Category Archives: manga

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.

King Kirby Over: New York Comic Con 2009

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New York Comic Con 2009 came and went, and all I have to show for it is some good memories, some good friends, and an autographed copy of Crisis On Infinite Earths. Good times.

I got to the Jacob Javits Center Friday afternoon, and with the benefit of a professional pass was able to enter the con without too much waiting. It was in this early period that I managed to get an autograph from Marv Wolfman, one half of the creative duo for the first Crisis series. I also got a chance to meet Peter Laird, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I then looked for the panel rooms, but could not find them in time and missed one of the panels I wanted to see. Instead, I got to sit in on a panel devoted to building manga collections for libraries. Apparently the answer is “Kazuo Koike.” Sage advice that I will not argue against. I also got an autographed sketch from Mike Krahulik (Gabe) of Penny Arcade. He drew a Witchalok.

At some point I met up with Sub and other friends, and Sub and I tried to get tickets for the Friday showing of the new Yatterman live-action movie, but a deadly wall of raving fangirls prevented us from getting tickets. Apparently the lead actor playing Yatter-1 was one Sho Sakurai, a super popular j-pop boy band singer, and the fangirls were willing to do anything to get close to him. The Yatterman booth attendants had planned on bringing Sho Sakurai down, but when they saw the fangirl mob they told them that Sho Sakurai cannot come down in that current situation, and if they all left the area he would arrive. Naturally, this caused them draw in closer to the booth, and ultimately led to Sho Sakurai canceling his appearance.

Sigh, fangirls.  And I bet they didn’t even appreciate the Yatterman movie they diligently lined up for, and then squealed whenever Sho Sakurai was on-screen. Please do not tell me if what I said was actually true, because I’m really afraid.

We then saw the new Futurama movie (funny, not really good as a movie), and then ate at a nearby diner and talked about a variety of topics, as we all ranged from super American Comics fans to Anime fans and Sci-fi and everything in between despite being a relatively small group. Good fun for all.

Saturday’s crowd was, as expected, much larger than the Friday one. The first Saturday highlight for me was the Penny Arcade panel, as I have never been to PAX and thus had never seen them in person prior to getting that sketch on Friday. It was really a hilarious panel, and I recommend that anyone who gets the opportunity to go see them, even if you’re not much of a fan of Penny Arcade, as they know how to make a panel enjoyable.

The real high-point of NYCC Saturday though was a blogger dinner with many fine individuals, though the way we ended up sitting at the Tick Tock Diner, I spent most of my time with Sub, Evan of Ani-Gamers and the Reverse Thieves, Narutaki and Hisui and also Kohaku. Missing the Rodeo Burger of Burger King, I decided to construct my own. Also, the fact that you can order just plain cereal at a diner never ceases to amaze me. The topics of conversation ranged from Godfrey Ho Ninja Movies, Segata Sanshiro, Gold Lightan, and uh…teachers from our youth who turned out to be pedophiles…

Anyway, it was really great.

After dinner, some of us joined another group consisting of the Ninja Consultants, Dave (minus Joel), the paranormal Ed Chavez, among others, and we sang most excellent karaoke. Sub joined with me on a number of anime songs that began with Yuushaoh Tanjou! and included Ai o Torimodose! and Chala Head-Chala, finally concluding with KING GAINER OVER. We’ve done it before, but I think every time we try (key word being try) to sing King Gainer Over, it leaves us with a newfound appreciation for the song.

Sunday was relatively uneventful con-wise, though I attended the Penny Arcade How to Make Comics panel which was intended for elementary school students and ended up being populated by mostly adults. Funny how that works. The best part was that the PA guys did not change their lesson in any way.

Jerry: How long have you been drawing?”

Mike: (speaking to audience) Why, I’ve been drawing since I was YOUR age!”

Sunday’s con ended pretty much with me getting the last autograph given out by George Pérez, the other half of the creative duo responsible for Crisis On Infinite Earths, making my copy now Perfect. I actually had been looking for him all weekend, but some misinformation on the part of the con made it so that I had to rely on a friend to tell me exactly where he was located.

This is probably a good time to talk about some of the issues I had with the con, some legitimate, some simply personal preference. First was that there was NO schedule chart for the con on the website or with the con guide, and it made scheduling for anything impossible. At some point I just decided to abandon the notion of having a well-constructed plan for the day and just did whatever, as you may have noticed. Also the con guide itself was horribly out of date, which just compounded the problems.

New York Comic Con is a professionally-run for-profit convention, and it shows in many ways, not least of which is the fact that the Dealer’s Room is the centerpiece of the whole thing. Being located in NYC, home of Marvel and DC Comics, it allows them to get a lot of professionals and to really play that part of it up. This is good in that it gives you access to a lot of pros you wouldn’t meet otherwise, but the overall result is that a lot of the panels have a pure PR-type of feel to it, and only guys such as the Penny Arcade dudes can bridge this gap. Compare this with the also-professionally-run New York Anime Fest, which had its share of problems too but also had a greater fan aspect to it, with panels run by non-professionals.

