The Anime Almanac

I hated the Lucky Star theme song at first. It was anticipated to be, like everything about Lucky Star, the second coming of Haruhi and it’s very popular ending theme song. But it turned out to be nothing like Haruhi at all. After the first episode of the show aired in Japan and someone had posted the opening on Youtube, I was left scratching my head over this strange creature…

click to play in new window

The theme starts off with a spoken-word introduction (aimai san senchi…) and then goes into an entire verse of spoken-word lyrics (Nanka daru, nanka deru, aishiteru…). While this is not quite rapping, it still has enough of the rhythm to it that you can’t quite call it free-verse either. The song then breaks into semi-singable verse (Bon-bon, ooendan..) which builds into a full-blown j-pop chorus (Motte ike, saigo ni waracchau no wa atashi no hazu…). And just before the song is over, it calls back to the spoken-word introduction.

This semi-rap aspect of the song was just too unusual for me, so I thought it was an epic failure of a theme song. But after listening to it a couple of times, I started to like it. Not only did I start to like it, I was loving it. It’s odd style of the spoken word verses made them very memorable. I found myself saying things like “Let’s get, cherry pie” to myself all the time. I became a total fanboy for this theme song!

Originality is rare in the anime business, and the Lucky Star theme shows that taking creative risks can pay off in the long run. But that kind of success can come with a price…

(more…)

Instead of appending this to my ANN editorial last week, I figure this deserves an entire post by itself. I’ve been getting a bunch of good emails regarding this topic. Apparently I’m not the only one dissatisfied with this new direction for ANN.

I was very worried about criticizing the ANN because who am I to judge journalism when all I do is program computers? However, Cameron of In Search of Number Nine actually has a background in journalism, and he’s not happy either:

(more…)

This was my first year at the New York Comic Con. I went to the event expecting it to be similar to the New York Anime Festival last December. After all, it was in the same venue and it was being run by the same group of people. So I was in for a huge surprise when I discovered that this convention was actually over six times the size of the Anime Fest. It was pretty overwhelming.

The dealer’s room was massive and crowded. I only bought two books and then had to get the hell out of there. I didn’t find much solace in the panel section either, as a triple shot of Avatar, Venture Bros, and Robot Chicken panels turned the hall into a madhouse. But I did get to see some awesome events, like a live performance from geek superstar Jonathan Coulton (followed by his autograph) and the fantastic TM Revolution concert at the end of the day. Even if TMR does look like a girl, the bright lights, heavy guitars, and bouncing electronica made for a great show.

But as an anime fan, what was the biggest shocker for me on Saturday was the panel from newcomer manga publisher Yen Press. While the anime industry is pretty easy to keep tabs on, the manga industry has grown so big and flexible over the years that I just cannot keep up with all the changing. Because of this, my mind breaks the manga industry into only four categories: Tokyopop, Del Rey, VIZ, and none of the above. I cannot tell you the difference between a Seven Seas release and a Comics One title, only that they are not done by any of the big three.

So that is why Yen Press has flown under my radar up until last Saturday. I had no interest in the company, and I was originally just going to skip over the panel to go to some Star Wars thing. But after sitting through VIZ and Del Rey that morning, I decided to just stay at my seat, finish uploading my pictures to Twitter, and listen to what this group had to say. The other press around me noted that this was the “none of the above” publisher that was going to put out the Haruhi comic and novel. At the very least, I would be able to crack the joke, “Hannah Montana meets Heroes? Really?”

Man, was I wrong.

(more…)

In Search of Number Nine brought up a very good observation last weekend. Why is the popular anime news website, Anime News Network, doing a spring anime preview? The website has dabbled in such articles in the past, usually being written by an anonymous collection of the websites’ writers and presented in one long feature. But this season, they’re going all out with promising 24/7 reporting of all the new shows fresh from Japan. It’s a move that appears to be blending the website with the anime blogging community, and I must say, I think I preferred it if they stayed where they were before…
(more…)

Last week, I made the pretty bold claim that Gonzo studio was about to change everything with their new release model for the Tower of Druaga and BLASSREITER. On Friday and Saturday, Gonzo followed through on their promise by releasing the shows’ premiere episodes online immediately following their broadcast on Japanese TV. English-speaking fans all over the world could watch the subtitled video for free on YouTube, or they could pay to download a video copy that was not restricted by copy-protection on Crunchyroll or BOST TV.

So how did Gonzo do on their first week of this experiment?

Better than I expected.

(more…)

Anime should be the poster child on how the internet changes the world. Here you have a very particular type of entertainment that solely originates from one tiny corner of the planet. It is produced by Japanese, filled with influences from the Japanese culture, and is created specifically for the Japanese audience. However, now that the whole world is easily connected to each other via the internet, this medium is being introduced to a brand new audience in complete foreign markets. Anime has now become fully global, and it grows in popularity every day. Now whenever the Japanese make a new show, the whole world is watching.

But have the Japanese even realized that yet?

