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

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Just some dickish commentary between me and Alex on Ian Condry’s SOUL OF ANIME lecture which wasn’t all that interesting, but you can listen to it here.

There was no part 2.

Guests

• Alex Leavitt

Songs

• Opening Song– “Kyuuryoubi-san” by Omokage Lucky Hole
• Ending Song– “The Joker” by Brasil ‘66

Original Post

I find that amongst some anime fans, there are those that think like computers. For instance, when an adaptation of a popular manga takes one step away from the original story, fans label it a failure because the outcome doesn’t fall within their narrow set of expectations. Perhaps if they were to realize that these changes actually make the story better, they would simply break down.

That said, this comic is primarily about the initial reaction to the first and second episodes of the show which were overwhelmingly negative (for a variety of reasons, not just inaccuracy) but that seems to have cooled down now. To be honest, I’m actually still not sure how some of the added plot elements work together–such as the new girl, and Akira’s loss of memory. I think his loss of memory is addressed in episode 7, but I’ve only seen it raw thus far so I can’t be certain. There’s also some other issues with the show that I want to address, but not now. It’s good, but I think that more so than any SHAFT show in recent years–even Bakemonogatari–this show probably needs to be watched on home video.

Oh, there’s some new podcasts about Comiket. They’re kind of bad, but if anything I hope they help bring you into that moment that was Comiket 76.

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At Comiket Day 3 Nippon Banzai levels get shot into overdrive and manifest in completely bias incoherent ramblings in line. At Comiket Day 4, fatigue levels get shot into overdrive and manifest in simple incoherent ramblings. But it’s like that guy said, it’s all about catching that moment, that instant in our lives.

And you can listen to it, if you want!

We did end up meeting Kono Azure. Missed Ryu Moto, though.

Guests

• Chris (Hen Da Ne)
• Anonymous

Songs

• Opening Song– “Yume no Naka E” by Inoue Yousui
• Ending Song– “Ending Chorus: Beginning of the Universe” by Hattori Takayuki

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Once upon a time, there was a Comic Market. Unlike the previous 75 Comic Markets before it, this one was a little different: I was in attendance.

This is the first half of a two-part series that covers my adventures–as well as the adventures of those with me–at Comic Market 76.

Guests

• Mouse
• Chris (Hen Da Ne)

Songs

• Opening Song– “My Pace Daiou” by Manzo
• Ending Song– “I’m Feeling You” by Capsule

Original Post

Hi guys, here’s a comic.

It’s pretty hard writing jokes about shows you like, so instead I use the show as an excuse to rag on the characters, I guess. I had this script floating around in my head for a while, but wasn’t sure about using it. It then became Thursday and I realized I should probably make a comic or something, so I just used this script. I think it’s kind of funny. I’m also kind of happy with the artwork, except for the faces in panel two are really bad. I tried to fix them, but they still turned out weird. Rets’ face probably needs to be longer. Other than that, it’s fine.

The comic production time has been steadily going down in recent weeks, to the point where it now takes exactly four hours to colour a normal three-to-four panel comic. This is great, since last time I checked it took something around eight hours. I don’t know how I cut the time down so much, but I guess I have. The sketching still takes around an hour or so, so that brings the entire production time up to about five and a half hours, but I usually do the sketching in classes, so it’s not exactly a big strain on my free time. So yeah, that’s great. Hopefully I can cut the time down to two to three hours and maybe put out more than one comic a week regularly. I doubt it, but a man can dream, right?

Oh yeah, I was on the Anime 3000 panel talkin’ ’bout life in Japan as a stinky Gaijin along with two other guys who have been living there for a lot longer than I did. It was fun, and I think we covered a good amount of ground when it comes to being a not-Japanese person in a country filled with them. Unfortunately, some of my best stuff (mostly stuff about being an Otaku in Japan) got cut. However, if you have an iPhone, you can buy A3000’s iPhone app and download the cut footage there. I don’t have an iPhone, so I can’t get it.

And that’s all for this week! Hopefully I can churn out some blog posts this week instead of doing absolutely nothing.

And maybe we can also sub more Kirumin :V

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Part II of the Matt Alt interview! Topics covered include MOE anime, Gundam, Eva and Tokusatsu film. My many thanks go out to Mr. Alt for agreeing to come on this dirty show.

Guests

• Matt Alt

Songs

• Opening Song– “Senaka goshi ni Sentimental” by Miyasato Kumi
• Ending Song– “Anime Ja Nai” by Arai Masato

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

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Wonder Festival may be long over, but our Beauty Memories live on… in the form of a podcast! The content of this show is true to the title for the first 10 or so minutes (believe it or not, there was even more of just me talking that was edited out) but after that there’s a good review of the event overall between me and lastarial. We learned quite quickly that it would be impossible to catch any audio at the event itself.

We actually talked about a bunch of fascinating things in line, but I never know when to switch on the recorder. Oops.

Some old photos.

Guests

• Lastarial

Songs

• Opening Song– “Mr. Noone Special (Reprise)” by Cymbals
• Ending Song– “Muzak Cycle” by Cymbals

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On July the 7th, 2009, omo, a mysterious man known only as “Alex”, and myself attended the once-in-a-century concert “Super Dimensional Tanabata Sonic” put on by Kanno Yoko and the Seatbelts. However, the podcast that was produced is mostly about the new Eva movie, and really unfocused rants about the concert. That’s just how we roll, here!

