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

Yesterday I got this Kannagi DVD that for some reason came with some random Mobile Suit Gundam stickers. Lord knows for how long these have been sitting around the Bandai offices!

Here’s a sexy picture of Hachikuji by tooo.

Happy New Year!

Original Post

I think from this point on, I’ll simply continue to portray Shinbo as some crazy sex pervert. I enjoy this portrayal of him. However, it would make things awkward if I were to ever run into him at some otaku bar in Kabuki-cho, especially after I scream “SHINBO-SENSEI, SHINBO-SENSEI.”

As far as artwork goes, the background in panel one is completely traced from this photo I took lovingly with my phone in the Boston Common, and the last panel is traced directly from Google Street View through Kabuki-cho. I’ve walked through that area in the past, so I know the score. I just never took my camera out there. Nor did I want to. It’s Kabuki-cho, man. As far as character art goes, I think it’s not awful, but not great. Hopefully it doesn’t make your eyes bleed. Eventually I want to get around to practicing more interesting angles and poses, but I have no idea how to start practicing with that stuff. The colouring style in the first two panels is a parody on this and this. Don’t worry, I’ll eventually record this and other references in the long-neglected reference guide. I haven’t forgotten about it, folks! Updating that will probably be a good thing to do over winter break, I imagine.

Lately I have been watching Hokuto no Ken, thanks to the power of Hulu. The main thing that had put me off of watching this series was simply downloading it, but now that I can stream it with no effort, the show has become a lot easier to watch. I’m 24 episodes in, and what I really like about it is just how honest it is with how corny and cheesy it is. It’s the kind of shounen fighting show I really dig, and it’s a shame that recent shounen fighting shows in the same vein  are crap like Bleach, and not cool, head exploding, manly stuff like this. That said, the animation in Hokuto no Ken is probably worse than that of Bleach, but that’s all part of its charm. I really recommend this series to anyone who enjoys Jump shows made before Yu Yu Hakusho. Not like Yu Yu Hakusho isn’t cool–our man Shinbo worked on that one–but it did help to kick off what Surat labels at the “Neo Shounen” phenomenon. Which I hate.

I’ll probably write more on this later, but I just thought I’d mention I’m still chugging along with that Umineko cartoon. Yeah, it looks funky. Yeah, I haven’t read the book (“book”). It’s still a pretty entertaining cartoon, probably even more so now that it’s moved from a typical murder mystery to a show about crazy witches who drown people in jelly then drop giant cakes on them. That said, I don’t really expect a satisfying resolution to all of this–especially not in this anime–but the ride is pretty fun, even if the colouring work is some of the most bland digital colouring I’ve ever seen.

That’ll be it for today. I have a backlog of Japanese animated programs that has grown to epic proportions due to this new season. Eventually I’ll get around to writing up the new season, but I have no idea when that’ll be. Hopefully this weekend.

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?

Remember how back when Bakemonogatari was announced, there was news that the show was too long for its TV broadcast, and the remaining three episodes of the fifteen episode series had to be streamed online?

Well, I just got some SUPER SECRET INFO from my industry contact in Japan, and he told me I could spill the beans on the whole deal. See, SHAFT won’t be streaming anything. They’re going to be doing something better–each of the web episodes will be put up on their website free for download, with no DRM. Expect the file names to look something like this: [ＳＨＡＦＴ]化物語第十三話「つばさキャット其ノ参」.mkv

In addition to this, each of the episodes will be subbed into English–BY SHINBO HIMSELF. What this means is, Shinbo will simply be typing in all the English he knows into each of the episodes. By the last episode, the sub script will be composed entirely of misspelled quotes from American movies. I’ve seen these scripts, and they’re pretty awesome.

Anyway, look forward to it!

naked little girls.

Shinbo getting up in years (the man is nearly 50) has slowly but surely been easing off the naked little girls since Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-. Negima!? was a transitional period, Hidamari Sketch and Zetsubou Sensei worked as nicotine patches (they feature loli-looking characters who aren’t actually kids, see) and Natsu no Arashi was more or less him going cold turkey.

“I’LL NEVER TOUCH LOLIS AGAIN!”, he cried alone in his empty apartment.

But then his friend from years back–Watanabe Akio, a seasoned pedophile himself–came back and showed him the light.

Thusly:

(more…)