In a way, anime has already become the poster child of the power of the internet. Unfortunately, it has done so by the elaborate system of pirating and illegal distribution. When a new anime is aired on Japanese TV, fans take a digital recording of the broadcast and add subtitles to the show in their own native language. These “fansubs” are then illegally redistributed over the internet for others to find and watch very easily. Bittorrent tracking sites and other meccas of illegal downloads contain sections dedicated specifically to anime and distinguish it separately from domestic TV and film.

Bittorrent sites dedicate entire sections to anime.

This fansubbing system is illegal and often very shady, but it is quick and efficient. A new show reaches a foreign audience with in days rather than the years it would take to license a show for foreign DVD distribution. Wouldn’t you think that the Japanese companies would want to take advantage of this new form of distribution? After all, it has been a system in operation for many years now without any sign of slowing down or falling apart.

American anime distributors have most certainly seen this writing on the walls for quite some time. As internet bandwidth gets faster and less expensive in the US, then the more and more American otaku get on board the fansub bandwagon. By the time a new show makes it to American DVD, it has already become yesterday news to many. That is why it is no surprise that the anime DVD market has seen a decline in sales in recent years. The internet is changing the market.

That not to say that the American companies are doing nothing about it. They are most certainly trying to change and adapt by offering their content on paid download services. I wrote a very lengthy summary of this earlier this year. But like I said in that essay, these services have several fatal flaws. Most of them are copy-protected with Digital Rights Management (DRM) software and will not play on Macs or any other non-Windows machines. Funsubs, on the other hand, have no DRM and play just fine on all my computers. Also, many are priced considerably high and do not offer any free, ad-supported solutions, which could turn away many fans who are not sure if they are going to even like the show in the first place.

DRM’ed video downloads do not work on Mac

But another interesting point that I mentioned in that blog post was how FUNimation wanted to put their entire catalog online for download, but were prevented from doing so due to objections from the Japanese licensors. Later on, FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga did an interview where he once again expressed a desire to expand into the online market with anime by fallowing the fansub model of free video with no DRM. However, the Japanese licensors would not allow it.

The Japanese are holding back the full potential of anime over the internet!

The Japanese are turning out to be very concerned and paranoid over the internet and illegal downloads. They have recently made the news for threatening to cut off internet access to anyone caught doing it. With the Japanese licensors refusing to budge like this, it made me very angry to think that they were holding back American distributors from making progress. And when Bandai Visual USA tried pushing their own DRM’ed video service from Japan to America two weeks ago, I was infuriated. Again, this copy-protection video does not work on any of my Mac computers. Was this their idea of “progress” in the American market?

And then three days later, the Japanese company GDH, which many are familiar with as the anime studio Gonzo, made an announcement that is going to change everything about anime and the internet.

Gonzo’s two newest series, The Tower of DRUAGA and BLASSREITER will be simultaneously released online with English subtitles the same day as it is broadcasted on Japanese TV. Starting later this week, viewers all over the world will be able to see the two show streaming for free on the popular site YouTube.com, or they can purchase a DRM-free video download from the newcomer service BOST TV.

Official website links to video services

Wait a minute… huh? Is that correct? Is Gonzo utilizing the same system that fansubbers have been using for years?

You bet they are, and they are probably going to do it much better than current fansubbers do.

Think about it, fansubbers. Think about that brand new episode that you’re just itching to get the raw of so that you can be the first to post your subtitled version on Bittorrent. If you’re not the first, than you’re not going to get the most views and hits. Well, it turns out that Gonzo’s already got that raw video. In fact, they had it back when it really was a “raw” video. And they also took their sweet time subtitling it as well because no matter what happens, they are always going be the first to hit the net with it.

That is just freaking awesome.

But why is Gonzo doing this?

Well, the first you have to consider the way the anime market works in Japan. Anime companies are not making a profit by just their TV broadcasts in Japan. In fact, some even have to pay the stations to broadcast their shows. They use the broadcasts as a marketing tool for future DVD sales. Japanese companies can charge $50 per volume of anime DVD because the series has gained enough of a dedicated fan base through the TV broadcast who are willing to buy the DVD.

This TV-to-DVD strategy is not that different in America. In fact, just looking right now on Amazon.com, I can tell you that the top selling non-theatrical anime DVDs are currently Dragonball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Naruto, all of which have been aired on American television. But most anime is not aired on American TV and do not have that type of exposer. And so anime DVDs are significantly less expensive in America, but the market still struggles to turn a profit without a TV broadcast.

I would have to say that Gonzo’s move is their way of bringing that “mainstream television exposer” of their titles to the overseas market. They are promoting titles that they believe will eventually make their way onto American DVD. And judging by the studio’s track record, odds are that these shows will be picked up sooner or later. The question is will this new move translate to better DVD sales?

First of all, the factor of the timing of DVD release is still critical. You can expose these shows to the fans now, but if it takes years for the DVDs to come out, the hype goes away and many will lose interest in the titles. These two new shows will have at least the first volume DVD released in Japan before the series is finished airing on TV, but it will take at least a year for that DVD to come out in America. That is, if it even comes out at all.

