Category Archives: industry

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.

I will not buy an anime if the opening has been replaced.

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Zeta Gundam, Kodomo no Omocha, and so on. I bet someone will call me shallow, but I have my reasons.

I’m not balls against any sort of changes, as I understand that it’s silly to want, say, original Japanese credits, and despite scrolling English credits often hurting op/ed sequences sometimes (in my opinion), I know and accept its existence.

Opening and ending themes (not to mention music overall) are different, though.

When I buy a DVD, it’s a one-time thing. I am buying this collection for archival purposes, and what I want from my archive is authenticity. OPs and EDs are very much a part of an anime’s identity, and to remove them is to make the product inherently flawed. I know there are always legal/monetary reasons behind these decisions, and I feel for the anime companies, but it doesn’t mean I have to like the result.

First is the Worst, Second is the Best: Tower of Druaga and GONZO’s Digital Distribution

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GONZO has thrown down the gauntlets and has enlisted the help of real live fansubber(s) to distribute its anime to the English-literate world with near-synchronized-with-Japanese-television releases of its new show, Tower of Druaga. As such, there are two important things to talk about: the possible benefits and consequences of this new distribution method, and the content of the show itself.

While GONZO would not exactly be my first choice as the pioneer company (such as Geneon), I applaud GONZO for doing this, though I think they should excise Crunchy Roll like a nasty boil. It’s not the kind of site that I think any animation studio should be associated with, and it may come back to bite them in the ass. As for the actual distribution method of Official Subs on Youtube and Other Places, I feel that even if I personally do not buy the show, I have been exposed to the series enough to begin making a decision, and that is very important to me as a consumer and as a fan. The other thing is that I really have no motivation to pursue higher quality fansubs when I am being provided episodes, translated, straight from the studio much faster than any speedsubber can manage. I don’t know how much of a loss GONZO is taking on this, but if their goal was to beat out the fansubbers, they’ve done so rather effectively. On top of that, the subs are actually quite good, and do not suffer at all from our fears of Engrish.

The actual show is surprisingly entertaining, as nothing in the show seems to quite make sense a la Haruhi Episode 1. While I suspect there’s going to be some shenanigans regarding what’s fantasy and what’s reality, the real highlight of this first episode is how terribly contrived the main character Gil’s idea of an epic tale is. It points out the main flaw in a lot of this sort of entertainment, as well as the fact that D&D games do not translate well to actually compelling stories because everyone will want their limelight in a D&D game, while in a story there should only be one protagonist at a time. It makes me wonder if GONZO is somehow also poking fun at itself and its reputation for plots which fall apart due to contradictions and hasty decisions.

N-No Money…?

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There’s some blame placed on anime fans for driving the industry down with our bittorrent and illegal downloads and scanlations and all that.

There’s one thing I think that is being ignored, and that is that some of the people, including myself, may want to buy certain series, but we simply do not have the financial means to do so immediately after a new book or DVD comes out.

I understand that some people will use any excuse not to pay for their anime, but what I’m talking about is people such as myself who are willing to buy a series, but because they tend to be a rather hefty financial hit, we have to make sure that everything is okay. This is what I use fansubs for, to gauge if a series is worth buying, and though I may not have the money to pay for it immediately, I keep it in the back of my mind that yes, this is worthwhile and if everything aligns correctly I will be willing to buy it.

I just bought Sexy Voice and Robo, which arrived today. I’d been planning on getting it for about two years now, and it’s not like I didn’t want it, but the circumstances happened to be just right for me to purchase it now. In the case of the Zeta Gundam DVD Box, the lack of the proper openings and ending was a huge hit for me, because I love those themes. I did not go out of my way to find an excuse not to buy it. Rather, I did not want to shell out the $200 on a substantially less than perfect release. Further than that, I did not want to spend $200 on a flawed DVD set in order to maybe hope that they’ll some day release it with the proper openings. I really can’t afford to buy the same series multiple times, and I can’t help it.

We as fans are not bottomless money pits. Not all of us anyway.

(And yes, the title is an Ogiue reference).

The Ogiues who never were

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Mizuhashi Kaori landed the role of Ogiue and for that we are all grateful.

Landing the role, however, means that she had to have beaten out other voice actors.

So I have to wonder, who else tried out for the part of Ogiue? Who could have been the voice of Fujoshi Omega?

Sadly this mystery will probably never be solved.

Why hasn’t there been another Evangelion?

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Evangelion is an anime which resonated with the Japanese population because it accurately captured what they were feeling at the time of its broadcast. Probably for similar reasons, this is also why it resonated with fans around the world. It materialized feelings.

Now, I think the reasons why there has not been another Evangelion, in the sense of a title which transcends the normal/otaku divide and causes a lasting emotional influence on the public at large are many. I feel that the otaku community may have gotten more insular. I feel that the animators respond to this by trying to cash in easily on things like moe. When the shows DO try to resonate with their audience, there is resistance and backlash. Perhaps a show has the power to reach fans far and wide and affirm their feelings has been shown, but it was put in a bad time slot. I do not fault anyone for doing any of these things, and it may be a sign that there is simply too big a diversity of opinion among people now for a show to hit on the level Evangelion did. Blame everyone and blame no one.

So what’s the answer to my question? Perhaps that for an anime to affect people on such a large scale again, there has to be large scale events affecting Japan in the real world that the normal person and the reclusive otaku can feel in their daily lives.

Publisher’s Weekly Interview with Kio Shimoku

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You can read it here as well as buy it on newstands.

Reading this brings me joy because Kio Shimoku rarely speaks, and on top of that, it confirms many longstanding theories I’ve had regarding both Genshiken and Ogiue, such as Genshiken being about portraying otaku as human beings who think and feel and cry and love.

To feel that I accurately understood the important themes and particularly the themes surrounding Ogiue fills me with great joy.

Thanks to Anime News Network for this information, and kransom for bringing it to my attention.