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

You need to click if you want to see more! And don’t do it at work!

I’ve been drawing a lot lately mainly for practice. The reason why a lot of the poses are straight on is because I want to nail basic poses before attempting more dynamic poses.

I always like doing deadly serious Zetsubou Sensei art because the openings for the show are just so twisted, and it contrasts nicely with just how goofy the whole show is. As such, this picture is comically emo. I hope you enjoy it!!

At a cursory glance it’s easy to write each Zetsubou Sensei series off as all the same, but they’re actually all quite different in terms of presentation. The first one is slowly paced and eases you into the formula, Zoku then takes that formula and experiments with it, and Goku expands upon that experimentation even further.

Zan is noticeably more streamlined than the others, and the presentation becomes more formulaic. However, it does do some rather interesting things with its episode structure. First of all, each episode opens with one of the phony “story so far” spiels housed in the dust jacket flaps from the original manga, narrated lovingly by Saito Chiwa in a variety of crazy voices. I think these do well to set the tone for the rest of the show, but as someone whose Japanese isn’t the best,  following the narration along with subtitles is a touch difficult.

Another thing of note is the visual style of the opening sequence, which is vastly different from the last two seasons’ openings that had a large degree of visual continuity between them. While this opening is decidedly the most normal looking of the bunch, it’s also the most chaotic, crazy, and non-nonsensical. Instead of being bound to certain themes (e.g. bondage, guro, the circus) Zan’s opening is a weird mix of ideas and visual styles, all thrown together in a package that somehow works better than it should.

Probably the most interesting thing that SHAFT did with the show was create continuity between the episodes by having one of the three sketches cutoff half way, then continue in the later part of the following episode. I think this gave them more freedom in allotting time to each sketch, making the pacing tighter. And–as mentioned before–the “to be continued” created continuity where there was at first none, making the viewer wonder how that one sketch would turn out in the next episode. I feel that it worked quite well.

Zan also began using the original manga more as a guide for storyboarding. I have not read the manga beyond the first book, so I can’t tell you how much or how little they copied from it. While I’m not sure this is a direct result of that, the show had a visual style that seemed a lot sharper, and more consistent between episodes than the previous series. I also noticed more in the way of drawn backgrounds as opposed Photoshopped photos. Despite this practice, the show also seemed quite animated. It still had a lot of talking heads–typical for SHAFT–but characters burst out in movement a bit more frequently than usual. In fact think some episodes of Zan were more animated than Bakemonogatari (which I really need to talk about more, by the way)

As far as actual content goes–you know, the stuff people actually care about–the show starts off feeling a bit weak coming on the heels of Goku, but after an episode or two I found myself laughing to the point of losing breath. Even though the show does miss at points–and the points where it misses are simply jokes I can’t connect to–it hits hard a good 90% of the time, and I had a great time watching it. And despite most of the show being less adventurous than Zoku, it does give us this beautifully animated sketch by Gekidan Inu Curry, as well an ending sequence that more or less summarizes what my life will probably be in the next year or so.

Oh, and there’s IKENAI! Kaere-Sensei.

If I was in a more dismissive mood, I’d leave the blog post at that picture. But no–there are things to be said.

It’s been out for a while–I know, don’t get on my case–but having just finished reading the first translated volume of the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei  manga a few weeks ago, I have some things to say about it, most of it revolving around its translation into English.

By the time the existence of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was known to the English-speaking world, those keen in the ways of Japanese (and those not, even) knew the material was difficult to translate well. Further more, a commercial release of such a work would be a disaster if not done properly. However, despite seemingly insurmountable linguistic and cultural barriers, amateur translators managed to put out great, high quality localizations of the franchise’s TV anime counterpart. Why is it, then, that professionals can’t handle the manga part of the deal better?

