Category Archives: Idolmaster

June 1, 2013

All I’ve Got Are Stinking MADs

By omo

Convention season is also remembrance season. Spring is, for me, always a time to get excited. It’s when I fell in love with things like Sakura Taisen and Tsukihime and other nonsense that I can only look on fondly as memories, plastic figures, and a lost seashore of words as grounded sand by the passage of time on the internets.

I was just in the mood. And maybe you are too, to remember a couple old MADs that accompanied my recent fandom: Love Plus and the Idolm@ster. Or maybe they’re new to you?

It’s weird, because they do mark the points when I my tastes decided to change. In the Love Plus case, though, I was already playing the game around launch so maybe it was already too late.

I would like to thank the guy, who made the MAD, that made me first pay it any attention:

You can catch it at its original location on Nico (man, 2008 was not all that long ago). A high-resolution version can be found here. And, there’s sex bomb, a follow up.

The great thing about this video is that it doesn’t take much to understand what’s going on. The song is catchy, and it’s in English. The humor translates well without any meddling. It even has that iM@S feel within the concept–a gang of entertainers, being entertaining by being themselves. Sure, it’s still full of in-jokes, but that just adds to the flavor, not a requirement to get it. The follow up video is the same, too.

Less I could say about this pretty neat video featuring Love Plus (the original) and Nene the virtual girlfriend. I think it speaks for itself. And it doesn’t take an in joke to explain much anything. Familiarity with Love Plus just makes this video more striking.

You can find it on Nico and Vimeo. Only half a million views since 2010, this is pretty obscure relatively lol.

3 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Idolmaster, Love Plus

January 14, 2013

Bookcover Scratchpad #1 Winter 2013

By omo

Two very important things that shouldn't be missing

 

Just to keep track what I watched:

Maoyu – The only new anime that piqued my interest that I wasn’t already interested in. I think it has more to do with the presentation than anything at this point, but let it be said that when it comes to animation, getting the presentation right is perhaps the best thing you can do in the first episode. The future is dicey because I think there’s some kind of genre warfare going on. I smell a post.

Love Live – Totally lukewarm. Might be because I haven’t really watched the live shows much. Approaching 2.5D is tricky, I guess. It’s one of those cases when we break Love Live down by element, it checks all my boxes but the finished product doesn’t do anything for me. But because it checks all my boxes and does nothing for me, it intrigues me in some weird way. Maybe I should just watch some live shows first.

Senyu – P. alright. Yamakan notwithstanding. I think there was something about short anime said by some people that is slowly becoming a thing. I guess this is why I am still planning to finish Poyo and Wooser. And Kuromajo-san ga Toru. And maybe Yurumates. LOL.

Mangirls – I think I got over the language joke in the first 5 minutes of seeing this title. Sadly that was funnier than anything in the show. But it’s short, I don’t think it hurts to follow.

Yama no Suzume – The Encouragement of Engrish is pretty strong with this one too but it presents a slightly more otaku-friendly atmosphere.

Amnesia – It could be worse. I guess I’m about as interested in it as I was with Hakuouki. Which is to say…well, the OP/ED were nice. To recap a conversation I had elsewhere, the whole otomege adaptation genre is still developing, so expect mediocrity for some time. It would help to have a good otome game first.

Oreshura – It’s a good example of how this “genre” evolved to be slightly more interesting on each subsequent iteration. At the very least there are some meat on this dry bone, versus shows like Oniai. But maybe some people prefer that instead?

Ai Mai Mi – Not Strawberry Eggs. I think I prefer Tekyuu slightly more.

Da Capo III – Well, really no opinion at this point. Besides that, man, Ms. Charles “Ruru-nee” Yoshino sure is…Ruru-nee-esqe.

THE UNLIMITED Hyoubu Kyousuke – It’s fun, but I can see if you go into this show expecting something else,  you might not like it. Me?  I had nothing against Zettai Karen Children, but I dropped that for a reason. So when I started Hyoubu Kyousuke I was expecting something a lot worse, and didn’t get it. It’s certainly more fitting of its Manglobe association.

Osaka-Okan – See above comments about short anime that I would watch but haven’t. Actually this one might be the one to beat in 2013 winter. And still wondering why the Osaka native is not voicing the Osaka immigrant and we’re left to see Asumiss trying her hand at something lols.

Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman – Bakumatsu Lupin is wholesome fun, but unless it does something interesting soon it’ll get tiring real quick. I don’t know, I’m not usually big on era pieces.

Ishida & Asakura – Ha. Well, it wasn’t really funny. It also reminds me that I didn’t ever get around to finish Cromartie (what is this with short anime and I), to its credit.

Minami-ke Tadaima – I remember why I stopped watching this show. Not bad though.

Tamako Market – It’s cute and fuwafuwa and made of gohan. There is no curry. The bird is really the one redeeming feature to this show–he’s like the lotus filling to some mad expensive wagashi. This anime is bleeding sakuga kyun-ness. Well, it’s an original, and I’m weak against originals. Not expecting much but I’m sure at the worst it will be overindulging. At best, Dera might rival the legend that began in the 12th century…

Sasami-san@ganbaranai – Probably my most anticipated anime of the season. Probably my favorite. It’s all too early to say, but in traditional Shinbo style he checks all my fetishes boxes. Only problem is that all I hear is 765pro Shacho voice every time Onii-chan speaks.

GJ-bu – You know what? It’s okay. But I can’t imagine you’ll miss out on much if you didn’t bother. I don’t know if I will bother.

