Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

So I guess we’ll learn more about Haruhi 2 in July Newtype according to June Newtype.

Sauce: Zepy

Everyone knows about Nico Nico Douga, and because everyone knows about it, videos have been disappearing from its pages with YouTube-like efficiency as of late. This bothers me greatly, since my MyList looks something like this at the moment, but I must admit the way in which they go about deleting videos is far more hilarious than YouTube’s cold, soulless text. See, what they do is replace a deleted video with one of their own, and it usually contains a narration about the video’s deletion matched to some very random visuals. As such, it is very much impossible to get angry at them.

Here’s a particularly good one.

Oh yeah.

On the topic of Nico Nico, I’d like to link this one video which has been topping the rankings lately. Give it a look if you have an account.

A little bird recently sent me this post and requested that I publish it. So I am.

————

I may be alone in this opinion, but I think reviewing anime and manga in an
annual publication is probably pointless. As the only academic journal
specifically for manga/anime studies, I buy Mechademia for the
academic work and only read reviews of academic texts. By the time the
journal comes out I’ll almost always have seen the anime or read a
review from one of the many non-academic magazines or websites. My
impression from the shelves of my local bookshop is also that a lot of
anime/manga titles being published are still in the form of beginners
guides, which are also not particularly useful to
Mechademia’s primary audience (or the audience I assume it has, I may
be completely wrong!).

Thanks, Sophie. No, you’re not wrong about Mechademia; many of its
readers are scholars, serious fans, and academics.

But let me try to explain something further about our reviews,
especially of manga and anime. There are, in general, three kinds of
reviews, Two we do not want; one we do. The two we do not want are
purchasing advice and comments/opinions about quality.

Purchasing advice refers to a review that tells the reader whether or
not they should buy or read the manga or anime being reviewed. The
**vast** majority of “reviews” on the internet are of this kind. Often
they are written in semi-literate Internetese (”Naruto is just SOOOO
kkkoooollll! AWWWsome!”) and record the writer’s enthusiastic joy in
the story or his (much of the time, it’s a he) detestation of
something. “I mean, what is so cool about Misa? She’s an airhead.
Light is much better off without her,” says this person about Misa
Amano from “Death Note” (I’m paraphrasing a real comment, BTW). You
can find lots and lots of these reviews on amazon.com, often signed
with names like “Otakuman”. As records of individual opinion, these
reviews are priceless; as serious reviews, they’re useless. We don’t
publish that kind of stuff.

The second kind of review we don’t publish centers on the writer’s
opinions about “quality.” These folks also inhabit the Internet is
vast numbers; they’re the people who solemnly tell you that the video
transfer on “Cutey Honey” is really very good. They go on knowingly
(if uninsightfully) about pixellation and the lack of audio fidelity
in the dubbing. Or they will praise the seiyuu — these people pride
themselves on knowing some Japanese words — for her superb rendition
of Masako from “Eri the Ninja Girl” (which I made up for the
occasion). Then they will go into rants about the hyperellipticism of
“Eri the Ninja Girl,” hoping to impress us all by his ability to spell
“hyperellipticism” (which I also made up for the occasion). We don’t
publish that kind of stuff either.

That takes care of the vast majority of reviews that actually exist
out there on the web and in the few print sources that publish
reviews. Most of them are careless, tossed-off-in-an-hour records of
half-baked opinion. Enthusiastic, misspelled, and ultimately useless.

The reviews we do publish are analytical essays about the manga or
anime in question. Analytical means that the reviewer has to explain
how the narrative is constructed and why, and explain what it means
and tells us. The ideal reaction to such a review is for the reader to
say “Oh, I see!” Our model is the kind of review that might be
published in the New York Times or the New Yorker — literate,
thought-through, with a theoretical framework that makes sense. It
will be worth reading five years from now.

A number of people on this listserve have written reviews for
Mechademia, and trust me, they’re very skilled. When one of these
folks reviews “Death Note”, there will be a lot to take home from that
review. In this case, the reviewer will be Susan Napier, who has
agreed to review “Death Note” for us. You are not going to hear
silliness about “What is so cool about Misa?” from *her*.

Another way of putting it is to say that Mechademia reviews of manga
and anime are short, focussed essays on one work that deal with its
internal aesthetic dynamics. So please do read some of our manga and
anime reviews and see what you think for yourself!

