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

Original Post

This was one of the backup scripts I had written about two years ago to use for when I’m too lazy to come up with an idea regarding some currently airing anime or something similar. This is actually re-written from its original to be a bit more snappy and quick. I find it fairly humourous.

The more astute of you may notice that Tina’s hair has become more pointy as opposed to its usual softer shape. Basically I’ve grown really attached to Watanabe Akio’s style and the general look of Bakemonogatari, so in at attempt to get better at drawing, I figured I’d kind of crib Watanabe’s style. Also, her hair like this is easier to draw and just works better. That said, I liked her old hair too, so I may switch back and forth. Just pretend she’s changing shampoos. The art for this comic in general is fine, but it’s kind of messy in places. Once again, the background shamelessly traced over a photo I took.

I don’t really feel like talking about anime so I’ll touch upon three me-related matters. First off, an interview I conducted with Matt Alt three or so months ago is live! At least the first part of it. Secondly, some other like-minded people and I have started to sub Kirumin, because no one else is subbing it. Big thanks go out to mwhead2 for taking his time to translate for us. Without him, we’d be nowhere. I’m just a timer, after all. And thirdly, I wrote my first (and probably last) thing on Colony Drop. I wrote the Big O “preview” in their Fall preview. Because my name is really Greg, kind of like how it’s really 1999 right now.

And that’s it. Hopefully I’ll see you all next week now that midterms are done!

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At long last, my interview with Matt Alt! At least the first part. A variety of interesting topics are covered, such as Matt’s early encounters in Japan, translation philosophies and why old anime is cool!

Yeah, the quality is shit. But you can hear 95% of it, and the remaining 5% are bad quips by me.

Guests

• Matt Alt

Songs

• Opening Song– “Macross” by Fujiwara Makoto
• Ending Song– “Suna no Juujika” by Yashiki Takajin

Anime is a cheap medium. If you think otherwise you’re lying to yourself. However, one of the things that separates mediocre work from superb work is how you’re able to use your limited resources for maximum artistic effect. A studio that does this wonderfully is Studio SHAFT.

Generally, when faced with a tight schedule, limited staff, and not a lot of money, things become dire. Since normal animation studios have no such thing as artistic vision, what usually gets produced as a result of these circumstances is something unwatchable. Or, at the very least, something very mediocre looking. Anime is primarily a business, so people have to do work to pay the bills (or as much of their bills as those animators can pay with their shitty salaries) and bigwigs upstairs want to make money. However, this doesn’t mean intrepid groups of young men and women at certain studios can’t make a stand and produce something great on a shoestring budget, and that’s exactly what SHAFT does with every single show they produce.

SHAFT’s situation is the very definition of dire. Up until Tanabata of last year, they were producing all of their TV shows out of some random studio space. They now have their own office building, but it’s still rather small. To make it worse, it seems they have a limited amount of staff, and are allotted not a lot of money with which to make cartoons with. But despite these hardships, SHAFT has found a way to make really good, visually interesting shows. SHAFT doesn’t see limited resources as an obstacle. It’s an opportunity.

Those with keen eyes will notice that the various visual aesthetics and motifs SHAFT has created between all of their productions are mostly born from lack of resources. In the early days of Japanese animation, this was very commonplace. People  had the desire to tell grandiose narratives, but had very little money with which to do it with. However, despite these limitations, creators of years past were able to make shows that may look clunky now, but told stories filled with heart and soul. I think SHAFT does a good job of taking this founding principle of “making more with less” to heart, but at the same time puts a more modern, complex and cool spin on it. Instead of relying on poorly animated cuts of animation or doing a simple talking head close up, SHAFT mixes it up. Still images are usually framed in an interesting manner, colours are used in imaginative ways, and at times photos and live action are brought into the mix. Staple Stable is a very cheap opening,  but it’s unlike something one usually sees out of the anime industry (that said, I prefer Kaeri Michi).