Which is why I’d like to take a look at the BOST TV aspect of this deal. Again BOST TV will offer these shows as a DRM-free video download for $2 per episode or $20 per 12-episode season. That’s DRM-free… as in no copy protection. No restrictions on how you can play the video, no expiration date, and best of all, no need for Windows! This is very revolutionary. None of the other major online video services offer DRM-free video. Not Amazon, not Xbox marketplace, not Netflix, not even my beloved iTunes!

BOST TV becomes the first service to offer DRM-free anime downloads

In my opinion, this is not only the best thing to have ever happen to the online anime industry, it’s also the best thing to happen to online video in general. I look forward to finally being able to legally purchase anime online that is brand new and fully compatible with my Mac computer. In fact, it appears BOST TV will go that extra step in pre-formating the videos to play on iPods, iPhones, and PSP systems. And of course, if you need to convert the video to any other format, you can do so without breaking the DMCA or any other US copyright laws.

That is the beauty of DRM-free. (^_^)

And this brings me back to the question of how Gonzo can profit from this. While neither company will go into details of the deal, I can confirm that Gonzo is actually receiving a cut of the BOST TV sales. That means that when you purchase these downloads, you can be confident that your money is going to fund the people who made these shows possible. And after all the effort they put into subtitling and making the shows easily available, don’t you feel like you kind of owe them a little in return?

But even looking beyond that, I see this as being a completely new and innovative business model for the entire anime industry. The Japanese company is finding a way to monetize the overseas market without having to go through an overseas distributor. They are finally able to profit from the internet audience while the show is brand new and at the peak of its hype, just like a Japanese DVD release does for the Japanese market. And if the show receives a large enough fanbase online, they can pass it off to a foreign distributors to produce DVD collections for those diehard non-Japanese fans who really want it.

That seems to me like a win-win situation. If every company jumps on this bandwagon, then not only will people stop fansubbing, they wouldn’t even have the need to do it. We can all enjoy the freedom of watching anime, paying for what we like, and never having to feel that shame of breaking the law or screwing over the creators.

So while other Japanese companies continue to ignore the potential of the internet bringing anime to a global market, Gonzo stands out and boldly utilizes the pre-established fansub system of distribution. I believe that we owe it to Gonzo to support them completely in this endeavor. If you just want to watch or sample the new shows, then check it out on their free YouTube streaming channel. If you like what you see, then throw down the two bucks and purchase the DRM-free video. Let’s show those other Japanese companies that the world wants anime, and we are willing to play nice if they take the time to include us on it from the very beginning.

Light novels appear to be a newest growing trend among the American anime market. Tokyopop has recently released a number of books that have gone on to become well known in the US for their anime adaptations, such as Crest of the Stars, Welcome to the NHK, and The Twelve Kingdoms. Del Rey will also be releasing Faust Magazine this summer, which is an anthology of written stories and anime illustrations. With all this buzz, I have found myself also getting into the whole light novel scene. In fact, I think that I have read more light novels in the past couple of months than I have read comics. So when Seven Seas offered to send me a review copy of one of their new lines light novels, I more than happily selected one from a favorite series of mine, Pita-Ten.

Pita-Ten originates from the 1999 manga by DiGi Charat creator Koge Donbo. It is the story of Kotarou, a normal kid whose family life is filled with great tragedy. One day, a hyperactive angel-in-training, Misha, shows up at his door and makes it her personal mission to cheer up the lonely boy. Joining the cast are Kotarou’s two best friends, the cute catgirl Koboshi and the pretty boy Takashi, the sweet-as-sugar demon Shia, and the arrogant rich boy Hiroshi.

The manga was adapted into a 26-episode anime in spring of 2002 and has quite possibly the cutest theme song I have ever heard. A series of three light novels by writer Yukari Ochiai were also released that year. The anime still goes unlicensed, but Tokyopop has had the entire manga series released in the US for quite some time now. Seven Seas brings back the franchise with the release of the first Ochiai light novel earlier this month.

Ochiai makes this light novel a “prequel” to the manga series with four episodes about the how the characters got to where they are. The first story shows the tragic events of Kotarou’s childhood and how he became friends with Koboshi and Takashi. The second story is about Misha’s final adventure in Heaven and how she decides to go to Earth. The third story is about Shia’s first encounter with a family on Earth, and the fourth is a goofy look at Hiroshi as he prepares to enter the series.

First of all, I have to start by saying one extreme disadvantage the novel has when comparing it to the comic or anime is the lack of Donbo’s beautiful visuals. Donbo makes being “cute” a work of art, and has quickly won me over as being my favorite female manga artist. However, while her pictures are all phenomenal, her stories tend to be very subpar. The light novel, by nature, only features a hand-full of illustrations. Without the visuals, Pita-Ten would require some serious re-tooling for it to be decent enough to read. That’s why I’m glad that a writer is put in charge of creating the novel instead of Donbo, because they would have a better understanding of how to write prose.

