Sunset on Somerset: AnimeNext 2015

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Intro

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 Seven opening, 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.

So, see you in Atlantic City?

[Waku Waku +NYC Blog] E3 2015: Is it Hip to be Square (Enix)?

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I wrote a brief post thinking through the idea of E3 and the notion of trying to be cool while also appealing to your very serious investors.

Miyamoto Ariana, “Japanese-ness,” and Black Cosplay

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This is a sponsored post. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to be a patron of Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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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.

Waku Waku +NYC Blog: Top 10 New York Anime and Manga Characters

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seo

I wrote a post about my favorite anime and manga characters from New York City. You’ll notice that many of them are orphans or something like that.

Ass-Kicking and Bubble Gum Both Still in Supply: Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go

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precure5gogo-team

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.

precure5gogo-lemonade

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.

precure5gogo-spinylobster

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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Basement Reloaded: Special Edition NYC 2015

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How do you make a convention or event feel big and small at the same time? There’s a combination of intent and circumstances at work, including how it looks, to how easily people can move around, to how interactive both fans and guests are. Some things are simply out of a convention’s control, and even the idea of “massive yet humble” can be a double-edged sword. For better or worse, this is what Special Edition NYC felt like. Set at a warehouse (or something like that) that gave the event an industrial feel that harkened back to the days of comics as less of a mainstream presence, yet still on some level undeniably a different world compared to those times.

Special Edition NYC is an event run by Reed Pop, the people behind the massive New York Comic Con. According to official material, the point of Special Edition is to focus on the comics themselves, rather than the movies, the TV shows, and all of the media and publicity that has come from the comics. Away from the massive signage labeling entities as “DC, Marvel, or other,” (though at this point do they really need it give the iconic nature of their characters), it was interesting to be in an environment where artists didn’t really have to associate themselves too much with one company or identity. After all, many artists or writers do both independent and company work at one point or another, and this allows attendees and creators to be about the people themselves. It’s a nice feeling.

Because I was away in Europe for so long, and because I primarily devote my increasingly scarce free time to manga and anime, I have felt something of a disconnect with American comics. While I can’t ever totally remedy it, I did approach Special Edition both with a desire to learn more and perhaps break some of my lingering preconceptions about American comics while still aware of the fact that superheroes are less an actual dominant force in American comics and more just woven into the fabric of American culture that it’s what people often mentally default to. To that effect, I made two purchases. Battle Bug by Joven Tolentino, Aleksis Shi, Sekou Noel, and Dante Crayon from Hijack Press is a loving send-up of the localization of Kamen Rider Black into Masked Rider.  Emily and the Strangers: Breaking the Record by Rob Reger, Mariah Huehner, and Cat Farris from Dark Horse Comics is the sequel to Emily the Strange, and about trying to start a new band with an occult guitar. It has has a cute, vibrant style I really enjoy. I also attended the Image Comics panel run by David Brothers, and I find it amazing that his genuine passion for comics motivates people to find out more. It’s the kind of marketing I want to see more of.

There are two criticisms I have for Special Edition NYC, one more from what friends and other fellow attendees informed me, and one more personal. First, many people went to Special Edition just for the chance to purchase a ticket to this year’s New York Comic Con, and had to line up for hours and hours. While this is on some level inevitable, I heard that the people running the line sold tickets at an awfully slow rate, exacerbating the situation. Second, the ventilation at the venue was significantly less than ideal. Towards the back of the place, I could actually feel myself getting light-headed. At first, I thought it was due to a lack of sleep or perhaps an illness coming on, but as soon as I stepped outside it went away. I really hope they fix that problem, if only because it prevents people from being able to discover more.

I’d definitely like to come back next year, and it’ll be interesting to see if it grows further. I’ve heard that last year the event was sparsely attended, but this year there was a clear and obvious population increase. The spirit to focus on the comics themselves is quite welcome in a world where comics are becoming in a way more about movies than actual sequential art.

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If you liked this post, consider becoming a sponsor of Ogiue Maniax through Patreon. You can get rewards for higher pledges, including a chance to request topics for the blog.

Also, if you’ve been looking for an event to fill the hole left by the absence of New York Anime Festival, check out Waku Waku +NYC.

 

See Ogiue Maniax Panels at AnimeNext 2015!

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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.

Waku Waku +NYC Blog: Lolita Fashion in Pokémon

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800px-XY_Valerie

Lolita fashion has made quite a few appearances in Pokemon, so I decided to write about them. If I were to allow more of my personal taste in though, it’d mostly be a post about how Valerie/Mache is the best Kalos Gym Leader.

Large bug eyes and elaborate “Wa Lolita” outfits are totally my speed.

The Fujoshi Files 138: Katsura Mimi

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Name: Katsura, Mimi (桂美々)
Alias: N/A
Relationship Status: Single
Origin: Fate kaleid/liner PRISMA☆ILLYA

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.

Waku Waku +NYC Blog: Why I’m Excited About Inafune Keiji

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New York City Anime/Japanese Pop Culture Festival Waku Waku +NYC recently announced the appearance of Inafune Keiji as a special guest, known for his work on Mega Man and Mighty No. 9, and I got the opportunity to write a piece on Inafune.

ALSO IF YOU BUY A VIP PASS BY 11:59PM EST ON JUNE 7TH YOU’LL BE GUARANTEED TO MEET INAFUNE

A lot of people probably know his story already, and if you’ve followed Ogiue Maniax over the years, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Mega Man and Inafune, whether it’s analyzing the sprites in terms of their usage of black pixels, creating my own Robot Masters, or creating a guide on how to use Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. I pledged to the Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter almost as soon as I could.

I know it’s not the first time he’s been to the US, but if you’re on the east coast especially, I think it’s worth it to come meet Inafune in person.