Leaving Japan in two weeks :(

Bakemonogatari: I kind of wished this would be the show where Shinbo would exercise more creative control over the production (a la his older work) but this more collaborative effort between everyone (which I believe is how most SHAFTXSHINBO works are) shows just how far the team has come over the past couple of years. The writing is brilliant, even if I do miss out on some cultural ques. I probably don’t have to mention that Watanabe Akio’s designs are brilliant, but they are.
CANAAN: I haven’t seen an action based show this strong since Cowboy Bebop. I couldn’t really care less for the plot, but the character interactions are nice and the gunfights are some of best I’ve seen in a while.
Dragon Ball Kai: I guess they’ll be cutting out the episode where Piccolo and Goku get their driver’s licenses.
Fight, Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!: Finally, a show which acknowledges the superiority of the pee-fetish. I enjoy fanservice romps when well done, and this is fairly good. Needs more exposed boobs, though.
Hayate no Gotoku!!: This show has really made me sour towards J.C. Staff. All they can really do right is softcore porn. It’s not bad, and at some points it’s quite good, but on the whole it’s simply not as strong as the first season. I’m also going to shove some blame onto Kenjirou Hata–dude, you should have serialized you comic in Comic High or something…
Saki: In the beginning I was watching this because I thought a lot of the cast was adorable, but at this point the Mahjong stuff is proving to be extremely riveting. I kind of want to re-watch Akagi now!
Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-Hen: Even though this show is devilishly simple to understand raw, I had no idea what was going on in the last two episodes. The low budget really does hurt the show more than it should. Imagawa’s directorial talents can only go so far. However, when it’s good, it’s really good.
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu: Fuck the haters, Endless Eight is great… provided it ends at eight episodes. I do hope they announce another series after this reboot of S1, though.
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0: Hm, I like a show by Bones. Something is wrong. Perhaps because it has a loli? Perhaps because I like seeing places where I’ve just visited get destroyed in a cartoon? Perhaps the realistic portrayal of lost and scared children? I dunno, but it works fairly well.
Umi Monogatari: I had no idea the pachinker game for this had been around for 10 years. The show itself is a fun diversion each week. Nothing extremely special, but nice.
Umineko no Naku Koro ni: I had no idea that the Japanese word for “seagull” literally meant “seacat” until I saw this show. A fine show, but it would be nice if Deen could learn how to make animation that wasn’t horribly muddy.
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: I do like how each series distinguishes itself with its own quirks, with the new ones in this season being quite obvious if you have eyes and ears. Some of the rantings are a bit too Japanese culture centric for only-here-for-5-months-me to understand, but it continues to be a fine television show.

I was at some point watching Asura Cryin’ and stopped at episode 8. Should I finish it? I should I watch the sequel? I also saw the first episode of that GA show, but no one has subbed it, surprisingly enough.

Also caught one episode of Kanamemo on TV before infomercials on Teletama pushed Zetsubou Sensei to the same time as it. I liked the first episode, and should watch more…!

I still need to get through the DVD backlog. Working through it slowly, but surely. Eventually I’ll work out a routine for all of this.

Oh, I guess I’m struggling through the odd manga in Japanese.

Original Post

I’ve had this comic in my mind for months, but the only real appropriate time to post it is now. Actually, last week would have probably been better, but it’s sill been a week since the premier so it’s still fresh. At first I wasn’t going to pay homage to an old, and probably tired internet meme, but upon reviewing the script a few times I felt I had to do nothing but that. When I first threw together this comic, I was in a bit of a rush and forgot to include the last two speech bubbles. However, I also found that version to be quite funny, so I decided to keep it and post it for you all to enjoy.

The art here is middle of the road, as usual. The gaijin 4-koma panels are especially bad, but I think it’s ok for those to look bad. They kind of have to be.

The new season is underway, but I haven’t actually picked out a large list of things to follow, and am just working off of word-of-mouth for the first time in my life. Some shows I am excited for, like Bakemonogatari, which premiered on Friday evening, along with Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which premiered last night, but is airing on Teletama today. I’ll probably do a bigger post on Bakemonogatari later, but for now I’ll say it does get my high recommendation. That said, the first episode didn’t really blow me away, but that was mostly because it lived up to my expectations exactly, and I couldn’t really understand the dialogue to well. The show is extremely sexy though, beating out the DVD version of Tsukuyomi -MOONPHASE- in terms of pure visual sex. The dialogue between the character art and backgrounds has lots of chemistry, as if they were made for each other (which they were, obviously.) And unlike most SHAFT shows, it seems this actually has a good budget. Characters actually move! A beautifully rendered 3D world moves around them! Watanabe Akio designs! If they can keep this quality consistent, they’ll really be able to go places with this show.

And with that, I’ll take my leave. Since I’m going to be busy with some guests for a good part of this week, there will not be a comic next week. Also, I’ve been writing the comic off the seat of my pants for the past couple of weeks, and now I simply just have no real good ideas. I’m working on a two parter, and if I can get something interesting out of that, I’ll see about updating twice in the week after this one.

Later!

As a fan of director Shinbo Akiyuki and studio SHAFT, I tend to look forward to programs they’re slated to produce with some degree of excitement. However, I’ve grown a little disheartened with the combo as of late–ever since Tsukuyomi -MOON PHASE- this dynamic duo has done nothing but school-related comedies. This isn’t a bad thing. Titles like Pani Poni Dash, Hidamari Sketch, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei are all brilliant in their own ways, but after a while this setting becomes redundant. Shinbo and SHAFT have a very bold and distinctive style, so seeing such a style lavished upon school comedies almost seems like a waste, especially when one has seen how it shines in darker pieces like Tsukuyomi and The Soultaker (which is Tatsunoko Pro, by the way.) This isn’t to say that having this dangerous combo’s aesthetic tastes applied to such settings doesn’t make for interesting cartoons, but it’s starting to feel very phoned in with this current season’s offering of Maria†Holic.

But now we have Bakemonogatari. It doesn’t stray from the highschool setting (what otaku-centric anime doesn’t?) but rather than being concerned with making one laugh, it seems to have another goal in mind. Based off of Wikipedia entries and testimonials from individuals familiar with the original work, Bakemonogatari looks to be more along the lines of the aforementioned Tsukuyomi -MOON PHASE- and Soultaker. So, less walls-of-text and visual gags, and more hard shadows and unique colour palettes. This is a Good Thing.

The trailer itself is typical SHAFT–cheap, but extremely effective. It runs at just around one minute long, and is primarily composed of text, a handful of nicely framed still images, and closes with about a few seconds of actual animation. The visual style applied to the text shares the same deadly serious style found in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, but this time it’s used less for parody and more to set a wonderfully creepy tone. The character shots (with designs by Akio Watanabe) are set in Soultaker lighting, which tickles my heart, since I miss Shinbo’s striking use of lighting.

It starts in July. Hopefully it’ll be good!