Unfortunately, Ochiai tries too much to copy Donbo’s manga story, and the results do not make for good reading…

The difference between reading a novel and reading a comic is that former requires me draw images from my own experiences in order to visualize the story. This becomes very difficult to do when reading Ochiai’s Pita-Ten because the story becomes too fanciful and cartoonish to even possibly imagine. I became very annoyed with this problem when dealing with Misha’s character in the second episode. Her actions and speech are so outrageous that you have no choice but to see her as an anime character. If I could easily picture anime characters and scenes like that in my head, I would be a manga artist. But I’m not, so I found this story to be completely unreadable and I was begging to just be able to read this episode as comic instead. Surprisingly, this has been the first light novel I have ever had difficulty in believing.

Kotarou’s story in the first episode is not quite as crazy as Misha’s, but it also suffers from complete unbelievability. This is mainly because the story takes place when when everyone is in Kindergarden, but Kotarou still talks like an emotional teenager. Again, this kind of thing would be okay if this was a comic. In a comic, they might set it up as him being in Kindergarden, but Kotarou is not a Kindergardener, he’s a cartoon character. If you can visualize a big-eyed kid with spiky hair, then you can easily suspend your reality enough to believe he can talk like a teenager or adult. But when reading it in a novel, it just makes you go, “Wait a minute… there’s no way that a little kid would possibly say something like that!” and you’re taken out of the story very quickly.

However, when Ochiai goes away from the cartoony manga and focuses more on original characters and plot, this novel becomes quite enjoyable. Shia’s story in the third episode was very good. She becomes friends with a family of three boys, a father, and an only daughter. Because they have trouble maintaining their house, Shia finds a little niche for herself by doing the housework. But this slowly becomes a source of problems for the family when the only daughter begins to fear that Shia is replacing her role in the house.

While the plot of Shia’s story might be a little dull when compared to the others, it is entirely believable and works great in prose. The only “fantasized” element in this episode would be Shia’s talking cat, “Nya.” But this aspect is not too farfetched and is easily imaginable. It was a great read, and I wish the entire novel was written with this type of story.

I was also about to completely throw away the slap-schtick fourth story if it wasn’t for a hilarious bit where Hiroshi goes shopping with two kogals in Shibuya. When Hiroshi first encounters the girls, he berates them for sitting in their squatting positions. This reminded me a lot of an email I got from reader about these squatting girls, which I posted towards the end of this post. So I found Hiroshi’s interactions with these new characters to be very amusing. Again, by stepping out of the “Donbo manga” mentality, Ochiai can write a very enjoyable novel set inside the Pita-Ten universe.

And I do have to give credit to Seven Seas’ production of this novel. Novels take a lot more effort to translate and adapt than manga does, and a bad adaptation would be painfully obvious to any reader. But Seven Seas’ adaption flows perfectly in English with absolutely no noticeable hiccups. It also appears that they took to the time to research how Tokyopop handled the manga adaptation and followed those choices very closely. This allows anyone who has already read the manga to feel very comfortable when switching over to the novel. And at a price point of only $7.95, you get more hours of entertainment with your money than you would with a comic.

That’s why I’m really sad that their source material in this release is just not all that enjoyable. Pita-Ten works great as a comic with Koge Donbo’s beautiful artwork, but Yukari Ochiai fails to turn it into a functional written novel. I suppose if you were really a die-hard fan of the series and could easily visualize the cast’s crazy antics, then the light novel could satisfy your craving for more stories from the Pita-Ten universe. But if you are just a casual fan of the series and enjoy a good read, then you are better off just sticking to the comics.

If there is one thing I can give Ochiai credit for, it’s that she did get me interested in the characters again. After I finished her book, I went back into my collection and dusted off the ol’ Pita-Ten manga to read again for the first time in years.

… and I’ve also been singing “I wiiiiiiiiish, hello, wake up angel!” to myself all week… (>_<)

Warning: This post deals with internet flaming, so be prepared to much more salty language than what I usually write.

Last week’s Q&A section of AnimeNewsNetwork brought up a very interesting question – Just why do anime fans seem to hate each other so much? I was planning on writing on this subject because I have recently witnessed this in action and felt that it needs to be addressed. This kind of belittlement is completely unnecessary, and is even pathetic when you realize that no one else actually hates otaku besides other otaku.

When my post about Manga Hobos made its way around the blogosphere, I got to witness once again how much hatred can be thrown around so quickly from one otaku to another. This response in particular got to me. First of all, he took some cheap shots directly at me for mentioning Ichigo Marshmallow and accused me of being a pervert over it. Well, that is nothing new, and I can defend that point another day. But then he goes into a tirade over yaoi, people using Japanese words and phrases, and somehow ends it with the Japanese invasion of China.

(I’m sure he said some other things in there, but honestly, it’s not an easy post to read all the way through.)

