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

Original Post

Ok, ok, I’ll concede–this comic is based off of real experiences. Yes, that doujin event is the Hayate only event I went to, and yes, I did really forget to bring a bag. However, in my case, a friend of mine was kind of enough to lend me his bag from Comitia, held the day before. Even so, I wanted to contemplate the ramifications of one forgetting to bring his bag, and thusly this comic was made. I also wanted to give Hikki some more comic time, since he should probably be used as much as possible while the characters are in Japan. As you can see, their relationship is terrible even in real life.

I think the artwork is pretty middle of the road, but gets a bit too wonky in the last two panels. Sorry about that.

Uncensored version is here, but the censored one is funnier, I think. I hate to steal artwork, but I figure since I already stole the event’s catalog cover illustration, I may as well use a real doujin cover. I was going to use my own erotic illustrations, but I decided against it for the sake of all of us. While Miyagoe was not as the event, I wanted to use his Dance Club Sanzenin cover since it’s pretty upfront about how porny it is, so I felt it’d be best.

I really have nothing more to say, so I’m cutting it off here this week. I already have next week’s comic done, so you can expect that with a 100% chance of certainty. I think it actually looks not crappy.

Also, where’s my giant Gundam silhouette in the opening? Why is Elisa singing a song without Tenmon doing the instrumentals? What’s wrong with this show?!

That said, when I first wrote that title (back in May 9th–it’s been busy) I was slightly more angry at this show then than I am now, but there’s still things to say about J.C. Staff’s fling with Hata Kenjirou’s Hayate no Gotoku!

It more or less goes without saying that this new Hayate cartoon is a bit different from the first one. First off, the timeline is reset to make everything work in the context of the original manga (an issue I addressed in a comic); secondly, the show is now in the hands of J.C. Staff; and thirdly, the show is now also in a more otaku-oriented late-night timeslot. I don’t think I need to tell you that this has changed the tone of the show dramatically.

What probably hits the hardest–at least at first–is the resetting of the timeline. As a rule I hate shit like this, because it cheapens everything that happened previously. Of course, this is Hayate we’re talking about, so continuity isn’t that important (oh wait, I guess it is) but it just kind of seems like a giant “fuck you” to people like me who liked the first series better. Other than that you do get some repeated scenes, but nothing too major.

The new timeslot isn’t really worth talking about, since the first series was more or less a late night show that aired at 10am on Sunday, but the fact that J.C. Staff is behind this second series is something that should be discussed.

I wrote a fairly wordy post about the possibilities of a Hayate anime made by J.C. Staff before this series began airing. I was cautiously optimistic, but it seems I placed too much faith in J.C. Staff, who have–by the way–been really phoning it in lately. To be blunt, the execution of this new series is completely soulless. Sure, there is a decent amount of spirit carried through in the writing (which is lifted wholesale from the manga) but there’s nothing in the direction that really takes any of the source material up to 11. In fact, J.C. Staff’s careful, clinical and scientific approach to making cartoons actually robs the work of some of its charm.

Synergy SP really knew what they were doing, and I think if they were making this second season–in all its reset timeline, closer to the manga glory–they’d do a better job. J.C. Staff plays it too straight and safe. I don’t think the concept of even making an artistic directorial assertion even crosses the mind of any of the boring people there (who I imagine all look like the Anti-Spiral.) Their work is simply taking manga panels, colouring them, and putting them on the small screen. That’s it.

Synergy SP makes the most of it all. While their Hayate series didn’t adhere to the source material at all, I get the impression that Zettai Karen Children was fairly faithful. I haven’t read the manga, but Synergy SP injected so much energy into that show, even in the dark, serious moments–moments that could have been trite, horrible and cliché, and made them good by simply giving it their all. The team over at SP knows how to present things in such a way that is just totally and completely entertaining, and I think their touch would really work in this new series. Heck, the serious moments in the first Hayate series were handled splendedly–the Radical Dreamers episode is better in the anime than it is  in the manga. J.C. Staff’s approach is dull–there’s no energy put into dramatic moments, jokes incite chuckles–maybe real laughs, if lucky, and everything just moves slower than it should.

