I next focused my attention on Pokemon, as it is perhaps the most famous of all dubbed anime for children. Interestingly, the English opening is actually not that much faster-paced than the Japanese one in terms of imagery. It’s certainly slower than the Yu-Gi-Oh opening and both of these shows are 4Kids shows (or at least Pokemon was back then).

English

Japanese

But what about the idea that children’s attention spans are getting shorter? I took a look at every dub opening of Pokemon, and I noticed that over the years the Pokemon openings have actually gotten shorter.

The first few openings were 1 minute long.

Then it dropped down to 45 seconds per opening.

Now, the most recent openings have been 30 seconds apiece.

I know the examples I provided were primarily from 4kids, but keep in mind that the most recent Pokemon openings were dubbed by the Pokemon Company itself, so it’s not something exclusive to them. There’s also the realization that a lot of kids watching Pokemon today were not even alive when the series began airing in America. Just what has spurred this diminishing of time devoted to Pokemon openings? The Yu-Gi-Oh openings (including GX) are 1 minute long. Is it because the show is meant for a slightly older audience?

Many questions indeed.

Are the releases we want going to be the releases we get?

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One complaint always leveled at anime companies is that they charge too much for anime. It’s something I’ve criticized in the past myself. Well, companies are finally listening and we’re seeing a variety of attempts to lower the cost of watching anime.

Gonzo plans on continuing its free online subtitled broadcasts with a continuation of Strike Witches.

Gainax and Bandai Entertainment have made it possible to watch the smash hit Gurren-Lagann on network cable via the Sci-Fi Network. Not only that, Bandai is planning a blitzkrieg release with 9 episodes per disc with a release of 1 disc per month. That’s 3 months for ALL of Gurren-Lagann.

Maria-sama ga Miteru, officially titled now as Maria is Watching Over Us, has an upcoming release of the entire first season at once. That’s 13 episodes from the get-go. No waiting, no nothing.

Media Blasters is releasing the second half of Gaogaigar all at once for practically nothing as well. This has less to do with plans and more to do with the fact that GGG did not do so well in the US, but it’s there.

And finally, Toei Animation has given the courtesy of releasing episodes of Hokuto no Ken and Slam Dunk online at $2 per episode. Granted, there’s some Digital Rights Management crap that we have to deal with, but they at least figured out that this is a better way of giving exposure to older series such as these.

So the anime industry has finally stepped up their game, and made it easier than ever to obtain anime from legitimate sources for affordable prices. It is now up to us as fans to support them, to tell these companies that, yes, we are willing to give you money directly provided you make it possible for us without sacrificing an arm and a leg when we do not have the fortune of being Edward Elric.

I don’t expect people to buy every single example I list here, and of course people’s income situations vary greatly, but I think it’s important that the anime fandom show that we are supportive of new attempts to get anime in our hands.

OP/ED OP/ED

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The opening credits, or intro, of a staple of TV and animation. it’s a combination of sound and image designed to inform the viewer and pull them in. it is basically a commercial for the show you are about to watch with the secondary effect of giving credit to the people who are responsible for the show. The ending credits continue to list names of all the people who work on a show, and though it is not always the case, especially on American TV, it can be used to leave the viewer with a certain feeling. Japanese animation is of course no exception, but somehow anime has become what I think is the standard for openings and endings. There’s something special and different about the openings of Japanese animation compared to the animation of the rest of the world, and I’d like to know what it is.

I don’t think it would be too farfetched to say that a significant portion of anime fans love, welcome, and even expect the shows they watch to have good opening and ending credits. It’s the reason why fansubbers try so hard with their ridiculous karaoke effects. It’s the reason why I’m going to Otakon to see JAM Project. And I believe that it is a common factor in turning people into anime fans in the first place.

Anime openings can cause budding otaku to go, “Wow, this is different and good!” It’s not like non-Japanese cartoons are without good or memorable openings. I bet you there’s plenty of people out there who at least have a cursory knowledge of the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, or children (and adults) who could sing the Kim Possible opening as well. And while one can argue that anime openings have “better” music, it’s not like anime is without its repeated-title-shouting-style intros (see above concerning JAM Project, or should I say, its individual members).