Yet despite this absolute hatred over anime and the American fan community, he very openly admits to being an anime fan himself! “Seriously, I’ve been watching anime for 18 years, and I spend more time on it than any of these kids. The difference, is that I have not somehow forced it into an excuse to be a social and emotional wreck.” Of course, he is far superior to the rest of those scumbags who like anime. His reasons for liking the genre are genuine while everyone else’s reasons are bullshit. And after he’s done insulting myself and every other otaku he can think of, he has certainly proved that “I’m that big of a nerd, and I’m not a fucking douchebag.”

Mr. Douchebag is the prime example of the otaku self-denial and self-deprecation. The only people who take the time to hate otaku are otaku themselves.

I’m reminded of a friend I once had some years ago in my Japanese class. He was completely obsessed with Japanese pop-culture and Japanese pop-music. And even though he wasn’t as much of a anime fan as I was, he still read my blog and thought what I had to say was very interesting.

But as time went by, he started to show a lot more hatred and disgust over anime fans, particularly those who were trying to study the language with him. He really felt that his interest in the culture was better than ours. Then one day, I mentioned to him that I had just become the president of the university’s anime club.

“Oh, you mean the club that everyone sits around an watches animu?” he asks. His voice indicated that it was meant to be a harsh joke.

“Animu?” I question him.

“Yeah, animu! It’s what all the fucking otakus say.”

“Look, I’m about the biggest otaku you’ll ever find, and I have never heard that word before.” And I really hadn’t. But I could tell that he meant it as some kind of derogatory term for anime fans, and I was very insulted by it. And so ended our friendship. For some reason, he just felt like he shouldn’t be classified with the rest of the otaku, even if he was a non-Japanese person obsessed over Japanese culture.

I didn’t hear the word “animu” again until I was introduced to the website 4chan.org. This is a image message board created by anime fans and modeled off of a Japanese message board. The site featured sections dedicated to many different types of anime (hentai, yaoi, yuri, pretty girls, etc), and was sponsored by otaku-merchandising websites.

But despite this huge otaku influence on every page, a majority of the website’s visitors spent their time bashing otaku. Every time someone starts talking about anime or Japan, they get bombarded by the phrase “weeaboo”.

“Weeaboo”, “Wapanese”, and “animu” have been the only major derogatory terms I’ve heard used against American otaku. I can understand the meaning of “Wapanese” since it is a portmanteau of “white” and “Japanese”, but I cannot understand the origins of the other two or why I’m supposed to be insulted by them. When I ask, the only explanation I can get is to refer to the comic shown above, which doesn’t answer any of my questions.

And of course, the only time I hear these phrases are on 4chan or from people who visit 4chan. Since he used some of these words in the anti-otaku tirade I mentioned earlier, I can certainly bet that Mr. Live Journal Douchebag also frequents the website. But the website is the biggest hangout for otaku, so every time I hear these words, I know it comes from pure hypocrisy. This is the reason why I’ve stopped going to that site, and have been better off for it ever since.

Even with all this otaku negativity going on, the fact is that the outside world doesn’t actually hate us. If you ask anyone to describe the negative geek stereotype, the answer will may include “good at math”, “works with computers”, “into Star Trek”, “into comic books”, or “plays Dungeons and Dragons”. However, Anime and manga are not that mainstream yet, so the general public doesn’t make any negative connections with it. In fact, I’ve only had very positive experiences when talking to non-otaku people about being interested in anime. It always seems to be a topic of conversation when I go to job interviews, and I’ve even been interviewed in some local newspapers with articles talking about the trend.

The only time that I’m ever insulted for my interests and tastes in anime is from other otaku, and it is completely unnecessary. So I’m calling out to all you otaku there to please stop hating on one another!

Now I am aware that some people within the otaku community get freaked out by a certain type of otaku you’d find out there. While their numbers are limited, they really stick out among the crowd. I’ve ran two different college anime clubs in my time, and I’ve seen my fair share of them as club members. I’ve also run into many of them at anime cons. Manabu Kuchiki from Genshiken is the perfect characterization of these types of otaku.

These people obviously suffer from some kind of social dysfunction. They feel comfortable in the otaku community because the otaku community is a counter-culture by nature. It’s easy to get mad at them because their behavior can be annoying and unsettling at times, and they are the easiest scapegoats you can find. But you must realize it is not their fault. They are actually good people, and should be commended for their efforts in trying to be sociable despite their disability. Hell, I’ve always found them to be the most active and loyal members of my clubs.

And they do not make up the entire community. They do not give the community a bad name because the only people who see them act like this are already within the community. You’re also not at risk of turning into one of these socially dysfunctional otaku unless you let your fear and anger get the best of you and you start acting stupid, like Mr. Douchebag did on his Live Journal.

So why all the hate, people? We’re all in this together. No one’s reason for being interested in anime or Japanese culture is more genuine or pure than anyone else’s. You could be into shounen, shoujo, yaoi, moé, Naruto, subs, dubs, sci-fi, manga, anime, j-pop, visual-kei, gothic lolita, dating sims, dramas, j-horror, samurai… it doesn’t matter. We’re all part of the same community, and there is no out else out there hating on us but ourselves.