With all that badmouthing, I’m still enjoying the show. At its core, Hayate is still Hayate, even if it’s gone from Keroro-grade parody show to romcom. I’m enjoying the characters, do appreciate a stronger focus on story, and J.C. Staff’s animation work is pretty topnotch. That said, I still want more random Gundam references.

How slick do you have to be until you can sing like this guy?

Natsu no Arashi is, in some ways, quite interesting. To the normal layman anime fan, it may seem somewhat standard fare, but what one has to realize is that Natsu no Arashi is the first show both illustrious studio SHAFT and daring director Shinbo Akiyuki have worked on that is not a school comedy since Tsukuyomi -MOON PHASE-. And Tsukuyomi was their first show. Ever since 2005, from Pani Poni to Zetsubou Sensei, all of the shows that Shinbo has directed along with SHAFT have been school based comedies.

This isn’t bad per se–these shows are really good. However, I got into Shinbo because I loved the way he takes on slightly serious subject matter. While I had seen Pani Poni prior, I was first properly introduced to this style of his in the opening episodes of Negima!? (note: the only good episodes) and simply had to see more. That lead to me buying all of Tsukuyomi, The Soultaker, and sampling all of his old OVAs, for better or for worse.

But Natsu no Arashi doesn’t just stand out from the SHAFTXSHINBO pantheon because it’s not a school comedy–there’s more to it. One is that while the show has comedic elements, there’s drama to it–much like Tsukuyomi -MOON PHASE-. Of course it’s not as perfect as Tsukuyomi (though the opening is almost as good) but it’s a nice change of pace. Another big difference is that the show’s visual style marks the return of Shinbo’s older techniques–that is, the ones I like more. As I mentioned before, I do love how he handles school comedies (in particular, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a work of art) but Natsu no Arashi has Tsukuyomi and odd Soultaker moments here and there, which is really quite refreshing.

All that said, the show does have its own distinct look to it–there’s an odd lighting technique applied to all scenes, which mostly works,  but seems pretty experimental, and not really concerned with “working” or not. In fact, that’s one big thing about the show–there’s no concern over whether things “work” or not. In the opening, you can clearly see how pixelated the logo is when it zooms out, and when watching this show on a television, it looks even more photoshoppy than the normal SHAFTXSHINBO outing. What I’m getting at here is that I think the staff is treating Natsu no Arashi as a playground–a means to try out new things and to break away from habits formed making school comedies for four years, with little regard for it looking totally clean.

What this all comes down is that Natsu no Arashi is basically something for them to just mess around with and get back on track so they can make Bakemonogatari the coolest cartoon ever.

I guess they’re also making it so they can pretend it’s the 1990s, or something.

Since nothing really exciting happened here except for the performance, I’ll spare you guys the wannabe Gonzo journalism this time.

Going off of a tip from kransom, as well as a series of amusing youtube videos, I decided to pop down to Yokohama’s Chinatown yesterday to see a Gundam Kodan performance. That is, scenes from Gundam told in the Kodan style. I’m not sure how many Japanese people I’d offend by saying this was my first time watching a Kodan performance, but it was.

The venue was pretty small. The stage was a modest size, and the seating area (composed entirely of normal chairs, so they weren’t fastened down) was enough for about 20 to 30 people. Thusly, in retrospect the whole thing felt not dissimilar to a school play, but I’m under the impression that most nerd events in Japan are like this, especially ones like this that only weird people would care about. I must be especially weird, since I was the only foreigner in that small–but fairly packed–room to go see some crazy guy perform scenes from Gundam dressed in a kimono.

I got there a little late, but the performance hadn’t properly started yet. Minamihankyu, the man of the hour, was on stage with two girls dressed in Zeon outfits (in fact, all the staff were dressed like either Federation or Zeon soliders) and they were going on about something or other. A variety of Gundam theme songs, as well as First Gundam BGM were coming through the sound system to set the mood.

Once the clock struck 15:15, a woman came on as a warm up act told what I assumed was a chapter from the Tale of Genji. I’m just assuming because I couldn’t understand anything she was saying at all beyond “Genji.” Once that was over the man himself, Minamihankyu, took the stage clad in a green kimono with Zeon emblems all over it.

