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

Sunred was forsaken by the fansubbing community for a while after it hit, which is why I am thankful towards ANBU for being heroic enough to make this comedic gem available for English speakers. But along with praising their work, I do have a few bones to pick. Because that’s just how I roll.

But let’s start with the good. The translation they’ve stuck onto this show nearly perfect. While not 100% accurate, it captures the feel of the dialogue wonderfully. This is important, since Sunred derives a lot of its humour from just how conversational the script is, so a translation that reads exactly like normal English does wonders in helping the humour cross that often-difficult-to-breach linguistic boundary. It really is a shame that professional DVD translations don’t often reach this level of quality.

However, I think their translation localizes too much. Another thing that makes Sunred funny is how deep it plunges its heroes and villains into the stereotypically mundane Japanese lifestyle. As such, making the characters pay for things in dollars, as well as citing American brands as opposed to Japanese ones robs the show of its cultural flavour. Sunred thrives on references to local and nationally known things. This is a show that has three songs devoted to the city in which it takes place in, Mizonokuchi. I appreciate that they’re trying to communicate this same level of familiarity to American viewers by switching in American references, but it’s pushing things too far. They also make the characters swear too much. This is what I meant by “nearly perfect.”

Also, if they’re really shooting for professional quality on these things, why are they still doing ugly hardsubbed karaoke? Even the most newbie of new groups have gone to 100% soft subs.

Before I launch into this unorganized mess of thoughts, I just thought it would be prudent to inform you that this post is in fact an unorganized mess of thoughts. Enjoy!

After a year or so, OS (or that guy I used to talk to on AIM a lot) made a post on the latest incarnation of his blog saying he’s outta here. Gone for gone. Packing his bags. While his post in itself didn’t offend me, it was a comment left by Hung that inspired noticeable levels of rage. Long story short, OS has lost interest in anime, and feels kinda bad about it. His post is allegedly a look back to the “good ol’ days” of anime blogging (i.e. probably no more than four or five years ago), but it reads more like a giant apology for no longer being a nerd and instead taking pleasure in watching football and fuckin’ women. Hung–who never ever has anything good to say, really–weighs in with his far more bleak point of view, suggesting that anime is only something you do when you’ve got nothing else, and by god he doesn’t wanna go back!!

I see nothing wrong with losing interest in a hobby. I’m not the huge Star Wars fan I was when I was a kid, and I don’t feel bad for it. However, I do see something really negative in losing interest in a hobby, then showing disdain for it. Especially showing disdain on a blog about the hobby that you’re showing disdain for!

Every situation is different, but I can see Hung’s story plain as day without even speaking to the guy. This dude got into anime in college–at the very earliest, senior year of highschool–and was blown away at the fact that drawings filmed together in a sequence could tell actual stories! These cartoons weren’t concerned about whether or not it was rabbit season, nor were they about one-hundred-and-one talking dalmatians. They had real human characters, man! This shit had drama, this shit had comedy, this shit had MARTIAL ARTS, and it was all STRAIGHT FROM FUCKING JAPAN, MAN. This shit was so exciting, young Hung didn’t know what to fucking do. He did crazy things like start some fuckin’ anime blog and some fuckin’ anime blog aggregator. Dude was doing whole bunch of crazy things just because he liked these cartoons. Then after the 1000th summer season of love comedies and sad girls in snow, the dude got sick of it all. To put it all briefly, the dude got burned out.

My story is a little different. I discovered anime at the impressionable age of ten, watched a bunch of shit I should have and should not have, and I had a good time. There also wasn’t a lot available to me, so I couldn’t really binge on torrents or anything. But above all of that, I saw anime as simply an extension to my already very active enthusiasm towards animation in general. Anime wasn’t something new and weird that was automatically better than everything else. It was simply an addition to the types of media I enjoyed taking in. Okay, so it was new and weird, but not so much that I lost track of myself.

I’m not saying I’m better than the people who only got into anime in college, but I think perhaps my lack of access and early time of entry has positively effected my longevity as a fan. I think my gradual easing into the medium as I aged did well to defuse any disappointment I may have had a as result of noticing that all of these cartoons aren’t that wonderful, only some of them are. If anything, Hung’s case is just tragic, and it happens to a lot of ex-fans. That’s why there’s a lot of dead blogs out there. That’s why Garten finally stopped writing. “The Hung Method”, as it were, oftentimes leads to jadedness. This isn’t bad in itself, but shit gets personal when you start making your jaded nature known to other fans happily taking in this stuff. That’s basically what I’ve been trying to say across these 700 words and counting.

A jaded fan is someone who sees absolutely nothing redeeming in what he’s a fan of anymore. However, since he’s still a “fan” he sticks around and chimes in with his often uninformed and cynical viewpoint from time-to-time. (For an example, take a look at Hung’s latest masterpiece!) By all means, this person should get the fuck out and stop bothering us. But no, they stay. Hung is still around in some form, and Zac Bertschy and Justin Sevakis still work at Anime News Network.