Update: Daniel finally clarifies the origin of “weeaboo” and “animu” for me:

There used to be a filter on 4chan (and still is, for all I know) that changed “wapanese” to “weeaboo”. Presumably there was no reason for this apart from “a mod was tired of seeing people/things get called ‘wapanese’ and decided to filter it to a random nonsense word.” And now people actually type/say “weeaboo” instead of “wapanese”. 4chan is prone to this sort of silliness; it is a silly site.

Many English words “sound Japanese” if you add a vowel to the end of them (as “thank you” becomes “sanku you”), and this is the root of “animu” — it is a joking way to say “anime”. It makes a Japanese word sound “more Japanese.”

Thanks, Daniel! (^_^)

Got a couple of more opinions on the otaku civil war. First up, Seng writes:

[…] what is an OTAKU? Well, in Japanese it means a social RECLUSE who is overly obsessed with any particular things and the kanji 御宅男 literally means one never leaves home. Otakus are mainly populated in Akihabara, Tokyo which is Mecca to all animemanga fans all over the world. Otaku is a negative outift in Japan and I don’t see why Americans are so proud to call themselves with that kind of jeer, just because it’s japanese?

I used to think that was the original reason why Americans would call themselves otaku, and I refused to use it myself because of the negative meaning behind it. But after Densha Otoko came out a couple of years and sparked the “Otaku Boom” fad in Japan, Japanese otaku also began using the word itself in a non-derogatory way. That’s when I gave up and started using the word to describe that anime/manga-loving geek community.

I still find words like Weeaboo and animu to be very offensive, but reader Baka Tanuki informs me that even those words are not always as hateful as they sound:

I will say though, that I’m not always sure if the frequent use of weeaboo and animu on 4chan is always meant derogatory. I know I use them, just to poke some light fun at myself and fellow fans, but not in a derogatory way. A lot of what is said on 4chan comes from that people like to post as if everything is SERIOUS BUSINESS and there is a “I AM RIGHT YOU ARE WRONG” attitude that stems from its anonymous nature and mob mentality. I’m sure a lot of those people couldn’t really care less; though of course, many are serious.

Thanks, guys!

After having it own all my free time over the past couple of weeks, I finally finished Gyakuten Saiban 4, released in America as “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney”.

Now I’m able to go on with the rest of my life.

I have a very short attention span when it comes to video games, and I often find myself losing interest within an hour of game play. But that has not been the case with the Gyakuten series. I have played each one of the four games from start to finish, wasting hours away reading text scrolling across the screen in front of static anime sprites. There is just something about the series that strikes a nerve among the otaku’s here in America, and it has become a huge success in this very unlikely market.

Gyakuten Saiban, which roughly translates to “Courtroom Reversal”, started with a series of three games that came out on the Game Boy Advance system in Japan from 2001 to 2004. The story fallows Ryuichi Naruhodo, a hip young defense attorney, as he attempts to clear the name of all of this clients. Each game has 4-5 cases that usually starts off with a gruesome murder. All the evidents, however, always appear to point towards Naruhodo’s client. With the help of his cute and comical female assistant, Mayoi Ayasato, the two search for evidents and interview witnesses to ultimately prove the innocence of the accused.

Mayoi and Naruhodo

In 2005, Capcom released “Gyakuten Saiban – Resurrected Reversal” on the Nintendo DS. As the name implies, the game is a remake of the first Gyakuten Saiban game. The four stories that were in the original game remained in their entirety, but a new fifth story was created specifically for this version. The fifth story included many new gameplay elements the utilized the DS’s touch screen, microphone, and improved graphics capabilities.

Naruhodo’s catchphrase is pointing his finger and screaming “Igi ari!” or “Objection!” in English

The biggest addition to the “Resurrected” version of the game was the inclusion of a complete English adaptation. The player has a choice of playing the game in either English or Japanese. For the adaptation, all the characters had their name changed to allow English audience to understand the bad puns of the original game. For example, while Naruhodo’s name is spelled with completely different Chinese characters, it sounds just like the Japanese expression for, “Oh, I see!” His English name was changed to “Phoenix Wright” to show how he always “raises from the ashes” of doubt to prove his client’s innocence. Also, several cultural bits were changed for the western audience, such as Mayoi’s (now renamed “Maya Fey”) love of ramen noodles was now a love of hamburgers. But besides for these changes, the story and gameplay remained intact.

Resurrected Reversal and its American adaptation

Capcom released this English version of “Resurrected Reversal” in the US under the title “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.” This was a very risky move on their part. Gyakuten Saiban is a text-based adventure game. The player has very little interaction with the game and spends most of the reading dialog while watching the game’s characters move in very limited animations. The experience is more like reading a novel than playing a game, which is why the genre is often called a “Visual Novel”.