We also review Pepsi Shiso, and I eat a Chocolate Cornet.

For those afraid of spoilers, we do spoil the end of Eva 2.0, so when we say SPOILERS, skip to around the 19 minute mark and all should be good.

Some photos.

Guests

• Omo
• Alex
  

Songs

• Opening Narration– “Introduction” by Shigeaki Saegusa, from the Zeta Gundam soundtrack
• Opening Song– “What Planet Is This?” by Kanno Yoko and Seatbelts
• Ending Song– “Want It All Back” by Yamane Mai
• Closing Message– “SF Game Center” by Kanno Yoko

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As per the title, I speak with Mike Dent for a bit about the new-ish first Gurren Lagann movie, and little on the properly new second movie. I should probably go through some kind of podcast training camp, because whenever I invite superstars on, I end up not saying much. Not that like that’s a bad thing–no one cares about my opinion, and Mr. Dent knows a lot about the robots, so it manages to be a pretty good show.

I should note that I am posting this in lieu of an Akiba centric episode with The Eroge Guy from Hen Da Ne, along with a trip to Nakano with kransom. These episodes would probably be fine if I could get around to editing them real well, but right now they just sound like cheap Hot Tears of Shame imitations, and why listen to that when the real thing is so much cooler? And less pedo.

Guests

• Mike Dent
  

Songs

• Opening Song– “Minna no Peace” by Afromania
• Ending Song– “Happily Ever After” by Nakagawa Shouko

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I sit down with fellow lolicon mt-i to talk about a number of mostly loli-centric topics. The discussion covers Ichigo Mashimaro Encore, Toradora! (with spoilers), the new Hayate OVA and Kodomo no Jikan. It’s all fun and games, and I wish everyday was Sunday!

Guests

• mt-i

Songs

• Opening Song– “Zo!” by Kugimiya Rie
• Ending Song– “1 2 3 Day” by Little Non

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Since I’m heading off to Japan in just about a month, I had my old friend Santi over, and as per usual we watched some terrible anime. This time around we partook of BAOH and Dog Soldier, and on the way to lunch we decided to talk about our experiences with these two works of art into a digital recorder for an internet podcast. What follows is us talking unintelligibly about these two works of genius, as well as other things like Akikan.

Guests

• Santi The Mysterious
  

Songs

• Opening Song– “Afro Rock Theme (Rock Afro Mix)” by Comoesta Yaegashi
• Ending Song– “Cirno no Perfect Sansuu Kyoushitsu” by IOSYS

Original Post

Oh god, here’s another comic. I really liked the sketches for this one, but as I continued I started to like it less and less. Looking at it now, I’m pretty indifferent towards it. It could stand to be better, but I don’t hate it. I tried some new things, like correctly sized heads and conventional panel layout, and they work pretty well. The backgrounds are the usual mess of bad mouse painting mixed with pictures I steal from Google images and Tokyo Kid’s official site (which seems to be down at the moment, hm.) I don’t think I’ve made this clear, but I do steal a lot of images when I make comics. I know this is fairly obvious, but I figure I should make it known that I’m not pretending all of Brad’s Hawaiian shirts are my own designs. They’re all stolen. But lots of artists appropriate imagery in similar ways, so I don’t feel too bad. Oh yeah, speaking of stolen images, I’m not going to provide an uncensored version of this comic just so you can see the horrible shota shit Tina is holding. If you really want to see it, hit up Mandarake’s shota section. It’s like the second book there. I didn’t want to hang around too long, that shit is gross.

Another podcast came into existence a day or so ago. It’s me, Omo and Link going on for about fifty minutes about that show everyone has been ripping their manga up over. I’m going to try and do a show with Señor Link again about that Touhou cartoon Maikaze released a while ago. That’ll be neat.

I mentioned last rant that I threw together a little doujinshi on a request from a friend. I got some requests to buy it from some people over the last week, but before we can print anything we need at the minimum thirty requests. We’re not quite there yet. It’s only three bucks, and it’s pretty funny even if you haven’t seen the series in question. So buy! Buy! Buy! We can also do digital copies, but if anything’s going to be printed, we need at least thirty people.

I did my first bit of fanart for 2009, and once again it’s a picture of Chiaki being touched in a bad way. I did this at the beginning of 2008, too. I have no idea why. I’m not even that wild about Chiaki. I mean, she’s cute, but not one of my top 5 lolis or anything. Oh well.

A bunch of cool anime has started, and the coolest is probably Maria+Holic. I don’t want to say too much, as I’m already planning on saying a bunch in a future season review post, but it’s pretty good. It’s not really as crazy as I want it to be, but what can you do? The opening is pretty rad.

Anyway, we’re at the end again. Later.

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The Ol’ Gang from the very first episode (of season 2) come back together for an awesomely nerdy conversation about one of the year’s most dangerous shows! We talk about interlacing, dutch angles and postmodernism. Yeah. We’re cool guys.

Guests

• Link
• Omo

Songs

• Opening Song– “Haroo Daizu no Uta” by Haruka Tomatsu
• Ending Song– “motto☆hade ni ne” by Haruka Tomatsu