In fact, I have to thank Zac and Justin for wonderfully illustrating just what distinguishes a jaded fan from other fans. Especially those fans who may be perceived as jaded because they come off as overwhelmingly negative and critical. It was in their episode of the ANN Cast where Daryl Surat guest starred. Before that point Daryl Surat was, in my mind, something of a jaded fan. This was before I came to the definition that I outlined in the above paragraph, mind you. But after listening to Zac and Justin talk about how just how awful everything is, then listening to their conversation with Daryl, things became very clear: Daryl is a huge fan. Daryl is excited about anime.  He just has very specific tastes. (Correct me if I’m wrong, Daryl.) It’s the same with all those Brazen Braggarts over at Colony Drop. Between reading their blog posts and speaking to them on IRC, I don’t think any of these guys are jaded, they just have very specific tastes. Even Sean, who is arguably the most cynical, and who I’ve argued with on numerous occasions (he wins because I can’t think straight) gets excited about some things.

In an attempt to bring this all together, the difference between the legions of jaded Hung-like fans who just couldn’t replicate that first high and our friends at CD and the AWO is fire. Passion. If you’re not excited about this hobby, you should just leave. Even if you disagree with them (I’m sure a lot of my readership does.) Daryl and CD have something to say, and they mean it with all their hearts. Hung doesn’t. This has fire. This doesn’t.

(And before anyone gets on my case for jumping on Hung, I’m simply using him as an example for an trend I’ve noticed across my time as a fan. He’s just the closest thing in my sights at the moment.)

I have this old hotmail account that’s basically good for nothing anymore except for MSN and getting spammy emails from sites like Amazon or whatever. Now I usually delete these emails from Amazon without even opening them, but today I got one with the curious word “anime” in the title, so I decided it was at least worth a look.

Upon opening the email, what else should grace my near-sighted eyes but the delicious, delicate, pre-teen ass of Miyafuji Yoshika, being hugged tightly by her brilliant blue school swimsuit. I was flabbergasted!

Don’t get me wrong, I was well aware that Strike Witches had been licensed for US release, but the fact that such a bold licensing decision had finally come to fruition in some form blew my mind. And the form in which it arrived in was mind blowing as well! One would think that when it comes to a show that is somewhat controversial amongst the majority of anime fans who all have a giant rod up their ass, one wouldn’t draw attention to the catalyst of said controversy.

But there it is, Miyafuji’s glorious ass, right in my face. I wanna press my nose against it, and sniff it.

But wait, to make things even more catastrophic, this DVD has a trailer. Now, even if you look at that cover, it’s just Miyafuji in a swimsuit. It’s almost normal for her to lack a skirt, or pants. So the pant-less angle may not exactly strike the more naive DVD shopper, but it certainly will upon a viewing of this trailer which is all about these girls not wearing any fuckin’ pants at all!!

In retrospect though, I can’t say I’m surprised. When I actually look at FUNimation’s  DVD releases, they are pretty classy. That is, about as a classy as a U-15 DVD shop in the depths of Akiba. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But I was. So there. Real dragons have curves.

The real question is, will I buy it? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that US anime DVDs are utter shit these days, and FUNimation is ahead of the pack as far as shitty shittiness goes. The cheap pricetag is tempting, but I’m really not a fan of badly compressed video and English titles grafted clumsily over the original Japanese ones. I may just end up buying it to hold me over until I get the R2 release.

And now here’s a picture of Luccini’s butt that I found in my Strike Witches folder. It’s by Shimada Fumikane, the guy who started all this madness.

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!

[01:23:20] <Llnk> sync_swim: huh high schools aren’t free in japan?
[01:23:23] <Llnk> oh wait, only the US has that
[01:23:30] <Llnk> pretty much
[01:24:04] <wildarmsheero> but thats ok, everyone is rich and happy in dai nippon
[01:24:12] <wildarmsheero> everything is smiles and rainbows
[01:24:42] <wildarmsheero> everyone holds hands and parades down the streets singing songs while waving hi no maru flags
[01:26:04] <Llnk> so kawaii
[01:27:40] <wildarmsheero> then shinbo akiyuki looks out the window while taking a drag on his cigarette, robbing himself of another year of life
[01:27:53] <wildarmsheero> he spits on his country from up above
[01:27:58] <wildarmsheero> sick with what they have become
[01:28:09] <wildarmsheero> and so, he makes the greatest japanese animation the world has ever seen
[01:29:40] <wildarmsheero> i think this should be a blog post
[01:30:53] <ToruMasuta> Wait, WHOUGH. High school costs money in Japan? Holy shit

Ok, guys, listen. There’s these people out there, ok? These people operate under an assumption that Bakemonogatari–OTAKU HIPSTER show of the year–is difficult to understand. Further more, these people. You know, these people? They think the people who like this TV anime get a smug sense of satisfaction out of understanding it. I don’t know about you guys, but Bakemonogatari doesn’t strike me as something difficult to understand. In fact, I can understand the show near perfectly without even needing subtitles. What I imagine the issue is, and why these poor souls are finding the show so difficult to understand, is that, quite bluntly, Bakemonogatari is Japanese As Fuck. You know that right from the title which is a mixture of 化け物 (bakemono, monster/ghost) and 物語 (monogatari, story.)

