Category Archives: manga

Narrow Scope vs Limited Involvement

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The fact that I love looking at anime’s history should be no secret to anyone who’s kept up with this blog since its inception. I’ll watch shows new and old in a desire to understand better anime’s history. At some point I’ll spout facts about some show that aired 30 years ago and the effect it had on the industry and the fans, but then I’ll take a step back when I realize that as hard as I argue about the strength and influence of a show 30 years old, the fact that I was not alive 30 years ago means that my words lack personal involvement. I can watch Evangelion. I can read about how significant it is to Japan from the words of a Japanese person intimately familiar with it and its effects. And yet, I was not actually there.

“You had to be there” is a phrase which implies that the idea that hindsight or observation from the rails of history cannot accurately convey the totality of an experience. If someone posts a video of the Otakon 2008 JAM Project concert on Youtube, and doesn’t think much of it, I’d probably say the same thing. The problem here however is that when I’m deep inside the fandom, when I’m keeping up with shows as they come out and experiencing things firsthand, I feel it difficult to step back and simply observe. The classic example as it relates to me is that while I can talk about my experience living in Japan, I cannot talk about anything i did not do there. I can relate my personal feelings on a topic, having seen what I’ve seen first-hand, but the scope can seem narrow. Sure I can talk to friends and friends of friends and ask online about something going on right now, but it’s hard to get any indication of what’s actually going on.

And yet, when people talk about the anime of year’s past, the information seems most real when it is relied by the people who were knee-deep in it. Their words and stories are fueled by recollections of their own emotional involvement. At the same time, it’s difficult to actually get an accurate image. I guess it’s the task of those of us observing from afar to piece together various sources into something resembling a sensible answer. Still, I can’t help but feel that doing so detracts from the authenticity of my voice.

How does one argue about an anime from 30 years ago with a person who watched that show 30 years ago?

There’s Cake in There

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I COULD Get in Trouble for This: Christopher Handley and the CBLDF

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Today I decided to donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) to support Christopher Handley, a man who has been charged with possession of “obscene” material, in this case a certain unspecified manga. I was already convinced that I should support the CBLDF weeks ago when Neil Gaiman posted an illuminating essay on the matter, one which reinforced beliefs I already hold, but I hesitated. With the additional passionate calls for help from respected anime industry members Carl Horn and Jason Thompson, what began as good intent on my part became a concrete action.

If you’re unsure as to whether or not it’s worth helping out the CBLDF, the arguments given by Neil Gaiman, Carl Horn, and Jason Thompson are all far more convincing than anything I could say. I am not going to argue that porn reduces sex crimes, or the difference between a 2D fetish and a 3D one, or any of those things which are missing the point. Instead, what I am going to describe below are the reasons why I made the decision to donate, and my fundamental feelings on the matter.

It is my belief that art, which I’m using as a general term for creative works, exists to express ideas and emotions, and that art’s strength is directly related to its diversity. No matter the quality or intent of the artist, their work matters because it contributes ideas. They may be wrong, they may be completely misguided, but they still have the right to express themselves, especially if such things are kept in private. Obtaining art, be it by your own creating hand or by the wallet in your pocket, whether you are the maker or the taker, is an extension of this idea.

Let’s disregard the actual content of the manga in question, and just pretend that it is the most vile, disgusting thing you can imagine. It affects you negatively on both an emotional and ideological level, and you wouldn’t be caught dead taking so much as a glance at it. And let’s say that, given the reprehensible content, this manga could influence someone to make a big mistake. It could be the catalyst which drives someone to endanger human lives. There is a difference however between “could” and “did,” and “could” and “will.”

If you’re allowed to punish someone for something they could do, then where do you draw the line? What factors go into determining whether or not someone is capable of committing a crime? And even if you could determine a method that would differentiate those who “can” from those who “cannot,” how are you to tell someone to simply stop how they feel?

Human beings are emotional creatures, and we often cannot help how we think or feel, even when we know those thoughts and emotions are unhealthy. And while you can tell someone that their feelings are wrong or dangerous and be right, you also cannot force someone to have the emotions you expect them to. Yes, if someone acts purely on their emotions without regard for others, then it is a problem. This is why humans are also rational creatures: reason tempers emotion. But if we punish someone because their thoughts are troubled, or that their emotions and ideas have been put to paper, then we give no opportunity for reason to play its role in human thought. We are punishing someone for what they could do, and humans being what they are, that would mean that we are all already guilty of something.