He opened with a short introduction about kodan, how he got into it, and more importantly how he got into Gundam. He made note that he was 33, and Gundam this year is 30, so when the original aired he was just a 3-year-old boy. He went on to say that at one point in his life (I couldn’t tell when) he watched all of the original Gundam movies in one sitting, without sleeping or eating. Because he’s awesome. After about 15 minutes of that, he went into his performance.

This first thing he decided to do was most of episode 1 from the original series. Everyone laughed when all the famous lines came out, and people really went nuts when he started humming the appropriate BGM for the scenes he was doing. The most amusing parts were probably when he’d take on the role of one of the robots, and do something like the stealthy infiltration of Side 7, or one of the battle scenes. The battle scenes were especially hilarious because it’d just turn into him running around the stage making lots of noises.

Once our man had finished his attack on Side 7, there was a short intermission, followed by a guest interview segment. Three people were on–a game developer who seemed to have worked on Gundam MS SenSen 0079, a female Gundam doujin artist whose specialty was making cutout artwork of the robots, and the woman who had performed previously. I couldn’t get too much out of this since my Japanese comprehension is rather bad, but it was pretty cool to see that one artist cutout a Zaku at lightening speed. People made requests, and once she was done she’d give the final product the person who requested it, as well as one to a random person in the audience. I didn’t get one, unfortunately.

Another short intermission followed the guest segment, and the event ended with an encore by Minamihankyu. He concluded by reenacting the events after the Side 7 infiltration, meaning he got to say the famous “mistakes of one’s youth” line, as well as run around the stage as Char Aznable’s Zaku, this time dressed in an appropriately red Kimono, once again emblazoned with the Zeon emblem.

All said, it was great. I feel I got my money’s worth (2800 yen), but I still kind of wish there was more of him and less of other things. It was mostly worth the three hour round trip to Yokohama, but only because I got to sleep on the train.

Original Post

For people who don’t know anything, here’s some context.

This comic more or less happened because I’m something of a fan of conspiracies, and am a big fan of Shinbo Akiyuki. Oh, I guess it also happened because of that Haruhi thing that happened a few days ago (which I’ll expand upon below.) The artwork is mostly fine, but I probably should have varied the colour values a bit for my horrible Soultaker/Tsukuyomi imitation panels. Oh well.

As I mentioned in the previous rant, there was anticipation that a new episode of Haurhi was going to air on Thursday. And, well, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of days (or, conversely, if you’re having sex with women and living a normal life) that new episode did air, and all of the crazy 2ch people in Japan went nuts, while all the people in my manga club were like “oh, it was new? I guess I should watch it.”

This new episode opens in Haruhi’s established slice of life style, and, of course, after about five minutes Back to the Future happens and a bunch of questions from series 1 are answered, and new ones are raised. Needless to say I liked it, especially because Mikuru got to show off her time traveling powers, Mikuru got to be extra cute, and I just happen to like time traveling stories. All it needed was Dr. Emmett Brown! Or some ghost from Showa era Japan. Or a girl who can leap through time.

The current rumour is that the next couple of episodes will be old ones, and then another new one should show up. Once they get through the old ones (with some new ones mixed in) the rest of the run should be completely new. Of course, that’s a just a rumour. While we did actually get a full episode this time, I don’t think it’s beyond KADOKAWAXKYOANI to keep us waiting even more. Because they’re dicks.

Next week I’m probably going to go back to one comic a week. Two comics a week was fun, but I simply can’t handle it. Too much stress for something that’s supposed to be fun. See you all next week!

１５分前

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おわった（　￣∀￣）

The clock is about to strike 18:00. It’s a cool Spring evening in Nakano, and I’m outside the station orienting myself with this map I printed out from the UFOTable Cafe website, with the goal in mind being to see the Kannagi exhibit currently on display there.

This cafe is farther then I thought. Shit on the map always looks closer than it actually is. After constantly thinking I’m overshooting, I finally look up and find myself at the cafe.