This is also the case with a whole host of other fine animated programs from the great nation of Japan. I mean, it shouldn’t be surprising. These shows aren’t made for you–they’re made for Japanese people. As such, shows just may be steeped in varying degrees of cultural quirks you may not understand! When Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei makes a joke about the Chuo Line being late again, that’s funny. Oh, but not to you. You haven’t ever taken Chuo Line, have you? When the first arc of Bakemonogatari revolves around the fact that omoi can be read as both  重い (heavy) or 思い (feelings), that’s easy to understand, and a bit clever. Oh, but you don’t get it–you’ve never studied Japanese. But you know, it’s ok.

The issue here is that people are scared of what they don’t understand. Even offended. This isn’t the show’s fault–it’s yours. No, it’s not your fault for not being Japanese. I’m not feeling that unreasonable today. It’s your fault for being close minded. It’s your fault for expecting a foreign piece of media–made for Japanese people–to be something you can totally and completely digest. It’s your fault for not opening your mind to a culture that’s different from your own. All of the jokes in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei are hilarious, but they’re not written for you. Every story, as well as all the dialogue in Bakemonogatari is very straightforward, you just need to be Japanese to fully get it. Imagine you’re a Japanese person watching Seinfeld. Or Monty Python. It’s more or less the same kind of thing. But you know, I’ve actually spoken to Japanese people who love Monty Python, though they admit it takes some effort to get sometimes.

I should note that this issue shouldn’t be something to hold you back. Isn’t part of the draw of anime its Japanese roots? Don’t we enjoy scenes of  characters airing out their futon, or talking about kanji radicals? Isn’t it new, exciting and different from the life you’re living now? Anime requires an open mind, especially if you’re not Japanese. And it’s not because all Japanese cartoons are Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji. It’s because–as I keep stressing like fuck in this post–this stuff comes from a culture alien to your own. When you watch anime–even anime like Cowboy Bebop or Baccano–you’re getting a Japanese perspective of the world. You’re peering into their culture. Don’t get mad at things you find difficult to understand. Embrace them. Think about why Sleggar Law is a cocky asshole, don’t get offended by it.

I can’t say this is the only reason, but I suspect this is one of the reasons why certain shows can attract a lot of vitriol (especially from the under-educated masses of 4chan) from people, especially when they’re popular. It’s simply a product of lack of understanding on a very basic level. I’m not saying shows can’t be bad–oh, they can be–but often times when I read criticisms of shows like Bakemonogatari, Zetsubou Sensei, K-ON!, Lucky Star, Pani Poni Dash and the like, what it often boils down to is “I don’t get it, and I’m mad because I don’t get it.” And you know, its ok that you don’t get it. You can choose to open your mind or keep it closed–whatever, I don’t give a fuck–but you not getting the show isn’t the show’s fault. It’s all yours, man.

And bringing this all back to Bakemonogatari, its visual style is what Shinbo has been putting out since Yu Yu Hakusho. If you’re just noticing that he likes crazy colours and close ups on eyes now, you sure haven’t been watching anime from the past 20 years, have you?

A bunch of other cool guys have already put up their reports on NYAF, and since mine will materialize formally as a podcast (in likely a month or so) this report here is going to brief.

I wasn’t really planning on going to NYAF, but as the guest list grew to become quite dangerous, along with the announcement of a CENCOROLL screening, I decided that it may actually not be too difficult to make my way over there without spending too much. I lucked out–I managed to get my train ticket covered, stayed with omo, and got in as press. And man, let me tell you, I’m so glad I went to this con for free. There’s no way I’d ever pay for this.

To put it bluntly–the con was run as if it was run by a bunch of children. This is professionally run, right? How is it that a fan run con like Otakon–with all of its issues–can be run better than something put up by alleged pros? Actually, how is it that a event the size of Comic Market, which had 560,000 attendees this year, can be run in a better fashion than what was going on at NYAF? Seriously, man.