The Fun of Collaborative Top 10 Lists

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Or Top 20, 50, 100, etc.

Anime and manga are full of these things. There’s lists in Shounen Jump series ranking the popularity of their characters. There’s Saimoe, which is essentially one giant list. Every forum in every language devotes some time to getting together to compile a list of most (and occasionally least) favorites. I like looking at these things, but it’s not just to see how high my favorites place, though I’m always pleased to see them do well. The real point of looking at lists is to observe any trends that may be happening, even if it’s trends simply among a very vocal minority.

You can infer all sorts of information from ranking lists. Take a look at the Top Anime list on My Anime List. It says a lot about the people who bother to participate in My Anime List. Gurren-Lagann right now enjoys the #1 spot with a lot of people having viewed it. When you remember that not only was it well-regarded during its fansub days but that it also recently finished airing on Sci-Fi Network it makes a lot of sense. By comparison, when you look at the high ranking from Legend of the Galactic Heroes in contrast with its relatively low number of viewers, you know it has a loyal fanbase. Those who bother to watch it at all come away astounded. When a very old work or character places high on a list, you know that something is up and this one is probably going to be fondly remembered for a long time.

The real fun though is from the inherent drama that comes from trying to make lists. There’s always tons of passionate arguing as people defend their characters with sweat and tears. Even if you don’t look at the arguments which precede or follow the list, the list iself is like a condensed summary of all the debate and hair-pulling that may have happened.

Dragonball: Evolution Trailer is More Disappointing the Second Time Around

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Let’s face it, the Dragonball: Evolution trailer is exactly what we thought it would look like when he saw the words “Dragonball” and “Hollywood” together. That darkish color scheme, that voiceover, that trying-hard-to-be-cool-and-relevant feeling, it’s all there just as it was there in our minds. No one should be surprised. Disappointed yes, but not surprised.

When I first watched the trailer I wasn’t paying full attention and there was a scene where a vehicle transforms. Originally I heard Goku say, “Boom,” and I thought, “Hey that’s a pretty clever reference to those comical clouds of smoke that said “BOMB” in big block letters whenever anyone used a Capsule Corp. Capsule in the original material.” Maybe there was an inkling of hope after all.

But no, he actually said, “Cool.”

I’m still gonna go see the movie anyway.

And then hope that James Marsters manages to pull a good performance out of it, like Raul Julia as M. Bison.

A Never-Ending Journey

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Headfuns

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Playing Yu-Gi-Oh the Manga Way

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There’s Yu-Gi-Oh the manga, which begat Yu-Gi-Oh the trading card game. Yu-Gi-Oh as a TCG has a ton of rules and cards, and the game is enjoyed by many, but you always get that impression that what’s happening in the real life TCG isn’t quite lining up with what’s happening in the original comic or its anime adaptations. The disparity comes from two points. 1) In the original stories, the cool strategies are always played at vital moments to add tension and 2) the cards in the actual TCG are based upon cards whose powers were simply made up by the author without concern for balance or those silly things that a game needs to actually be competitive. The solution then is to make a system to play Yu-Gi-Oh the Manga Way. Best part is, you don’t even need Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

Two players have their imaginary decks with the minimum amount of cards necessary a draw the right number of cards. Use whatever rules you want, but they have to be established ones, like Battle City or Duelist Kingdom for example. When they play a card face up, they declare it to be whatever they want. If they play a card face down, the card in play is not actually determined until it’s flipped up. This means it can essentially be anything before it’s revealed. The same goes for the cards in your hand. They can be anything until the cards are actually shown. Of course this means if there’s any cards if one player has that forces the other to show their cards, then the identity of those cards becomes locked in place.

Still, with the ability to make cards whatever you want, the game could quickly become unplayable. The key then is that every time you do something drastic, it takes away from the amount of “miracles” you have. A miracle is basically believing in the Heart of the Cards, or in the will to victory, or using the power of Plot Devices. It’s the meter you have for pulling off the most ridiculous moves possible and turning the whole match around, or even just coming back a little from a disadvantageous position. The more powerful the turnaround, the more quickly your miracles deplete. If you’re out of miracle power, then you’re victim to your opponent’s. Playing longer, more complex miracles that use multiple cards will not cost as much as playing single game-changing cards though. And there’d be a way to build up meter as well, possibly by taking hits and allowing yourself into a disadvantageous position, or to simply let things happen as they should.