NYCC is also, at least for me, a commuter con, and commuter cons feel very different from cons for which you stay at a very nearby hotel. I prefer the latter. I also have this strange feeling that the con floor is not good for walking as my soles were aching all day.

But I criticize because I love. Or something.

The con was over, but the day was still young, so a group of us consisting of some common friends, the Reverse Thieves, and Sub traveled to Kinokuniya and Book-Off, where we claimed many wonderful prizes. The highlight for me was another volume of La Sommelière and a copy of the Matsumoto Leiji manga Big Metal III. Sub purchased many excellent things, and I’m expecting him to review them all. YOU’D BETTER, MAN.

Riding the train home, saying my farewells (until next time), it was overall an enjoyable con, though murder on my feet.

I leave you then with this realistic rendition of Sho Sakurai fangirls at NYCC.

My Attention Leans Towards Ogiue’s Sweet Voice

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It is not unlike spicy butter.

I’ve spoken previously about the fact that the Japanese special edition Genshiken manga Volume 9 came with a drama CD. What I haven’t spoken about is how it differs from the two drama CDs which followed it.

The two drama CDs released with Genshiken 2 seem to take place more firmly in the “anime,” while the first drama CD, having been packaged with the manga, seems to be more manga-esque. There’s a complete lack of background music unlike the later drama CDs.

The big difference though is the sound. While the later two drama CDs seem to have a very straightforward approach, the first one plays with stereo sound a lot. When one character walks across the room, you can hear his or her footsteps going from one speaker to the next. At one point the conversation splits off, with the guys talking in one part of the room, and the girls talking in the other. It’s pretty much impossible to listen to both conversations at once, so you begin to favor one over the other. Naturally, I pay more attention to Ogiue’s conversation, but what this also means is that you can benefit from listening to it at least twice to really get into each side’s conversation.

This was also clearly Mizuhashi Kaori’s first recording as Ogiue as she sounds a little softer than she does in Genshiken 2, not quite yet fully adapting to the bluntness of Ogiue.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS ANIME?”

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I was on the bus, and on it was a group of kids probably no older than 13, discussing plans to make some kind of successful manga and anime. I couldn’t hear them too well, but some interesting things came up.

The conversation had clearly been going for a while. Then one of the kids starts talking about how “there’ll be a manga,” which gets another kid whose been part of the conversation to ask, “What’s manga?”

A third kid sitting across said, “Manga is like anime,” which then prompted the response, “WHAT THE FUCK IS ANIME?” The kid who knew nothing about anime was clearly annoyed that they’d been discussing the topic for a while and not teaching the uninformed what these unusual words meant. The third kid tries to explain, by having him compare the words anime and animation to see if the point gets across, and then going into some details, describing the difference as only kids in junior high can. It appeared to be unsuccessful overall, though in the end the non-anime kid had one thing to say:

“Manga? IT’S A COMIC!”

Clark Kenshiro

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Listen to Some Super Fani Thoughts and Opinions on Winter 2009

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Super Fanicom’s Voice Module has a new episode and once again I’m on there along with the fine folks at Super Fanicom and TheBigN. You’ll get some nice discussions on anime of today, anime of yesterday, and other various topics.

Also anime afros.

Book Off 20% Off Sale

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For those of you who like manga at extra-affordable prices and live near a Book Off, you should know that Book Off is having a sale now until the end of February. They’re taking 20% off anything that doesn’t already cost $1.00, and this is on top of the already low prices that Book off gets due to having primarily used merchandise.

I myself picked up two volumes of La Sommelière and two volumes of Nazo no Kanojo X. Don’t worry though, Book Off also has English-translated manga for sale too.

The New York store is selling the third Gloizer-X box set for only $162. If that doesn’t get you out of your seat, I don’t know what will!

Less than 1 Week Until New York Comic Con

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Let’s see what fun surprises are in store for us.

Not really much in the way of anime-relevant guests but for comics in general the guest list is astounding. You have Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Brian Michael Bendis, ART SPIEGELMAN, Gabe and Tycho, and Marv Wolfman and George Perez, among many others. And I hear the Ravedactyl artist’s alley table is gonna be back this year. Let’s hope the man himself also makes an appearance!

Panels and screenings are a bit more anime/manga-relevant but still kind of hilarious. “Turning A Bestselling Series into Manga: A Dark-Hunter Journey.” Well, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

There’s the Live Action Yatterman movie which I feel needs some watching.