Let me outline for you what was going on at this anime con. It was easy as hell to just butt into line as the Dealers Room was opening up, my friends’ VIP badges didn’t really help them do anything (except give us freeloading press some free baggage check) and, well, they fucked up the Cencoroll screening big time. Also, that Tomino translator? I could have done better. Really. And let me tell you, my Japanese is bad. You should read it on my mixi sometime!

But, you know? I had no expectations. And I wasn’t disappointed, really. Actually, I came out rather satisfied with the con despite all of its issues. I got listen to Tomino rant on about modern day film (yet, sadly missed his Q&A due to my own forgetfulness, 若さ故の過ち and stuff like that), got Tomino to sign my vintage Gundam movie program, got a picture with Tomino and… well, a bunch of other not Tomino stuff happened as well.

I really got to know Makino Yui during this con. Going in I didn’t know much about her aside from the fact that she was Nakahara Misaki in NHK ni Youkoso!, but coming out, I’m almost a fan. Her concert was real nice, despite obvious audio issues, and she’s a really cute girl herself. I regret not getting anything signed by her (though we did exchange words when I was getting something signed for a friend) and I’ll probably see about obtaining one of her CDs.

I also regret not doing much with the AKB48 side of the con. They did however pass me by more than a few times in the Dealers Room, and one time one of them waved and said hi to me. Because I was staring at her like a creep. Anyway, their real big concert would have been impossible for me to go anyway, but I do regret missing the mini-show that they put on. I guess if I find time I’ll pick up an album of theirs, too. Man, I sure love underage idols!

The Dealers Room was the typical con Dealers Room, and even though I swore never to buy anything in America ever again, it’s pretty hard to turn down buying things in America at Japanese prices. Ryu Moto–who I missed at Comic Market–was there selling his FuyuComi book way early, so of course I got an issue of that signed. Bkub was also there keeping it real, and–as you saw earlier–I picked up his freebie comic and got him to sign it. It now hangs proudly on my wall. There was another awesome booth there, and its name escapes me at the moment, but they were selling Japanese artbooks and magazines for under Japanese retail price. Here’s how it worked–none of the books had a price tag on them, there was simply a giant sign that said “Ask for price.” So I ask for the price of an issue of Megami Creators I kind of want, and expect to get ripped off. The guy looks at the 980円 price tag and produces a most curious figure of 7 dollars. I bought it without a second thought. Their selection wasn’t stellar, but if they happened to have something that you wanted, it was the place to be. They were selling this book for less than I bought it for in Japan!

All in all though, NYAF was the social con. New York city has a very large concentration of anime bloggers, and the promise of guests like Tomino naturally drew in attendance from states all over. I mainly hung with omo and crew (the crew being AlexD and StarCreator) but met up with a bunch of other cool guys like rabidkimba, Sub, SDS, SushiD, Centimetre (for a split second, as always), The Reverse Thieves, VamptVo, Patz, The Hendane Crew (always chill as fuck guys), along with a whole host of other people who were cool. One notable guy was OGT–someone I’ve had some tension with in the past, but we were able to settle these differences over some french fries. I doubt the dude will blogroll me or anything, but he is following me on the Tweeter. Though, by doing that he’ll probably quickly start to hate me again. I’m a real dick on the Tweeter.

Another interesting social aspect of the con was how many people recognized me because of the Strike Witches cap. In fact, right when I got off of the train a reader told me that he read my blog, and guided me to the Javits center. I don’t know what I would have done without him, since I totally forgot to print out directions! We had a good conversation that I probably should have caught on tape, but I didn’t want to shove the mic in front of some random person I didn’t know and had just met.

And that’s it for the New York Anime Festival. I didn’t know I was going to write this much. 1000 words isn’t terribly brief, huh? Expect a podcast in the future.

And now, loot.

Yeah, that’s about $12 dollars spent right there. The Kannagi DVD was free from the ANN panel, so I can’t hate them anymore. Even if Zac is a shitty little douchebag.

rabidkimba got me that Zetsubou Sensei book from Hendane in exchange for the four or five things I got him at C76. Since five doujin in Japanese money is one doujin in American money. That’s just how the world works.

Here’s the Tomino signature. There’s already a picture of it on the flickr taken after the fact, but here’s a better view.

Speaking of the flickr, I have uploaded some boring, badly shot photos from the con. The only real cosplay shot I took was of my buddy Misuzu (also part of the Hendane Illuminati) dressed as Kagamine Len. Other than that, the cosplay level at the con was pretty weak.

People always say, “Man, wildarms, you’re such a stick-in-the-mud! Why do you hate the anime blogs so much?” And it’s true–I do hate the anime blogs. I will not deny this claim. Anime blogs by and large are awful. However, there are and were some good ones, and it’s those happy few that I’d like to salute in what I hope becomes a series of posts about anime blogs that I like and liked. This is the first in that series.