Perhaps it’s simply a matter of professionalism. Not only is there an industry trying to make money off of it, but musicians, at the very least on a surface level, appear to approach these songs as if they were any other pieces they’ve performed. Directors are hired on specifically to direct the openings and endings. People’s livelihoods can depend on whether or not the opening credits are a hit with the audience.

I’d like to think that the root cause of the culture of successful openings and endings is passion and respect, but it’s an overly optimistic view of things. I just know that there’s something which makes the openings and endings of anime different and better.

PS: I haven’t even begun to think about dub openings and how they factor into all of this, though I’m sure that shouting, “It’s time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL!” will get a reaction out of people

PPS: I lied, this isn’t really an opinion or an editorial.

Various Thoughts Concerning American Cartoons in Japan

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I recall at some point someone (possibly me) asking my high school Japanese teacher what animation she watched as a child. I think everyone was expecting an answer like Tetsuwan Atom or Candy Candy or something, but her answer was “Tom and Jerry.” She was apparently quite fond of it as a child growing up in Japan.

American cartoons have a long history in Japan, what with Tezuka idolizing Walt Disney, but today we’re at an interesting point in this cartoon exchange. Rather than American cartoons inspiring Japanese ones, or Japanese people being “secretly” responsible for American cartoons, both countries are well aware of the other’s creative exports, with anime becoming a fairly common word in English (is it that Pokeyman stuff?!), and American cartoons making their way to Japanese cable.

According to Craig McCracken, Spongebob Squarepants is a huge success in Japan, doing much better than his own Powerpuff Girls, which necessitated the creation of Powerpuff Girls Z to try and appeal to the Japanese market better. South Park has also found some popularity, and it makes me wonder if the appeal of South Park and Spongebob in Japan is the absurdity of their characters and situations.

I used to joke that I would start subbing “The Boondocks” into Japanese at some point. A lot of the humor of Boondocks, like South Park in its later seasons, is very political, using the (relative) innocence of children to illustrate a point about society, so I thought it’d be amusing to try and translate this aspect for a culture that is not intimately familiar with race relations in a country with so much history and diversity in this regard.  Suffice it to say, I was shocked when I found out that Boondocks had in fact been dubbed into Japanese. Still later, the second season of Boondocks was moved from a Korean studio to Studio Madhouse, one of the most famous animation studios in Japan. To what extent were the people watching on Japanese cable able to understand the deeper meanings involved in Boondocks? While I don’t really have an answer, I can’t help but wonder about this every time I hear Riley say, “Niigaa.”

Cartoon Network has its own station in Japan, and through it many old classics are brought to Japanese viewers, as well as newer shows such as Teen Titans and Samurai Jack, two shows which are inspired by anime to varying degrees. A more recent show to come out in America and to hit the shores of Japan is Ben 10, the cartoon by Man of Action about a 10 year old boy with the power to turn into different aliens who fights menacing aliens with the help of his grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen (pictured above). As far as I can tell, Ben 10 is not widely popular but it does have its fans, and some have even drawn fanart. Not surprisingly, it seems as if most of them are primarily fans of Gwen before anything else. I get the feeling it’s because she is surprisingly moe for a western cartoon character. Some call her “tsundere,” though something about that description doesn’t quite line up. Maybe a new term is needed.

“American Tsundere?”

OEL Manga, what is up with it

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A few years back Tokyopop started advertising and promoting its own line of “Original English Language” or OEL Manga, and no one I know reads them. I’ve checked out a few here and there, but I feel something holding me back when I see a title in the stores. On the few occasions where I have picked one up to read, well, sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised and other times I’m not.

I liked Bizenghast overall, but the fluctuation in quality from page to page was very distracting. A well-done drawing would lead into a rush job into another nicely detailed drawing, and it seems like the product of someone with not enough time to really hone each panel.

Dramacon is another one I decided to take a look at, simply because Anime Jump and others had lauded it for being one of the better titles. I found myself unable to finish it, as it felt less like a heart-felt examination of the convention scene and the drama in it and more like wish-fulfillment on a level below Comic Party. What’s a mysterious love interest with a scarred face doing in a story where the focus seems to be Normal Anime Fans Doing Their Normal Anime Things? Maybe I’ll come back to it at some point, but it was like the pieces of the puzzle did not fit together properly.