I think (and this is a stretch) this respect and utilization of founding mindsets from years gone by is because SHAFT is very much connected to the past. It’s apparent in a lot of the works they adapt. Along with being one of the best anime comedies ever, Pani Poni Dash does well to salute a lot of old favourites from years ago. Natsu No Arashi’s plot is tied to the WWII era, and at the same time the show is filled with a lot of references to classic Japanese pop music. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is probably the most obvious offender, with the written dates still claiming it’s the Showa-era, and the general style of everything in the show confirming this. Their recent Bakemonogatari looks more to the future, but it’s still littered with references to timeless Japanese comic characters from over 50 years ago. SHAFT also really likes archaic numerals.

This attitude to cartoon making is simply one of the many things I love about SHAFT. While I would like to see their visual stylings executed with  more money behind them, their current stripped-down, minimalist and striking approach to animation should be looked on as a template for how other studios should do their work. I’m not saying they should crib the same visual tricks, but they should make use of everything they have and put their best forward.

And this, my friends, is why Shinbo Akiyuki and SHAFT are saving anime.

Between Darker Than Black and Black Lagoon, it would seem the only things the Japanese know about Russia are that it is always cold, and they love to make snuff films featuring children. That said, for a show in which Russians constantly reference Japanese culture, clean up after class, and confess to each other with their faces all red, we must commend Bones for at least getting some things culturally accurate.

I’m actually really liking this show. I think the fact that the story is spread over more than two episodes per shot allows for them to have a lot more opportunities for big ol’ action scenes. The cast is also quite amusing. If I feel like it, I may go back and give the first series another swing. I liked parts of it, but when I watched it a few years ago, some things just didn’t click with me.

At a cursory glance it’s easy to write each Zetsubou Sensei series off as all the same, but they’re actually all quite different in terms of presentation. The first one is slowly paced and eases you into the formula, Zoku then takes that formula and experiments with it, and Goku expands upon that experimentation even further.

Zan is noticeably more streamlined than the others, and the presentation becomes more formulaic. However, it does do some rather interesting things with its episode structure. First of all, each episode opens with one of the phony “story so far” spiels housed in the dust jacket flaps from the original manga, narrated lovingly by Saito Chiwa in a variety of crazy voices. I think these do well to set the tone for the rest of the show, but as someone whose Japanese isn’t the best,  following the narration along with subtitles is a touch difficult.

Another thing of note is the visual style of the opening sequence, which is vastly different from the last two seasons’ openings that had a large degree of visual continuity between them. While this opening is decidedly the most normal looking of the bunch, it’s also the most chaotic, crazy, and non-nonsensical. Instead of being bound to certain themes (e.g. bondage, guro, the circus) Zan’s opening is a weird mix of ideas and visual styles, all thrown together in a package that somehow works better than it should.

Probably the most interesting thing that SHAFT did with the show was create continuity between the episodes by having one of the three sketches cutoff half way, then continue in the later part of the following episode. I think this gave them more freedom in allotting time to each sketch, making the pacing tighter. And–as mentioned before–the “to be continued” created continuity where there was at first none, making the viewer wonder how that one sketch would turn out in the next episode. I feel that it worked quite well.

Zan also began using the original manga more as a guide for storyboarding. I have not read the manga beyond the first book, so I can’t tell you how much or how little they copied from it. While I’m not sure this is a direct result of that, the show had a visual style that seemed a lot sharper, and more consistent between episodes than the previous series. I also noticed more in the way of drawn backgrounds as opposed Photoshopped photos. Despite this practice, the show also seemed quite animated. It still had a lot of talking heads–typical for SHAFT–but characters burst out in movement a bit more frequently than usual. In fact think some episodes of Zan were more animated than Bakemonogatari (which I really need to talk about more, by the way)

As far as actual content goes–you know, the stuff people actually care about–the show starts off feeling a bit weak coming on the heels of Goku, but after an episode or two I found myself laughing to the point of losing breath. Even though the show does miss at points–and the points where it misses are simply jokes I can’t connect to–it hits hard a good 90% of the time, and I had a great time watching it. And despite most of the show being less adventurous than Zoku, it does give us this beautifully animated sketch by Gekidan Inu Curry, as well an ending sequence that more or less summarizes what my life will probably be in the next year or so.