Today we remember Lolitron.

abq over at Lolitron every now and again rises from his grave to claim that he’s not dead, but in all honesty, the site died near the beginning of 2006. There have been attempts at revival with his kind of yearly Loli Battles and attempts to blog about new series that are relevant to his interests, but it’s clear that these interests have become more mainstream, and you can bet he’s no longer blowing cash on R2 DVDs.

But let’s not focus on what Lolitron is, and more on what it was. I first discovered Lolitron (and a wealth of other blogs which are no longer updated) in highschool–almost four years ago–and it did well to fill those dark days with spots of inspired dirty humour that cheered me up.

At face value, Lolitron may not have seemed like anything special. It looks like just another episodic anime blog with a bunch of screencaps. And that’s what it was, really. But what set it apart was abq’s pedophile shtick. He didn’t summarize episodes. Instead, he gave a couple of dirty one liners paired with links to screencaps taken out of context, and then posted a bunch of other screencaps at the end. Every now and again he would leave a paragraph or so of honest thoughts about the series, but most of the time it was just perverted jokes.

And it was awesome.

While in a perfect world all anime blogs would be well-written reviews and analysis of anime both new and old, this take on the generic anime blog setup was refreshing. Instead of writing a boring summary I don’t care about (because I would have presumably already watched the episode) abq provided a funny commentary that worked along with the episode, instead of simply retelling it. I personally found this to be a nice change of pace, since honestly, most anime bloggers are fucking prudes, and it was nice to see a fellow unashamed pervert out there keeping it real. Aside from his episode posts, every now and then he’d post about his hurting wallet with loot for his readership to salivate over.

abq himself is a mysterious existence. He never really made it clear as to how old he actually was, except for the fact that he had a job and was in school. In fact, according to his Twitter, it seems he’s still in school, so he may well be close to my age, considering how long I’ve been keeping up with him. He never posted any sort of photos of himself, and his about page has been left incomplete since the inception of the blog. I’m pretty sure he’s just a normal guy, but the air of mystery around him is somewhat compelling.

What is also worth noting is how loyal his readership is. Even if the blog was only really actively updated for about a year and a bit, each time he updates–even if it’s just with one image–it draws a lot of response. People clearly want him to get back on the bandwagon, but at this point I think it’s no use.

Even if Lolitron is simply a shell of its former self, it’s still worth saluting for what it was, what it did, and how it really creeped out Fred Gallagher. abq is a cool dude, and even if his life on the internet is more or less gone, I hope he’s still doing well, wherever he is in Sweden.

I certainly hope he isn’t in jail.

When I told you the first time, I was being nice. However, only a fraction of people completely admitted to their wrong doings and promised never to use unsourced art again, while most of other people just thought was I was asking of them was too difficult.

So as such, when I told you the second time, I just didn’t care. You’re all fools who will never change. Troll-level gets shot to 100%, makes idiots mad. There’s lots of really good stuff in that post, but I guess if you’re a moron and get too distracted by someone calling you a moron to see it that means… you’re a moron.

Let me boil my argument down to the basics. This won’t take more than a paragraph or so.

When you are using a piece of Japanese fanart on your blog, you must forfeit all of your cultural values. You didn’t take the time to toil over that image. You must play by their rules. You must lower your head as low as possible. I don’t see what’s so difficult about humbling yourself. Is it really so hard for you, the entitled jackass who steals all of you anime, and has never once paid 6000 yen for an Japanese R2 DVD in your life. Hell, you haven’t even paid for DVDs made in your own country.  Basically, you have no room to argue here, because doing so is effectively defending your thievery, which doesn’t make sense at all. I suppose the indifference to this issue comes from the fact that most anime bloggers have no creative bone in their body, and as such they don’t understand the time it takes to make a piece of art.

But beyond cultural junk, it’s just common courtesy. If you didn’t make an image, don’t use it. If do you use it, credit the shit out of it and hope you’re not pissing off some Japanese dude across the ocean. At this point people bring up screencaps and official artwork, and suggest some sort of double standard. Had you read my earlier post, you’d see that was covered. Screencaps and the like are promotional material. They are made for wide use. Magazines use them all the time without permission.  It’s fine to use them.

And that’s all. I’m hitting the eject button on this. It seems that, forever and ever, anime fandom will continue to be entitled douchebags and never make any attempt to change their thieving ways. And of course, when someone calls them out on it, they get all pissy about it and refuse to believe that anything they’re doing is bad. Thanks, it’s been fun! I’m going to go blog about dakimakura covers now!

I said don’t make me tell you twice! You never listen to me, internet!

It would seem as if the collective Anime Blogging Attack Force (note: different from the Anime Blogging Illuminati, which I have only barely penetrated) has shot back responses in a number of different ways. Some shot back enlightened responses, but most of what came in rang to the tune of “THAT’S HARRRRD.” A variety of other points became running themes throughout the posts, and I’d like to take a moment to highlight those.