Manga-style Yu-Gi-Oh becomes a game of rationing your “luck” while being faithful to the canon you’ve established for each individual game. Do you press your luck early on? Do you wait until you’re low on life for a big comeback? Do you perform small miracles consistently in order to keep in an advantageous position? Do you trick your opponent into using their miracles at the wrong time?

I’m sure this game isn’t actually balanced but I can pretend it is.

Giving Shounen Jump Fans the Bird

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Weekly Shounen Jump is celebrating its unbelievable 40th anniversary, and as part of the festivities Shounen Jump has all-new episodes of three of its series. By downloading their own proprietary media player, you can actually watch these episodes subtitled for free until January 2009. One of the titles is One Piece, another is Letter Bee (which I know nothing about). I’ll get to One Piece and Letter Bee’s exclusive episodes another time; this is all about perennial favorite Dragon Ball.

Akira Toriyama’s most famous work is by far the most popular Shounen Jump properties of all time, its worldwide success is rivaled by few other. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that there hasn’t been any new Dragon Ball anime for a long, long time. Even in America the final episodes of GT aired years ago. But some would argue that at some point the Dragon Ball series took a bit of a detour and lost some of its original spirit. Among these critics might be Toriyama himself as this new Dragon Ball anime special feels very much like a return to form, and it’s written by Toriyama too. “Yo! The Return of Son-Goku and Friends!!!” is like a combination of everything that made Dragon Ball popular throughout its incarnations rolled into one.

The story is about Mr. Satan opening up a new hotel to celebrate his victory over Majin Boo and inviting Goku and Friends over for a sumptuous banquet. Some new characters show up, stuff blows up and things get eaten. Really, the story is just a flimsy excuse to get everyone together and for chaos to happen, and it’s the type of chaos which combines the fighting of Z with the humor of the original. Kamesennin is back to wearing his old turtle shell and making lewd comments towards Chi-chi, Goku powers up to Super Saiyan just because, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance but not really. It’s just a single-episode adventure dedicated to the fans and it really shows.

The most notable addition is the introduction of Vegeta’s little brother, Tarble. I’ll let the pun sink in for a second before I move on.

Man, Toriyama.

Tarble would be a spoiler except he’s right there on the front page and in the character descriptions, so he’s fair game. Tarble was sent away long ago by King Vegeta because Tarble lacked any sort of fighting prowess. Having avoided much of the events of Dragon Ball, Tarble even still has his tail. With the existence of Tarble now revealed, it just makes me think that every time Vegeta said something like “WE ARE THE LAST SAIYANS IN THE UNIVERSE KAKARROT!” he was murmuring under his breath, “exceptforthatotheronehrmrmrmr.”  Well Dragon Ball was never super big on maintaining canon anyway so it’s no big deal. It’s just another way of humanizing Vegeta just a little because you’d have expected him to fly over to Tarble at some point and punch him in the face for being so weak. Then again, Vegeta might respect the fact that Tarble tries to fight even when he sucks at it. I’m thinking too much about this, but how could I not when I now know that Vegeta is also Reinhard Von Lohengramm?

If you’re a Dragon Ball fan, I really don’t have to tell you to go watch this, but go watch this. If you’re not a fan of Dragon Ball, or you’re the kind who complains about powering up taking too long, keep in mind that this is just one 20-something minute episode and there’s no time to waste on powering up excessively and standing around. There isn’t even an deserted area in the middle of nowhere to fight and blow things up in! There’s only Mr. Satan’s hotel.

Poor, poor Mr. Satan.

The Final Week Before Destruction

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Language Destruction that is.

As a reminder once again, December 7th is the day of the JLPT for everyone around the world for all levels. This is also the final year that the JLPT will have only 4 levels. Much like how I went to the final Comic Revolution, I find myself inadvertently a part of history: Japanese-related dork history.

I feel much more confident about my kanji than ever. Studying piece by piece every day, even small 20-minute run-throughs on the train and then refreshing my memory over the past two or three weeks seems to have helped a lot. Improving my kanji has also of course improved my reading comprehenshion, and that’s the section that worries me the most for the JLPT2 because it’s simply worth the most points. You can live or die by the reading comprehension. Still not completely confident in it yet, but I didn’t expect to be. I’m getting more out of those wine explanations in between chapters of La Sommelière though.

Listening can still be tricky just because the listening section intentionally tries to deceive you. Listening to anime? Insufficient. Listening to Japanese news programs? Too difficult. Listening to radio shows by voice actors talking about stuff? A compromise of sorts.

Grammar is better, still not great. Finally have a good handle on Wa and Ga particles.

Here we go. One week left for just one chance.