Oh, and there’s IKENAI! Kaere-Sensei.

If I was in a more dismissive mood, I’d leave the blog post at that picture. But no–there are things to be said.

It’s been out for a while–I know, don’t get on my case–but having just finished reading the first translated volume of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei  manga a few weeks ago, I have some things to say about it, most of it revolving around its translation into English.

By the time the existence of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was known to the English-speaking world, those keen in the ways of Japanese (and those not, even) knew the material was difficult to translate well. Further more, a commercial release of such a work would be a disaster if not done properly. However, despite seemingly insurmountable linguistic and cultural barriers, amateur translators managed to put out great, high quality localizations of the franchise’s TV anime counterpart. Why is it, then, that professionals can’t handle the manga part of the deal better?

While I can’t speak entirely for accuracy, Del-Rey’s translation of Zetsubou Sensei generally reads decently. It does feel stiff in places, but on the whole it comes off fine. However, at some point in the book–and this is a very specific point–things go all wrong. Once Kaere’s chapter rolls along, it seems as if the guy in charge of quality control just gives up. “Oh no!” is followed by its romanized Japanese equivalent “yada!”, and the translator for some reason feels “eki-in” (駅員) needs a translation note, when it simply means nothing more than “station attendant.” C’mon, guys. Even the fansubs translated that. I can understand them leaving the joke about Kaere’s name to a translation note, but I honestly expect more creativity and smarts out of  professional translators and editors.

Another big issue is the incorrect romanization of character names, and I’m not talking about trivial Shaa/Char shit. That said, this only really effects Sekiutsu, who is first introduced as Sekiuchi, then referred to as Sekiutsu, then is later on in the book referred to as Sekiuchi once more. Guys, I know the 内 in 関内 is typically read as “uchi”, but Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei has furigana for god sakes. This stuff is spelled out for you, quite literally, in conveniently placed bits of hiragana. To add insult to injury, they get her name right not once, but twice after the initial mess up. Then, in the next chapter, our lovable Maria becomes Sekiuchi again. Also, later on in the “Current Charges From This Issue” section–a section detailing the people Kaere sued–Nozomu’s name is rendered as “Noboru”, which is just utterly stupid.

I really feel sorry for any newcomer to the series reading this translation. While it reads decently in other sections, I’m afraid these bits will throw people off and confuse them, if they’re not already confused by all the Japan-specific cultural gags. I do commend Del-Rey for throwing in a glossary at the back, but it’s still missing some painfully obvious things. I haven’t read further volumes, so I don’t know if they improve or not, but this one gets pretty dire.

As for the manga itself, it’s pretty good. Kumeta’s work is still in infant stages here, so these early chapters feel a bit awkwardly paced and somewhat random, but they work well to deliver the franchise’s celebrated dark comedy and social satire. However, I do think the anime did a better job of streamlining these early chapters into something that flowed a bit easier. The art is also still developing, and hasn’t yet reached the point where SHAFT can just trace it panel to panel for their anime adaptation.

Aside from Japanese animation, I really enjoy older American movies. By old, I mean movies ranging from the Marx Brothers in the 1930s up until Indiana Jones in the early 1980s. Specifically, two film series that I’ve enjoyed since childhood are the original Star Wars movies and the aforementioned Jones series. Ever since I was a kid, I had always wanted to see more in the way of film from these two franchises. Films that expanded both upon their stories and universes. Years later, I got exactly that–the Star Wars prequel movies, and Indiana Jones 4. However, something had gone horribly wrong.

While both of these series provide a vast canvas by which writers can scrawl infinite amounts of sequels and side-stories upon, (and they have, in comics, books and video games that all range in quality, but we’re not talking about that) when they finally got around to it–many years later–the results came out rather pear-shaped. I suspect that one main factor that contributed to these movies failing was simply the time in which they were made. Both of these series–Indy and Star Wars–are very much products of their time. That’s not to say they aren’t timeless, but you simply can’t make movies like those anymore. Our current situation and environment just isn’t conducive to nurturing a creative process that can bring about a good new Star Wars or Indy flick.