1: Legality

“But wahhhhh”, you cry in an incomprehensible, animal-like tone, “fanart is already infringing upon copyrights!” And I, while listening to Pizzicato Five’s 1987 album “Couples”, clad in a black beret and 1500 yen yukkuri shirt respond in an upper class, scholarly tone with, “You’re missing the point, good sir.” The point being, it’s not a matter of law. It’s matter of simply not being a total jerk.

2: Politeness and why you should care

“BUT WAHHHH,” you shriek, while destroying your keyboard not unlike an angry German kid, “you’re being a dick yourself! Who are you to parade politeness?! Furthermore, why should I care about those racist, terrible Japanese people who hate me?!?!” And once again, I respond after a sip of BOSS COFFEE with a long string of sentences (a paragraph, if you will) I don’t feel like putting in quote marks.

Think about Western  fandom for a second. What does Western fandom do? Western fandom steals. A lot. How do you watch your anime? You steal it. How do you masturbate to those fresh-from-Comic-Market-doujinshi? You steal them. How do you listen to the new, hot anime opening single? You steal it. How do you look at Megami posters? You steal them. Am I making sense here? Do you get the point? I DON’T THINK YOU GET THE POINT.

However, we have excuses. While you can do all this stuff legally while not-in-Japan、 it requires money. Not everyone has that. I sure don’t. In a way, those things are “necessary” evils (necessary in quotes for obvious reasons.) I feel guilty, yeah. I do end up buying a lot of that stuff, though. But still, it’s bad. It doesn’t give our bros in Japan any reason to like us. I mean, we’re a bunch of criminals, and no-one likes criminals.

But–and this is a rather large but–we do have full control over the use of fanart on our blogs. Our blogs, which contain awful, misguided and un-researched opinions that would make the likes of Carl Gustav Horn laugh. If I was some Japanese dude and I saw my art posted on an Anime Blogger Illuminati blog (the Anime Blog Attack Force is almost as bad) without so much as a link back to my site, I’d get all Japanese-passive-aggressive about it. Don’t you get it? You’re making people angry! That’s why they made that no-longer-updated OFP site three years ago!

Why should you care? Well, I generally don’t care what people think about me, which is why I often write in a lofty, condescending tone. However, doing this doesn’t involve me actively using a fellow fan’s creation. Everything I’m writing is my own. When you use a piece of fanart you didn’t draw (specifically Japanese fanart in this case) on your blog to illustrate your stupid point about how Gundam 00 is totally deep, dude, like it or not, you’re now dealing with another culture, another set of rules, and a completely different mindset from your own, suburban, white picket fence outlook. And you need to respect that. You should care about what they think about this, since they made that piece of art you’re stealing shamelessly.

3. Sources

“BUT WAHHH–” ok I’ll stop. So, you say sourcing is hard? It isn’t. Pop into any IRC channel with decent people, drop an image link, ask for the source, and you’ll get a bunch of responses. Same works on Twitter. It’s not difficult. I’ve done it many times.

Say it’s an old image from deep in the depths of your harddrive. You have no idea where it came from. No one else you know knows either. BUT YOU REALLY WANNA USE IT. Suck it up, boy. Pop on pixiv or danbooru (no, danbooru is not evil, it’s a fine showcase of artwork that’s mostly sourced) and find something else that works just as well, and credit the artist. Hell, you don’t need to use fanart at all. Use a screencap! To take it even further, who even needs images? Your shitty one-liners suck anyway! Learn to write, why don’t you! Take a composition class! Read back issues of Animerica! Listen to Anime Wor–I’m getting off track.

To put it simply, you have no fucking excuse.

4. Watermarks

Why don’t the Japanese watermark? Because unlike you, Westerner, the rest of the world has a concept called “humbleness.” Well, it’s actually more because most of these works are now posted to the (rightfully so) insular pixiv community, so watermarks aren’t really needed. But really, it just plum makes sense to not use it if you didn’t make it. Like I mentioned above–if you really want to use it and have the source, go ahead. If you don’t, suck it up. We’re all adults here.

I know nothing I say will do anything, but something had to be said. The fact that this hasn’t been brought up for this long is shocking, and I’m glad that I was able to touch some hearts, while at the same time making a lot of people mad because I called them what they clearly are.

And that is a bunch of fucking thieves.

Also, “human trash.”

Anime bloggers, anime bloggers. Why must we always have these discussions? Is too hard for you guys to operate utilizing normal, human, common sense? I mean, I guess it isn’t entirely your fault if you’re a  stupid person who can’t write about Japanese animation worth a shit, but what images you post onto your internet weblog is fully under your control, and that’s the issue I wish to address today.