I’m probably giving them a harder time than I should, but at the same time I’m really not, as it was Tokyopop’s desire to showcase these talents on a level on par with work from Japan. If there’s any OEL titles of merit that I’m overlooking, I’d like to know about them.

Fan-generated Fiction as some call it

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I recently listened to the Ninja Consultant podcast concerning the sexualization that occurs among fangirls, and the fact that this has become more prominent in recent times, with not only yaoi becoming a common sight at conventions but also modern works such as Dr. Who and Avatar: The Last Airbender being consciously aware of this fanbase. The topic of fanfiction comes up in the discussion, which is to be expected given that fanfiction and fangirls practically go hand in hand, but it reminded me of the fact that at the beginning of my own internet-based fandom I too was into fanfiction.

When I first began using the internet, my first fandom was a NiGHTS into dreams fanfiction site. I loved the Sega Saturn game to death (and still do), and I sought out other fans of NiGHTS. It was there that I found a site called “Nightopia on the Net” which would later change its name a few more times. It was here that I not only discovered other people with a passion for NiGHTS, but also stories that expanded upon the few plot details we were given as players of the game into a rich and vibrant (at least in my young eyes) universe. I’ve never read the Star Wars Extended Universe books, but I suspect the feeling was similar to anyone who is a fan of those, a feeling that the world given to us in these initial stories is so vast and unexplored that one can’t help but wonder what else is out there.

At some point, a few years down the line, I read fanfiction less and less. By this point I had been checking out fanfiction from various sources based on all sorts of series and would even actively seek out more unusual titles and concepts. Something in me began to sour, and I could no longer take fanfiction until I almost stopped reading it entirely. Back then, my reasoning was that I disliked the stories being produced for my fandoms, feeling that more than any sort of technical errors the problem was that the writers did not understand the characters. The characters’ actual personalities as displayed in their respective shows were nothing like the personalities displayed in fanfiction, and I asked (no one), “What’s the point of using these characters if you’re not going to actually use them?”

As mentioned in the Ninja Consultant discussion, it seems as if some works these days are simply there as fan fodder. Characters are given basic traits which appeal to the “shipping” side of fandom, and fans are free to ignore or cultivate any “evidence” as to whether or not their “One True Pair” could thrive. Setting aside any original creators’ desires to actively engage this line of thought, by all rights these are the people who are responsible for me leaving fanfiction in the first place.

But really was I, and am I, all that different?

Why do people enjoy pairing unreasonable characters together? To put it simply, it’s because they find the pairing to be hot. No big mysteries there. It’s what makes the Zutara pairing in Avatar so popular: a conflict of emotions, the fire/water dynamic, the idea that “if only they would get together, they would be great.” Of course, the conflict comes from actually getting them together.

Is there something wrong with this? Wanting to dive deeper into a world, to prove through fanfiction that there is so much more to a story, one can say that trying to find deeper subtext in the relationships presented is its own form of exploration. Hell, I can somewhat relate to making unreasonable pairings. I have a rather straight-laced friend who I would like to see date girls that would be all over him 24/7. Why? Because it would entertain me to no end.

Perhaps there is a threshold, and it is crossed when fans begin to believe that their opinions constitute the truth about a work, or even what should be true. This isn’t about creator’s vision vs spectator’s vision or anything of that sort, but rather to what extent people and groups begin to believe their own hype. Other than that, I think people are free to believe in whatever they want.

Even then, such a statement borders on the idea that there’s such a thing as a “right” fan and a “wrong” fan, and really, even if I find certain fans or their reasoning distasteful, I am just one person and I am not a judge of fanfiction. More importantly, I am not a judge of the heart.

After all, as Sasahara once said to Ogiue, no one can stop you from liking something.

Fireball: Disney did WHAT now?

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Fireball is a 3-D animation airing in Japan, produced in part by Disney.

Yes, that Disney.