The Fujoshi Files 8: Nidou Kaneru

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Name: Nidou, Kaneru (二道かねる)
Alias: Kaneru　(かねる)
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Doujin Work

Information:
Nidou Kaneru is a young office assistant who draws doujinshi on the side and dreams of entering the world of professional manga. What Nidou lacks in talent, she makes up for with enthusiasm. Nidou Kaneru is very enthusiastic.

Originally not a fan of male/male relationships, she is convinced to start drawing yaoi by fellow doujin artist Tsuyuri aka Pantsuko. Although she is unable to sell even a single copy at first, Nidou does gain a degree over success over time. However, whenever she entertains the notion of quitting her dayjob to draw full time, her friends are quick to remind her of the merits of steady employment.

Nidou tends to act in a manner not quite befitting her age, and is patronized by everyone from higher-ups at work to elementary school students. Her main rival is the money-loving doujin artist Osana Najimi, and her best friend is her peace-loving teddy bear Aeolus.

Fujoshi Level:
Although Nidou Kaneru starts off drawing guy-on-guy doujinshi at the recommendation of another, it does not make her any less authentic as a fujoshi. After her artistic transformation, Nidou is unable to see two men together without thinking of the possibilities, whether it be two men who actually hate each other or even brothers.

Wine Is in Her Blood: La Sommelière Volume 3

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The central theme of La Sommelière is that wines are capable of carrying special meanings for people from all walks of life, with very different levels of experience with wine. Volume 3 exemplifies this theme even more than in previous volumes. In this volume, the wine-tasting men are separated from the boys, L’espoir gets a new chef, old men get a new lease on life, and apprentice Sommelière Itsuki Cana learns that her father Itsuki Kouchi, whom she’s never met, was once infamously known among Japanese wine enthusiasts as the “Swindler.”

When the assistant of Japan’s #1 wine critic Minoshima Ryouichi visits L’espoir with revenge in mind, he instead is tricked into believing a bottle of Lieu-Dit Clos de Mont-Rachet is a real Montrachet. Shocked that he could fail despite all his time spent with Minoshima, Minoshima explains that the key to the deception was that the wine was served late. Chardonnay, more than even other white wines, is influenced heavily by small changes in temperature, and the increased dryness that resulted from a slightly warmer bottle of Clos de Mont-Rachet was able to fool his inexperienced taste buds. Minoshima then fires the assistant and kicks him out of the car. For Minoshima, fine wine is like fine art, and to be strung into a petty squabble over wine diminishes everyone involved.

In one instance, Cana comes across a self-proclaimed “genius chef” named Mizushima Kazuki who laments that not only is all wine terrible but that the people of Japan are unable to appreciate his cooking. Cana reprimands him, and gives him a glass of vintage 2000 Domaine Carneros Le Rêve, a California wine which won the title of “Best Sparkling Wine in America.” The flavor of apples, lychee, and carneros, a unique combination indicative of the diversity of America, shows Mizushima that perhaps the fault lie not with his patrons being unable to appreciate his cuisine, but rather with Mizushima being unable to understand the tastes of his customers. Grateful, Mizushima ends up being L’espoir’s new chef when their old one quits.

In another instance, Cana serves two decades-long business partners a 2004 Müller-Thurgau, a Japanese white wine from Hokkaido. The two men are shocked that a Japanese wine could be so delicious. Cana goes on to explain that the history of the wine was similar to their history as business partners.  The Müller-Thurgau vineyard began in 1975 with the goal of creating a respectable Japanese white wine. However, Hokkaido’s climate is unsuitable for making wine, and a general trend at the time towards red wine and away from white made it even more difficult. Despite these disadvantages, the Müller-Thurgau persevered and found success, much like them.

Finally, in the case of Cana’s father, an old friend of his named Saeki (a rich, wide-eyed, elderly man introduced in Volume 1) explains  to Cana that the reason he was known as the “Swindler” was because Kouichi was notorious for passing off cheap wines as valuable ones. To reinforce his point, Saeki shows Cana the wines that her father left behind as a legacy,  all of them inexpensive French wines such as Chateau Tour Des Gendres Bergerac Rouge. However, Cana immediately realizes that her father wasn’t trying to deceive people, he was trying leave behind the message that all wines have their place in the world. This point is made stronger by the fact that despite Saeki’s own extensive collection, these simple wines are nowhere present except in Kouichi’s box.

Wine plays a very significant role in La Sommelière. It dictates the pacing of the narrative, and educates while simultaneously enhancing the story and drama. The story now has two underlying plots: Cana’s pursuit of the mysterious benefactor John Smith, and the history of her father Itsuki Kouichi. The artwork continues to be very appropriate given the subject matter, and the conventional panel layouts lead the viewer’s eyes well. Everything works together to just make it a pleasant reading experience. Whether you read just one chapter or all of them, La Sommelière is the kind of story that lets you take in as much as you want.