Have you children ever heard of Online Fanarts Protection? OFP is a kind of rule set down by anime fandom regarding the use of fanart on internet websites. What they’re asking of you people is quite simple–don’t use the images they spent hours making without their permission! That’s all! Of course, if you’re an anime blogger and not aware of this rule, that’s fine; but now that you know, please take it into consideration. I myself wasn’t aware of this until about three years ago, which is why there is not-drawn-by-me-fanart in some of my older entries. But I don’t do that anymore. I’ve learned. I’m respecting their simple request.

Now, what they’re asking isn’t entirely unreasonable–basically, if you want to use a piece of art, contact the artist before doing so. However, in this fast-paced Web 3.0 world of today, we may not have time for that. Here’s an alternative–if you really want to use a piece of artwork, credit the artist and link to their site underneath it, as opposed to writing some awful, unfunny one-liner. While it’s not really what they’re asking of you, it’s better than “author unknown”, and a fair compromise. To make it even better, include a Japanese section (titled 日本語, that means “Japanese” in Japanese) on your blog where you explain in Japanese the usage of fanart on your blog, and make it clear that you will take images down without argument if asked.

Why is this important? We’re all a community. All around the world. As such, we must respect other people’s wishes, especially when it comes to creative properties that they’ve toiled for hours–sometimes days–over. Your use of fanart that’s not yours in your blog post is not transforming and giving that work new meaning–it’s just theft. You have no business using that artwork. The least you could do is–as I mentioned before–credit the artist.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t use images at all in your blog. Hell, I use a lot myself. But my images are either photos I take, or official images. While using official images without permission isn’t okay, they’re made for wide distribution, so as long as you’re not charging people to look at them, it’s not an entirely bad thing to have screenshots and such on your blog.

I don’t expect that the world will be changed with this post, but I’d like all who are reading to take this into consideration. We’re all in the same global community, so don’t betray your fellow fans around the world by stealing their artwork. It’s just plain rude, inconsiderate, and another reason why Japanese fans think English-speaking fans are “human trash.”

That’s an actual quote, by the way.

I can’t keep it a secret for any longer. Those who have a keen eye kept on my Flickr feed, or those who have the unfortunate knowledge as to what my face looks like and have seen it in photos taken by others will know that yes, I did find my way into one of Danny Choo’s swanky blogger parties.

I’m going to be honest here–I haven’t been reading Mr. Choo’s blog lately. I’ve become a busy guy–I don’t have much time to read blogs. As such, much like most of the other blogs livebookmarked in my Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar Folder, I only click on things if a title on the RSS feed catches my eye. Because of this, I wasn’t really fully aware of the details of these parties Mr. Choo was holding beyond the fact that they existed until a friend of mine tipped me off. After some research, I came to the conclusion that an event like this could be fun, and summarily begged Danny for an invite.

CGM Night 5, held on the 15th of June was the first of these parties that I attended. Me, along with a friend went to see just how much trouble we could get into. Turns out there was a lot of trouble we could have gotten into, but we didn’t really get into it. We’re too good for that.

There was lots of geek-swank going on at this party. You couldn’t look anywhere without running into a Google or Firefox employee, along with a slew of other IT pros. The party was mostly a stage for networking and general socializing with other nerds, but there were some games and giveaways. I played janken for an eroge I’d never play, but it’s fine since I lost anyway. There was no one there that I really knew, but the atmosphere alone was interesting.

I did however know two people–Patrick “Son Goku” Galbriath, and–the man of the hour–Danny Choo. I exchanged some words with Patrick, and exchanged a bit more with Danny. They’re both cool guys, and probably better people to meet in real life than, say, me.

My friend and I came out rather satisfied with the experience, and both agreed that we wouldn’t mind going again. Of course, it’d probably be better if I could run into more people I know.

Once the party was done, we went out for Hoppy.

First off, here’s some background music.

Anyways, >>1, please listen to me. That it’s really related to this thread.
I am in Japan right now; you know, Japan?
Well, anyways, there was insane number of foreigners there, and I couldn’t get in.
Then, I looked at the poster on the wall, and it had “Cool Japan” written on it.
Oh, the stupidity. Those idiots.
You, don’t come Japan just because you think it’s cool, fool.
It’s only cool, C-O-O-L for crying out loud.
There’re even entire families here. Family of 4, all out in Japan, huh? How fucking nice.
“Alright, daddy’s gonna order a giant hamburger at McDonald’s.” God, I can’t bear to watch.
I’ll give you a giant hamburger if you go back to America.
Japan should be a bloody place.
That tense atmosphere, where two guys wanting to buy the same 30000 yen Touhou Mahjong set can start a fight at any time, the stab-or-be-stabbed
mentality, that’s what’s great about this place.
Women and children should screw off and stay home.
Anyways, I was at Shinjuku station, and then the American bastard beside me goes “I hate Japan, why does everyone speak Japanese? I want to go home.”
What kind of foreigner in Japan really wants to go home nowadays, you moron?
I want to interrogate him . I want to interrogate him for roughly an hour.
Are you sure you don’t just want try killing yourself?
Coming from a Japan veteran such as myself, the latest trend among us vets is this, going to Nakano Broadway.
That’s right, Nakano Broadway. This is the vet’s way of going to Japan.
Going to Nakano Broadway means more rare goods than mainstream goods. But on the other hand the price is a tad higher. This is the key.
And then, it’s amazing. This is unbeatable.
However, if you go there then there is a danger that you’ll be looked down upon by some Japanese people from the next time on; it’s a double-edged sword.
I can’t recommend it to amateurs.
What this all really means, though, is that you, >>1, should just stay the fuck in America and never come to Japan, ever.