Each episode is less than two minutes long, and it seems to be a concerted effort by Disney to make newer in-roads into Japan’s animation-watching audience. I say newer because Japan IS actually fond of Mickey Mouse and friends, not to mention the fact that Tezuka idolized Walt Disney.

The use of 3D Animation is interesting, as it’s something that Japanese animation hasn’t really been great at, so in a sense it’s using Disney’s power to its advantage, though I don’t actually know to what degree they actually help.

The main character, Drossel, appears to be at least partially designed to appeal to otaku, with her long twintails and slender robotic figure and large “eyes,” so I also get the feeling that they are trying to tap into this audience as well.

I suspect this has something to do with seeing the success of Powerpuff Girls Z in Japan.

Dio Brando is an English Vampire Who Grafted His Head on his Arch Enemy’s Body

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He is not Muslim or representative of Islam, as some would claim, and it’s not something that’s difficult to figure out if only people would do research into Dio’s character.

For those who don’t know Dio’s backstory, and are only familiar with him through his famous catch phrases “WRYYYYY” and “THE WORLD” and don’t even know that Dio even sometimes says “WRYAAAAA,” here’s a brief synopsis. Dio was a young boy adopted by the wealthy Joestar family, and began a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship with the son of the household, Jonathan Joestar. In their adult lives, with Dio pretending his hardest to be on good terms with Jonathan, Dio discovers an ancient power which turns him into a powerful vampire. After suffering defeat at the hands of Jonathan and what appears to be his demise, Dio reappears many years later to antagonize Jonathan’s great-grandson Kujo Jotaro, now armed with the body of Jonathan Joestar himself and a powerful time-stopping “Stand” or spiritual apparition called “The World.”

Dio believes himself to be the greatest thing since sliced people, and is incredibly arrogant and full of himself. He in no way represents anything having to do with Islam, and in fact based on Dio’s character the only reason he’d be reading the Qu’ran would be to mock religions. He would say something along the lines of, “These fools worship a God they cannot see, when I already walk the Earth!”

…Which is a whole different problem, but it has nothing to do with Islam being a religion for super villains.

Part of the Culture: Identifying Oneself Relative to an Industry

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There is a way to play multiple games on a Nintendo DS on just a single card. Many people have utilized such a device, and I hold no ill will towards them for doing so. None at all. However, when asked why I don’t use one, my immediate response is that “it hurts the industry.” Now, if you were to pressed me for more details, my response would be that I am afraid that if I have this magical multi-game device that it will remove from me my will to actually buy the games. After all, the complete game is right there readily available for me. I’m afraid that even good games will end up not being bought. Of course, I had to relate this to my status as an anime fan, and the fact that there ARE some shows I liked which I haven’t bought (though I intend to at some point).

The important question here, though, isn’t about whether or not I or anyone should be buying games individually. The question I want to ask instead is, at what point did I place myself in the position that I am relative to the anime and gaming fandoms? At what point did I stop becoming simply a consumer (or not) who looked out mainly for myself, and screw the companies if they can’t stop me from getting what I want for free?

Perhaps the answer to this lies in another, older question: What makes someone a fan? I’ve criticized anime fans in the past for lacking a desire to pursue anime’s history. My stance has always been that it doesn’t matter how much anime you’ve watched or are capable of watching as long as you have the desire to pursue it. If you watched a show and you like it, try to find the shows that inspired the staff. Or if you read a manga and like it, try to read other manga by the same author. That sort of thing. Looking at my words, I realize that this is simply desire for more people to be fans of anime history and not just anime. So I’ll try to find a new answer.

What makes someone a fan?

If a person is emotionally invested in something, then they are a fan. It’s an answer that is perhaps too simplistic, but I think it’s a good starting point. Going back to myself as an example, I think it’s because I’m a fan that I feel concerned for these industries. If the US anime industry were to collapse tomorrow, I have little doubt that I would still be able to find what I need, but that isn’t the point. Wanting to see anime and manga succeed and continue to succeed, be it in America or Japan, I feel strangely connected to the industry.

And this is no surprise, as I’ve shown that I do have an emotional investment in anime. I mean, I have been writing this blog.