While I can’t speak entirely for accuracy, Del-Rey’s translation of Zetsubou Sensei generally reads decently. It does feel stiff in places, but on the whole it comes off fine. However, at some point in the book–and this is a very specific point–things go all wrong. Once Kaere’s chapter rolls along, it seems as if the guy in charge of quality control just gives up. “Oh no!” is followed by its romanized Japanese equivalent “yada!”, and the translator for some reason feels “eki-in” (駅員) needs a translation note, when it simply means nothing more than “station attendant.” C’mon, guys. Even the fansubs translated that. I can understand them leaving the joke about Kaere’s name to a translation note, but I honestly expect more creativity and smarts out of  professional translators and editors.

Another big issue is the incorrect romanization of character names, and I’m not talking about trivial Shaa/Char shit. That said, this only really effects Sekiutsu, who is first introduced as Sekiuchi, then referred to as Sekiutsu, then is later on in the book referred to as Sekiuchi once more. Guys, I know the 内 in 関内 is typically read as “uchi”, but Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei has furigana for god sakes. This stuff is spelled out for you, quite literally, in conveniently placed bits of hiragana. To add insult to injury, they get her name right not once, but twice after the initial mess up. Then, in the next chapter, our lovable Maria becomes Sekiuchi again. Also, later on in the “Current Charges From This Issue” section–a section detailing the people Kaere sued–Nozomu’s name is rendered as “Noboru”, which is just utterly stupid.

I really feel sorry for any newcomer to the series reading this translation. While it reads decently in other sections, I’m afraid these bits will throw people off and confuse them, if they’re not already confused by all the Japan-specific cultural gags. I do commend Del-Rey for throwing in a glossary at the back, but it’s still missing some painfully obvious things. I haven’t read further volumes, so I don’t know if they improve or not, but this one gets pretty dire.

As for the manga itself, it’s pretty good. Kumeta’s work is still in infant stages here, so these early chapters feel a bit awkwardly paced and somewhat random, but they work well to deliver the franchise’s celebrated dark comedy and social satire. However, I do think the anime did a better job of streamlining these early chapters into something that flowed a bit easier. The art is also still developing, and hasn’t yet reached the point where SHAFT can just trace it panel to panel for their anime adaptation.

After the experimental wonders put forth by Zoku and Goku, and now fresh off the heels of the non-stop, laugh-a-minute hilarity that is Zan, going back to watch the original Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is quite strange. The first Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, in comparison to the rest, clearly has not found itself. It’s not yet “Zetsubou Sensei”–it’s another SHAFT comedy. Which isn’t a bad thing, mind you, it’s just that pacing, flow and episode structure bears more resemblance to Pani Poni Dash than it does to the show’s subsequent sequels.

The pacing is chill. The frenetic energy that defines the later series is gone, and the show actually takes up a tone similar to any other school comedy. The visual style is still being worked out. Episode structure is still being established. Things are still in their infant-stages. The big contributing factor to the show’s slower pace is the fact that instead of packing three stories into one episode, they only do two. This is fine for the character introductions early on in the show, but I think this slower pacing doesn’t work too much in the favour of the later parts of the show, but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything.

Another thing I noticed upon this re-watch is just how cheap as hell the show is. I always knew it was cheap–unfortunately, all SHAFT anime is cheap (no one wants to support their great artistic visions!)–but I didn’t realize, or just plain forgot, that there are times when backgrounds are simply made from photos run through Photoshop’s Cut Out filter. Sometimes they’re not even Photoshopped at all beyond the show’s trademark intense lighting effects. But you know, it’s ok. It works well with the visual style established by the show, and at times enhances it. I just never noticed that they were photos before.

But overall, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is just a good comedy with great moments. It differentiates itself from the rest with its bold visual style and Shinbo’s unique brand of direction, but it’s not until the later installments when the show really displays its true comedic chops.

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?

Hey, I’ve been there!

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.

When the first installment Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei aired around two years ago, it impressed me with just how artistically and skilfully it presented dark, sarcastic humour. The second series, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, set the bar a bit higher by speeding up the pacing and cranking up the insanity, while the Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei set of OADs perfected what Zoku paved the way for.