(SDS reminded me that the Yoshinoya Rant exists)

Here’s the short version: There’s a Star Wars artbook set to come out soon which will feature the work of a variety of international artists. One of the artists representing Neo Tokyo is none other Nishimata Aoi–famed doujin-ka, erotic game illustrator, and–as of late–food-packaging artist. This has set off some degree of controversy.

First off, there is a camp of people who think an erotic game artist has no business with a franchise such as Star Wars. These people should go fly a kite.

Secondly, there is a camp of people who are getting on Nishimata’s case because they don’t think she’s worthy of such an honour. I can sympathize with this position to some degree. I am a fan of Ms. Nishimata’s work, but I am aware of her flaws. However, her work getting selected for this collection makes sense, and she said it the best herself–”My art appears to be mainly popular with the younger generation, people that are not too much into anime yet, or people who don’t know much about the industry yet” (from here). I doubt George Lucas watches much anime, so he probably saw her contribution, was really taken by it, and decided to have her in the book. Her style is quite striking.

One of these days I’ll do a proper write up on Nishimata and all of my other favourite artists, but for now I’ll just say that she draws absolutely adorable and huggable girls, even if they do all look the same and at times are awkwardly proportioned. As for Star Wars, I only like the original trilogy, but I’m not one of the super hardcore fans who knows the universe in and out.

At any rate, I’m quite proud of Nishimata and think that she is fully deserving of this honour.

One of my resolutions for 2009 was to make an honest attempt at not being negative about every single thing–it’s not good for me, and it’s not good for the people around me. Whether or not I’ve been successful is your call, but one thing I’ve been completely not successful at not hating are anime blogs.

I don’t hate all anime blogs. In fact, I don’t even hate most anime blogs. In general, I am indifferent to the obscene number of anime blogs out there–they don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. As a concept, I love the anime blog– it’s a medium by which fans can share theories, information and analyses on the variety of media that encompass modern 2D visual culture.

However, somewhere it’s all gone terribly wrong.

The types of blogs that do what I’ve outlined above tend to be complete and utter bullshit. There is no nicer way to phrase it–that’s just how it is. And no, this isn’t a case of me getting mad at people over the internet for having different opinions than I do. It’s me getting mad at people on the internet who pass their opinions off as important, while having little grounding in what they’re pontificating about atop their soapbox composed of zeros and ones. To put it simply, there is a large contingent of people who just have no idea what they’re talking about.

This alone doesn’t enrage me. On their own, blogs like these are just annoyances–like flies. What really pushes me into bouts of head-banging frustration are when these bloggers come together and debate over their pseudo-academic hogwash. The comments on these blogs are the worst internet circlejerk you could ever subject yourself to–inane comparisons are made, wrong facts are thrown about, and assumption after assumption is made; resulting in everyone involved looking like a total ass.

I am not asking all anime bloggers to have been anime fans for 10 years, watch every single classic show out there, or even learn Japanese. I don’t think these are requirements for one to be an anime blogger, but–and this is a rather large but–if you lack grounding in the field you’re writing about, don’t pretend that you have it. You can be a perfectly fine blogger that has just started watching Japanese cartoons and have something of merit to say about them, but don’t for a second take a high and mighty tone. This is my other issue with the blogs at hand–tone–they act is if they actually know what they’re talking about.

Of course, there are a small number of serious anime blogs that do what they do quite well. Their writers have either been fans for a number of years, have seen a wide variety of shows, or posses a deep knowledge of Japanese culture. Sometimes they have all of the above. They are however sadly overshadowed by the dark, looming and evil collective of pseudo-intellectual bloggers that all wank to their own misguided bullshit.

Now, don’t think for a second that I consider myself above these guys–I’m just a rambling kid vomiting up years of pent-up rage. That said, I’d like for some of these individuals (you know who you are) to think about this for a minute–does watching every show made after 2006 automatically make you an expert on this medium? No. Please realize this, and we’ll all be better for it.

Thanks!