Visual novels are very popular in Japan and take up 70% of the PC gaming market over there. However, they are virtually unknown in America. So for Capcom to put the time and effort into adapting the game for the western audience must have been a very a tough decision to make. Many, including myself, would have bet that it would be a complete flop over here.

We were wrong, however, because Phoenix Wright quickly became a cult classic among the American otaku crowd. The initial shipment of the game completely sold out, causing Capcom to go back and make more copies. With a surprise hit in a very unlikely market, Capcom quickly adapts Gyakuten 2 and 3 into English and releases the in the US as “Phoenix Wright: Justice for All” and “Phoenix Wright: Trails and Tribulations” respectively.

Nothing says “Success in America” better than Caucasian cosplayers

When I first played the English version of Gyakuten 1, I was a little disappointed. Unlike other Japanese visual novels, Gyakuten had a very linear storyline that would not progress until I made the right choices at the right time. There were particular situations that I had figure out the mystery and attempted to prove it, only to be penalized because I had to wait until later in the game to do so. And there were also many times when the story just had such a ridiculous solution that I had no choice but to select all my options until one finally worked. This game was just too frustrating to be fun!

But then I came to that fifth story, the one that was created specifically for the DS. This fifth story allowed me to have more interaction with the evidence and play more “detective” than lawyer. I was able to rotate objects in 3D to search for clues. I did finger printing and forensics on the crime scene using the touch screen. I got to watch fully moving videos and spot clues on there. As is turns out, these small additions made the game a blast to play, and got me completely hooked onto the series.

After that, I went through the pain-staking trouble of playing both Gyakuten 2 and 3 in both Japanese and English simultaneously. While this was completely unnecessary, I did enjoy getting to familiarize myself with the characters and their Japanese mannerisms. For example, I think that Mayoi’s younger cousin, Harumi-chan, was always much cuter in Japanese than she was as Pearl Fey in English.

But still, those two games were only ports of the Game Boy Advance and did not have any fun elements that won me over from that “new fifth case”. That was because instead of adding additional content for the old three games, Capcom was devoting their time to creating a fourth Gyakuten game that was 100% made for the DS.

Gyakuten Saiban 4 was released just under a year ago in Japan. The new game takes place seven years after the previous game, and surprising does not feature Naruhodo / Wright as the main character. This would prove to be very confusing in the American market, because the series is branded “Phoenix Wright” in America and you can’t very well make this “Phoenix Wright 4” if he’s not the main character anymore. So the game was released in Japan without an English adaptation, and we had to wait for almost a year until Capcom released its re-branded “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney” game in the US several weeks ago.

But man, was it worth the wait!

All the fun gameplay elements from that fifth case are back for the whole game this time. There are even some new gameplay features added and some fantastic looking graphics here-and-there. But most of all, the final chapter in this game introduces a completely new style of gameplay that will certainly blow the minds of many veteran players of the series. It’s these types of changes that keeps this series interesting even after all these years.

And even though he is no longer the main character, Phoenix Wright still plays a major role in the new game. I would even argue he’s in the game way too much. But it doesn’t really make much of a difference. The new main character, Apollo, plays just like Wright did in the previous games and even sports the same kind of relationship with his cute and comical female assistant, Trucy.

Trucy and Apollo become the new face of the Gyakuten series.

So if you’re not on the Gyakuten bandwagon already, then get on it! All four game are now available in English in the US and you could probably find them cheap if you buy secondhand. A fifth game is expected to be formally announced by Capcom any day now, and I hope it includes the English adaptation right at the beginning. Also, Del Rey manga will be releasing the Gyakuten Saiban manga in the US starting in October, which follows the characters from the Wright-era of the series. It also looks like Del Rey loves the game just as much as I do, so I’m really looking forward to reading that.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the east coast premier of Makoto Shinkai’s latest film, 5 Centimeters Per Second, at the New York International Children’s Film Festival. This title was originally going to be screened at the New York Anime Fest last December, but ADV pulled it out at the last minute in order to give NYICFF the honor of making it a premier at their fest.

I must say, the best things about attending the screening was getting introduced to the NYICFF. This festival promotes a huge number of independent, experimental, and, in the case of anime, foreign films that all target a younger demographic. I’m not quite sure how the kids handle these odd films, but as a mature movie buff, I found myself very interested in many of the films screening in NYC over the next few weekends.

Before the screening, they ran a slide show of all the past films that have premiered at the festival, and as it turns out, they have great taste in their selections. They were the first to bring over many of the Studio Ghibli films to the US, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, and The Cat Returns. The film they premiered last year was the wonderful The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which makes me wonder just what the hell I was doing last year that made me miss that one!

This year had two other Asian anime films premiering with 5 Centimeters that I really wanted to see, but couldn’t work it into my schedule. Summer Days with Coo is a 2007 film about a boy who finds a kappa, a mythical Japanese creature, and set out to find a new home for him. But what looked really appealing was the Korean anime film, Yobi the Five Tailed Fox, which is featured on the festival’s posters, brochure, and program cover. The film looks like a Miyazaki-inspired fantasy, filled with cute animals and images. I have never seen a Korean anime before, so I’m sure it would be interesting to compare it to its Japanese counterparts.