Now we’ve reached the third TV series–Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei–and it’s become quite clear that making an episode of this show has changed from an art to a science. Techniques which were once bits of artistic experimentation have become common place, and the way in which an episode flows is no longer surprising.This isn’t a bad thing at all. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei’s premise lends itself to being repetitive, so whether or not you enjoy the formula will dictate whether or not you’ll enjoy this follow up.

The one thing working against Zan is probably the franchise’s previous installment–Goku. I can’t say this with any certainty, but I believe SHAFTXSHINBO thought Goku would be the last hurrah, so they went out of their way to make those three episodes as insane as they possibly could. As such, the tone present in Zan feels a tad toned down.

That, however, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the geniuses at SHAFT have found a way to mass produce a television show in which each episode is of relatively high artistic quality. And that’s just… amazing.

The best part of this all is that with the Zetsubou Sensei formula nailed, Shinbo can focus his efforts on what is quite possibly the best thing airing this season: Bakemonogatari!

Provided that you are not jaded as all hell, every year it is not usual to come out with a select few shows you absolutely love, and would most certainly watch again. These are special shows. Shows that you look forward to each week. Shows that touch your heart. Shows that do nothing but fill you with joy. Here’s the shows that did that for me in 2008.

(more…)

Original Post

I really wanted this bad boy to go up on Saturday, but I just couldn’t swing it. See, I was busy working on the comic project that my friend commissioned me to do, and I was hell bent on getting it out before Christmas. I’ve since finished it, and it’ll probably be available for people to see in some form… soon^TM. For those who don’t know, it’s a SFW Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu doujinshi. Story is, my friend offered me cash to do a comic for his anime club. I agreed, and decided to make a Haruka doujinshi. While it was a lot of work, it was a very rewarding experience. Though, I kind of feel like a dick because it took money to push me into making a doujnshi, but I’ll probably make more on my own now, and they will be terribly dirty. Terribly.

Anyway, on to this current comic. First of all, the de-Tomino’d version is available here. It is very much not safe for work. Yes, in the great tradition set forth by Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, I used a bald man to cover up naughty bits. Since Maeda wasn’t available, I used someone just as–if not more–crazy. I guess Keep Out tape would have been more characteristic of Chocotto Sister, but the image of Tomino’s screaming face over a loli’s DFC is just too funny.

The script is based off of this comic’s VERY FIRST Christmas comic, which you can find if you look through the archives hard enough. It’s kind of lazy on my part, but in the end I think it’s also pretty funny. I did the art for this all on one giant sheet of paper to help me size the characters in their panels better, and I liked how it turned out. It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a nice way to work. I usually draw characters on different sheets of paper, and combine them all into one comic on the computer. This way is fine, but sometimes it hurts to make detailed drawings really small when resizing for comic composition.

I guess now I’ll backtrack and talk briefly about the last few comics, since I haven’t done that yet. I really like how the art in the CHAOS;HEAD comic came out, even if it’s not perfect. The comic really could have ended at panel three, but I needed to fit a meme and a Newtype flash in. Because Mistakes of Youth is actually a Gundam prequel doujinshi, and Rets is Char Aznable’s ancestor. Really.

The two somewhat Shinbo centric comics were made to kind of loosen me up, since I was stuck in a boring scripting routine, so I wanted to mix things up. I also wanted to throw Anonymous for a loop, so they would stop posting my comic and saying, “NO IT’S ‘WHOSE EYES ARE THOSE EYES YOU FAG’ GOD.” If you start to notice comics being more off the beaten path than usual, that’s because I’m trying to broaden my horizons. Two kids walking around and talking about anime is fine, but I want to channel the kind of spirit present in the opening comics more.

I really liked the artwork in the Giant Robo parody comic, and have no qualms about that one at all. I like the script for THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHINBO but the artwork came out bad. I tried for realism and failed. Oh well.

But enough blogging, and back to Christmas. Happy Holidays, motherfuckers!