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

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I actually like how this came out. Kind of simple, though.

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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:

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