I’m pretty surprised by the vibe as I walk in. The decor is pretty normal looking. In fact, if you didn’t happen to notice the giant display of lineart right across from you, or the table of promotional material right by the door, you’d think this is a normal place. After some waiting awkwardly, the waitress finally notices me tells me I can sit anywhere I please in that cheerful, Japanese service person tone.

I sit down. To my right is a couple on what looks like a date. On the other side is some dude reading manga, and a girl who seems to be studying for midterms. The music coming through the sound system ranges from blues, to jazz, to… is that Shibuya-kei? I’m not well versed in music beyond anime songs, but I’m sure I heard some Brazil 66 and Pizzicato Five. This is the quite the otaku hipster hangout.

After a rather long look through the “Drink+Food Menu”, I holler out the ol’ “sumimasen!” Moments later, the same waitress comes to inquire about my order. I get a curry and pineapple juice. Once my food comes, I ask the woman if I can photograph my curry and juice.

“Sure,” she says, “in fact, you can take photos all over the cafe, except for the exhibit, of course.”

“Is that so?” I reply back, slightly suprised.

This sure isn’t the typical otaku joint–in addition to playing normal music, photography isn’t totally kinshi. Though, I guess they don’t have any reason to charge you 700 yen for a photo with one of the girls. However, the prices certainly are that of an otaku joint. All the drinks are over 400 yen, and the curry in front of me is 880.

That said, the meal was rather filling, and I was quite surprised I could even swing dinner here at all. With my food finished, I go over to the display space. It’s split into two levels, with the lower level being comprised of completed promotional art shown along side its respective lineart, some books, figures, and nice prints of all the ending illustrations. Lots of great artists here; Naruko Hanaharu, Okama, Azuma Kiyohiko, the Type Moon and Key artists… I almost wish I could buy these things, but I’m not that nuts over Kannagi. I should note that these two levels are split in a one-storey building, so I have to be a giant gaijin and duck down to see anything without bumping my head.

The second level is even worse–at one point you have to duck under a ceiling vent to see the rest of the display. It’s not an annoyance or anything, just probably not good for one’s back. The second level is composed entirely of sequences taken from the show.

A lot of key moments are on display, a good few of which I remember. The display opens with shots from the opening, then picks out certain bits in chronological order from the show as you go along. What’s really amazing about this is that each drawing is a beautiful work of art. Even while still, each individual drawing has a lot of movement to it, and you really begin to see why the animation in Kannagi was as kinetic as it was. That said, this display of cleaned pencil drawings isn’t quite as impressive as a display of cels, but you do what you can in this age of digital animation.

After going back and forth through the exhibit, I decide I have enough, pay for my meal, and head out the door. If you’re in the Tokyo area and happen to be a fan of such things, I highly recommend you check out this exhibit. It’s especially interesting if you’re an artist (or wannabe artist, like myself) and want to see what real pro work looks like, stripped of most of its polish. It’s also interesting if you want to see how all of the digital cartoons you watch start as pencil drawings. Go see it soon! I have no idea how long it’s going to be up for!

Original Post

Yeah, I don’t think I can keep up with two comics a week. It is possible, but it’s draining. This’ll probably be the last week of doing so if I can manage to squeeze out this other comic I have sketched out.

Mike Dent’s comment about feeling Tomino’s “pressure” when he went to see the first Zeta Gundam reminded me that our old buddy Ikeda Shuichi (the famous voice of Char Aznable) hasn’t showed up in a while. As such, I figured he needed another comic. And this is it. The art’s kind of wonky, but I think it’s mostly fine. It’s pretty boring just drawing guys.

Not much to say, except for that history may be upon us, with “may” being the operative word here. We’ve been teased time and time again, but all sources point to a new episode of Haruhi airing this week. I’ll be there when it happens, but reports will probably be out before I even get a chance to see it, considering it’s airing an hour earlier on a channel I don’t get. There is a big chance this could just be another publicity stunt, but with those posters of a slightly-new-designed Haruhi busting out of the old Haruhi poster hanging around Akiba, chances are this may be the real deal… or not.

And that’s all. Things will probably get back to normal next week. I guess these past two weeks is in some ways making up for the couple of missed days over the past couple of years. I probably haven’t made them all up, but I’m close.