As far as Indy goes, I actually didn’t think the new one was too bad. I mean, it wasn’t spectacular, but it kept my eyes on the screen and did things that made me entertained. However, there was something missing, and that was spirit. The spirit of 30 years ago and the spirit of young directors really wanting to make something spectacular. One of the key things that makes the Indy movies great is the amount of soul poured into producing a fun and exciting pulp-novel throwback with all the trimmings. By the time you get to Indy 4, it’s less a homage to old pulp serials and more a copy of itself. They were too distracted by the history that their previous films had, and neglected to harness what really  made those older films great.

The Star Wars prequels are a bit more dire, and you can’t really pin the time period in which they were made on why they failed, but I still feel it was part of the problem. There was too much of a break between when the old movies were made and when the new ones were. Perhaps if the prequels were made closer to when the originals came up, someone would have actually had the guts to walk up to Lucas and say, “Hey, you know? Jar Jar Binks may not be a great idea.” But instead–here in the 21st century–we get movies that look like cheap science fiction TV shows. I’m not joking, when I came across Attack of the Clones channel surfing I assumed it was some cheap TV show before checking what it was.

The fact that these movies were made within the last 10 years only compounds these problems. As I mentioned before, you just can’t make movies like these anymore. Society has become far too cynical for a film like Star Wars to be produced. The kind of energy present in the time in which these movies were made simply doesn’t exist anymore, and that effects things. Of course, there are a host of other issues as well, but they aren’t the issue at hand.

This can be seen in Japanese animation, as well. Look at how Gundam has changed over the past 30 years, and how fans are split between the old and new. While it hasn’t really changed for the worse, take a look at how time has effected Lupin and his cohorts. That said, one example (of many, actually) of a franchise that has not let time touch it is Cobra. Watch the first TV series, then watch the new OVA. Outside of the animation, they feel almost exactly the same. I guess we can attribute that to Terasawa Buichi’s direction, since time for this dude clearly has not moved since 1985.

I know that photo’s old, but I’m pretty sure he still looks like that.

Kuuchuu Buranko (Trapeze)

Kuuchuu Buranko caught my attention for two reasons: its very distinctive visual style, and the Denki Groove music that plays throughout one of the show’s promotional videos. I came in expecting something extremely drugged out and weird, but what I got was less so. Don’t get me wrong, the show is quite weird, it’s simply not as weird as I would have liked it to have been.

The strangest thing about the whole production is probably the way it looks. It’s very cheap animation, but the lively imagination of the people behind it make good use of the limited resources. But aside from some oddities, the show is very normal in every other respect. The writing, pacing, and even the background music (save tracks by Denki Groove) are all fairly normal. In fact, the show would probably be very boring if it wasn’t for the way it looks. That’s essentially what this show is–at least in its first episode–a showcase of a strange and original visual style.

I’ll watch it the whole way through, but I hope the staff intends the push up the weirdness as things continue, to the point where the last episode is 20 minutes of this.

Original Post

You know things are dire when your own characters burn you, amirite?

At first the characters were going to be taking shelter from the rain, but the background didn’t make it seem like they were obviously standing under anything. As such, without a rain effect, the colour scheme for this comic makes it seem as if the characters have fallen into some cold, dark world where everyone dresses in business casual. I like it. I don’t so much like the lineart, but it can’t be helped–this is a shitty webcomic, after all.

I forgot to talk about the kind-of-recently-announced Haruhi movie last week, so I figure I’ll talk about it now while it’s on my mind. When the rumour first dropped I wasn’t all that keen on the idea of a movie, but now that the news has turned into something real, I somehow went through a sudden change of heart. I think the only thing that would affect the movie is pacing, but if it runs at 2 hours or so, it should be fine. I only regret that I probably will not be able to see it in a theatre. Movie budget KyoAni animation on a big screen will surely be a sight to behold.

Anyways, that’s all.