————

lol

Well, obviously the industry isn’t having any problems, since it seems if you’re a manga publisher you’re also granted the right to print free money. This post is more about my personal problems with the US manga industry.

A quick glance at my MyAnimeList profile will tell you that I don’t read much manga at all. Upon closer inspection you will find that most of my completed manga titles are one-shots. It’s not that I hate manga or anything, it’s just that, for the most part, what’s available in English doesn’t interest me at all.

It’s no secret that the market skews towards shoujo and shounen, and very lately, as the manga section of Otaku USA will tell you, boys love. There are sprinklings of seinen, jousei and true blue otaku titles, but for the most part the manga industry seems to have their sights locked on teenagers, and your local bookstore’s manga section is an Itano Circus. I’m not going to ponder as to why this is the case, since I know– this stuff sells. Your Nartuos and Fruits Baskets always top the book listings, and when one takes a glance at what kids are reading in the stores, the pages are either filled with speedlines or flowery screen tone.

Ok. That’s great. You guys have capital. Use it. This is exactly what the anime industry wants but is not getting, and I think maybe, just maybe the manga industry is playing it too safe with what they keep licensing. I’m fascinated by manga due to the wide range of subject matters it covers, but what makes it over in English is very limited. I want to read stuff like this and this, but instead all I have available to me is… fuckin Bus Stop of Love. So, please, US manga publishers, expand your horizons. Viz putting out things like Phoenix and Golgo 13 and those smaller companies like (grumble grumble) Seven Seas putting out otaku-ish things He is My Master is a great start but… MORE.

Of course, I do have the whole wide world of scanslations at my disposal. That world is however big and scary, and once again the stuff I really care about gets neglected. I guess I could read some neverendingshounenromance (I have no problem with shounen romance) but then my aversion to manga never ending comes into play, but that’s another blog post all together.

I guess in the end what it really comes down to is me learning Japanese. I suspect the translators of the titles I care about really don’t see the point given the limited demand, and just read the stuff on their own. Kind of a pity, but them’s the breaks. I guess I’ll be hitting the books now, then.

Just added some things. More lists.

New stuff here, here and here.

I finished Dennou Coil tonight by way of one of MIT’s anime screenings, and boy it certainly was something.

Dennou Coil was really one of those shows were I just kicked back and enjoyed it for the spectacle. I didn’t pay close attention to the story or the characters, opting to instead just relax and marvel at the animation and the direction. Because that stuff was good. That isn’t to say the story stuff wasn’t good either, since there certainly were moments when I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. Though, the problem is, when I actually force my self to think about how the story flowed, it feels very uneven and rough. I dunno, maybe I just can’t decipher wacky technobabble so there’s probably holes in my understanding, but some moments felt too “lol anime” in a show that seemed to want to separate itself from that kind of thing.

I’m not sure how to feel about the characters. Yasako was serviceably moe and Isako was, for the most part, annoyingly emo and DON’T TALK TO ME-ish. The rest were decent in their own ways, but none struck me as particularly interesting. Honestly, my favourite is probably Mega Baa, since she’s just nuts. Her or Densuke. What a fucking legend Densuke was.

The soundtrack was pretty good. They used a lot of the same tracks over and over and OVER again, so eventually they stuck in my head as Pretty Good Stuff. Also, as classics like Gunbuster and End of Evangelion prove, dramatic scenes matched to overly dramatic piano pieces WIN. So yeah, I guess I’ll be downloading buying this OST.

In the end I liked Dennou Coil, but mostly for the Flashy Special Effects and stuff like that. It had some plot points that really interested me, but on the whole the show kind of fell flat when it came to the things that mattered. This is kind of fine though, since the mid-series filler was pretty entertaining. Not really sure about rewatchability as of yet.

BONUS: After the showing I approached rikchik (you can find him lurking in the comment sections from time to time) with my theory– that being, Dennou Coil is a message to otaku telling them not to get too engrossed in eroge and 2ch flame wars. They of course totally fuck this up with the Yasako x Isako yuri at the ending, as it encourages us otaku to go back to our  computers and fap to pics of Yasako and Isako doing it.