Now on to the film I actually was able to see. Makoto Shinkai won me over with his 25-minute masterpiece of an OVA called Voices of a Distant Star. That short told the story of two young lovers thrust into the ultimate long distance relationship – outer space. The girl is forced to go on a mission that will take her far away into the galaxy, leaving her boyfriend behind on Earth. They maintain correspondence with each other by sending cell phone text messages through space. But as they travel further apart from each other, their messages take longer to travel, providing a perfect symbol of the loneliness felt when being separated from your love for so long. Although it’s a completely fictional sci-fi story, Shinkai made it feel more realistic than any “Slice-of-Life” anime ever does, and manages to bring back many personal memories for me as well.

5 Centimeters Per Second continues on this theme but without the sci-fi backdrop. The film shows the love life of Tono Takari and his relationship to his childhood sweetheart, Shinohara Akari. The two are separated towards the end of elementary school. In act one, middle schooler Tono takes a long trip to visit Akari one last time before he is forced to move even further away from her and, in theory, will never see each other again. Act two shows Tono just about to graduate high school. A new girl has developed a crush on him and works up the courage to confess her love. And act three shows Tono in his mid-20’s. He’s a working professional and has just come off of a long-term relationship. Even ten years after act one, he’s still thinking about girl he loved as a child.

First of all, I’m glad that I was able to catch this in a movie theater rather than on DVD or screened on some cheap projector. We only get about 2 anime films with theatrical runs every year in America, and most of them are played on very limited screens. So this kind of showing is a rare event, but they picked a good one to show. There are many beautiful landscape shots that look incredible on the big screen. Most of act 2 was simply jaw dropping, like in the scene pictured below.

But despite the visual beauty, the structure of the film is very unusual. Each act ends with a simple “The End” and credits begin to role. There is a brief black screen before the next act begins. This left the audience very confused. Everyone started clapping after act one and began to leave their seats, only to rush back once the 2nd act started. When act two ended, the house lights in the theater came one, only to quickly dim again once the third act started. This was very awkward, and the audience should have been told about the film’s unique structure during the introduction by the festival’s hosts.

Another problem with the film at the children’s film festival is that this wasn’t a film for children! While the program clearly stated that this film was intended for teenagers and above, most of the audience were families that included very small children. They probably had passes to attend every film at the festival, so this was just one of many films they were seeing for the next couple of weekends. But the kids in attendance were not able to sit still for 5 Centimeter, which was understandable. The film’s slow pacing left even this 23-year-old boy fidgeting in his seat.

The biggest downfall with this film is that it has a great story to tell, but it just never seems to get around to telling it. It has a very short runtime of only 63 minutes, but it wastes 40 minutes of it doing nothing. Many static images and depictions of mundane life leaves the audience bored and begging for something to happen. The first act mostly follows Tono riding on trains all alone. With a massive snow storm coming down, his rides are delayed, forcing him to wait… and wait… and wait some more! The purpose for this is to show how worried he is that Akari would have to be waiting for him at the train station. He silently begs to himself, “Please Akari, don’t wait up for me! Just go home!”

I just think to myself, “Don’t be ridiculous! Just call her on your cell phone and let her know you’ll be late!”

… and than I realized…

I didn’t have a cell phone when I was in middle school!

And so starts the Shinkai brilliance. I realized by the 2nd act that Tono and I are around the same age and growing up in the same time frame. In the first act during middle school, Toro has to make the long journey without the help of the cell phone, which weren’t at all popular in the mid-90’s. In the second act, he plays around with simple text messages, much like I did when I got my first cell phone junior year of high school. And in the third act, Toro is constantly checking his cell phone while he’s at work in front of a computer, just like I do every day right now.

This familiarity with the character made it all too real when watching the modern day Tono in the third act. Over a decade since adolescences, he was now a young working professional. He had experience in serious relationships before, but was still unsettled and currently single. And most of all, he was anticipated that the perfect love would be coming into his life any minute now. It was all way too real to me… painfully real.

And than comes the knock out punch, a three-minute montage of Tono’s first decade of love. While a lot of the clips were already shown in the movie, most of the montage showcased all the events and images that you never saw in the film, all the stuff in between the three acts. Again, all the things that everyone experiences at that age. Even the song being played is a very popular song from 1996, a move Shinkai made to bring the audience back to ten years ago.

This montage made the movie worthwhile. While I really could have done without all the static images and boring moments of the film, I cannot deny that it had some sicking power over me at the end. I left the theater in some kind of state of shock, and I spent a long time sitting in the NYC subway trying my best to collect my memories and emotions together again.

Your mileage may very when watching a Shinkai film, but for me, he’s able to expose real human emotion and memories through his fictional characters and beautiful visuals.