Mistakes of YouthXAnimerca@Comiket 78
Alright you guys, since they’ve let the cat out of the bag in Japan, I can tell you guys about it here: Mistakes of Youth is returning to Comiket. Well, I won’t be there personally, but my insane writings will be! And in Japanese! Yes, Mistakes of Youth is breaking into the world of hardcore anime criticism doujinshi in Animerca volume 2!
“But, volume 2!?”, you say in shock, “What about volume 1?!”
Well, I wasn’t in volume 1, but some of my associates were. What happened was, since I was once a member of the prestigious MIT Anime Club (I am no longer geographically capable of being a member, sadly.) I was part of their mailing list. So one day the editor of Animerca, Episode Zero-san, emails us asking if anyone from the club wants to write something. This hit at a somewhat busy time in my life, so I passed. But when he emailed the club again asking for submissions for volume 2, I decided to give it a shot.
So just what in the hell am I writing about? Big surprise here: Shinbo Akiyuki. What was originally meant to be a short 1500 word piece turned into a 3500 word epic, covering a lot of the material my Otakon panel covered in far more meticulous detail. There is a section at the end that covers the general reception to his works in the west, which is what that spot of research was for a while back. Now you know!
Aside from my little novella, there’s other stuff you should look out for from The Land Of The Free in this book. Internet superstar and anime convention panelman extraordinaire Alex Leavitt has a piece in the book about Toonami. There’s also a round table between Mr. Episode Zero, the aforementioned Mr. Leavitt, the mysterious kransom, Dave “Subatomic” Cabrera, and little ol’ me. We talk about anime’s reception in the states over the past 10 years, covering topics such as the reception of moe (guess how that one turns out), how anime found its way over here, and what Americans want out of anime.
The book’s being sold at Comiket 78 (that’s in like, a week) on day 3. Their booth is in the east hall at table N-04a. If you’re around, pick it up. It’s like 10 bucks.
I love that cover. Any chance that Episode Zero will be offering this to US consumers, considering the appeal?
osnap. Congrats, man. Glad to know that this academic stuff isn’t totally dominated by 30 year olds who don’t watch anything made in the last decade.
I’d like to read something like this as well. If this ever gets offered stateside (in English, mind), I’d pick up a copy in a snap!
Episode-zero-san is p. cool dude. We should do something in reverse or some such.
Aw why couldn’t this news be one year earlier when I was at Comiket. Ah well, time to call up some friends.
I’m very impressed. Great job!
Can’t get to Tokyo on time, though. :( I’ll see if I can get it in Osaka somehow. If I can, there’s a space right on the first page where your autograph belongs. ;)
For all you guys who want an English version: We’re currently trying to work something out, but I have no idea if it’ll get past the planning stages… stay tuned.