Original Post

Before I say anything about the comic, I’d like to call the latest issue of OTAKU USA to your attention. Don’t be fooled by the family friendly Dee Bee Zee cover, since this is most dangerous issue yet. Yes, most dangerous. Daryl Surat may find issue with me labeling it as such, but hear me out, ok? See, normal issues of Otaku USA are simply dangerous since they are overseen by the most dangerous man alive, Patrick Macias. What makes this issue the most dangerous are the various forces that have come together to bring it into existence. It starts off with Clarissa giving a Shuffle! review, which is pretty fucking dangerous in itself– but that’s not enough to make it the most dangerous. What makes this the most dangerous is the fact that this guy and I are in the same in the book at the same time, while forces like Daryl Surat rule over the rest of the pages with an Iron Fist. Yes, you can feel the flames as you touch this burning, blazing publication of HOT BLOOD and MOE PASSION. So go out and BUY IT already. Shit, I haven’t even read it, but I can assure you that your mind will be blown into the outer reaches of space. But that’s not all! The Internet tells me that issue 7 will be even more dangerous than this one. I won’t give any details, but chances are I’ll be in that one, too. I should be writing under my real name, though.

Anyway, enough about Otakus and USAs, on to the comic. I think I’ve reached a new level of Comic Writing in this one, since I actually allude to shows without mentioning them by name. Sure, this writing is still clunky compared to the streamlined Penny Arcade, but we can’t all be legends. For those who don’t know, this comic makes reference to Zettai Karen Children and Kure-nai, shows which are both very good in their own ways, so if you haven’t watched them yet– do it now! I really like the art here. Sure, Tina’s stare in panel 2 is frightening, but the rest turned out pretty well. The backgrounds are even good! So yes, really happy with this one.

One thing I’d kind of like to make clear with this one strip and all others is that this webcomic is not the self-insert comic that 4chan and others would like to think it is. I mean, I’m as much Rets as Tatsuhiko Takimoto is Satou. I don’t write this pretending that I’m in there, I just push my experiences and views onto my character, since it’s easy to write what you know. Hence why Rets’ apartment is similar to mine and the fact that some comics take place in real locations around Boston. I mean c’mon, I’m not shameless enough to make a character that’s supposed to be me hang out with a girl who dresses the way Tina does. If this was realistic, it’d be two guys talking to each other, like every other webcomic about geeky things. But, you know, I like drawing girls! They’re a lot more fun to draw than boring guys. Also, if this was true wish fulfillment, the female character would look more similar to Nagi-tan… or Kaede-chan, but she isn’t really an otaku.

In further comic-related news, Patrick Macias and I recently had a discussion, and this discussion was published in the Japanese magazine Ascii Weekly. As a result, I’ve gotten the attention of the Japanese otaku, and it seems at least one of them is impressed by my knowledge, which makes me quite happy. See, I got an email from a senior otaku who really liked the comic and thought I had the Japanese fan scene down pretty good. Also, another guy from the mag can be found commenting here. I don’t have scans yet, but Macias promised some, so I’ll post them if/when he gets them to me.

The spring season is pretty great. I’ve finally waded through all the crap and found a good 10 or so shows I’m happy with. Full impressions can be found here. I’m mostly happy with my picks, though chances are I’ll drop Allison and Lillia. It’s way too corny for me to stomach.

Anyway, I’ve gone on for long enough, so I’ll cut it off here. Finals are finally over, so now I’m going to kick back and relax in a big way until I go back home and start on my summer job. See you all next week!

Hay hay May

Watching
Allison & Lillia: Bit too much “for the family” polish for my tastes. Not sure if I’ll stick with it.
Chi’s Sweet Home: 3 minutes of joy
Code Goose 2: JUST ASS PLANNED hilarity and general madness. Good times.
Golgo 13: ….
Kanokon: I can’t believe it’s not porn!!
Kure-nai: Best of the season. Great animation, great writing, great acting… just perfect.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Second best of the season. Good mix of craziness and drama. Fuka is too cute. Love abused lolis.
Macross F: Third best, I guess. Not much of a Macross fan, but this is good enough. Nice space battles and nyannyan dances.
To-LOVE-Ru: Guilty pleasure show of the season. I love it.
Toshokan Sensou: A good Production IG show?? And they said it couldn’t be done…
Zettai Karen Children: Decent fluff. Can’t really get past the hay 1990s art style, though.

Finishing Dennou Coil tomorrow. It is a good show.

Reading
Gunslinger Girl: Makes me want to watch the anime again. Great stuff.

Read some Ichinensei ni Nacchattara. It’s good.