Kotoura-san – The emotional whiplash aside, it makes a strong statement. I can argue with how it did things but at this point I’ll just enjoy the light-hearted comedy.

Vividred Operation – Too bad this isn’t SUNRISE making an anime that gives SUNRISE a new meaning. Also, best magical pet concept yet.

Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru soudesuyo - Also known as “Problem Children are Coming from Another World, aren’t they?” I uh… let’s just call it Mondaiji. It’s okay, I guess. Maybe it’s because of the bunnies, but I find myself liking the show more when I’m not watching it. Which means I might not bother with it either.

PuchiM@S – I’ll probably marathon this, but sufficed to say it’s exactly the kind of crap anime for sad folks like me.

I will surely try the other stuff, too, like 2GD2GT. Except maybe AKB0048.

PS. I pseudo-dropped Koichoco half way in. I ought to finish it.

 

6 comments | posted in Da Capo, Idolmaster, Kotoura-san, Love Live, Maoyu Maou Yuusha, Minami-ke, Modern Visual Culture, Mondaiji tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru soudesuyo, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Sasami-san@ganbaranai, Tamako Market, Vividred Operation, Zettai Karen Children

January 11, 2013

The Speed of Puchim@s Is the Speed of Anime News

By omo

Kotori

FUNimation picked up a cute little IP called PUCHIM@S this season and they decided to announce it in their subscriber-only forum. There was a tweet from the FUNimation account to let people know the news is out. After the fact, I took a look at the timing and both the forum post and the tweet hits 12 Noon Eastern time on the dot, or roughly 1 minute later, on Jan. 10th 2013.

A bit of background–FUNimation’s elite video service (which is what I meant by subscriber) is generally panned. I have been using it for about 6 months and I can see why. At any rate most news hounds don’t use it, but they probably have access to it. It took the following time for these news pieces to hit twitter after the initial announcement:

Crunchyroll: 23 minutes

FandomPost: 37 minutes

Anime News Network: 40 minutes

That’s pretty much it for the full-time staff efforts.

As far as I can tell there was no heads-up PR to prime them. ANN is pretty notable about having that often, but I guess not this time.

Also, it is only fair to say that this one anecdote does not indicate if CR or Chris B. or ANN is faster at breaking news. It’s more about a reaction time sort of thing–how fast can people pick up the news, in a way that, I think, measures fairly. Everybody in this case probably followed the same tip trail to the source, unless someone had a head’s up or, in the unfortunate case, were actually keeping tabs on the FUNi EVS forum. It’s like a drop of water landing on a perfectly stilled pool, and measuring the wavelengths of its ripples.

As a matter of disclosure, you all know I also write for a site that often post news (but we don’t really try to break via speed, as fun as that can be once in a while). It took me 11 minutes to copy-paste the EVS post and write some basic instructions into an email to send it to our tip line, and one more minute to post the same copy-pasta on a forum that I read.

PS. Nobody in my timeline picked up the news until one of the news orgs broke it. That shows you how panned FUNi EVS really is. Or maybe we’re all just polite? I don’t know.

PPS. To its redemption, ANN is now the first to break Senren Kagura’s simulcast news that was announced on Jan 11th, 18 minutes after noon. The forum post about Puchim@s indicated another license would be announced today at noon eastern (11am central), but the forum post for Senren kagura actually went up at 10:18am central time today, which is kind of amusing. Anyway.

PPPS. Amuse-bouche. What the.

3 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Idolmaster

December 20, 2012

Year In Review 2012: It’s a Mustard Seed, Right?

By omo

There’s not a lot to say about it besides that, yep, I produced in 2012.

The iDOLM@STER is this franchise based on some video games. In recent  year it spun off not only into new consoles and game genres, but in the form of an anime. Well, that’s very 2011. What is new in 2012 is how I now live with that fact and its consequences.

In 2012, I obtained an iM@S poster by playing jan ken with another fan. Which has its context in the overall idea of the games/franchise.

In 2012 I attended a couple iM@S panels. In fact I attended a con largely to do just that. It wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t producing.

I bought my first iM@S game in 2011, but I actually didn’t plug in to the DLC world (and all its ills) until 2012, and it kinda hurts! In a good way. But I am only several hundred dollars poorer than if I wasn’t producing. What probably costed more is the reputation loss for being associated with these things. It’s not like I had music creds to begin with but, man, these are not so good.

In other words, this is the sort of story where a simple decision can change your life. It’s like the parable about the mustard seed. If your attitude is right, it’s gonna go big. And maybe that’s a good thing.

No Kotori in that video! Would’ve been a perfect analogy. Right?

Funny thing is I wish I was joking; the song and video really do refer to the same notion as demonstrated by the parable. It’s just one is much more SRSBZNS than the other. Well, do we count marketing across the language and cultural divide through sub-cultural fandom a parallel to the Kingdom of God? I suppose both pay dividends.

I think a lot of the good things about anime and its community comes from these kind of experiences, where I meet people who have faith in the stuff, and the intangible things that connect us together. It could just be a hobby or a song or a favorite artist, but when idealism walks the walk good things happen. Other things happen too, but that’s for another post. More importantly iM@S is just a lot of fun. It is for everybody. In fact in 2012 I’ve seen all kinds of people enjoying iM@S fandom–you have King Author with his little plane there on one hand, on the other hand there was these twenty-something cosplaying girls from NJ/NY that run a panel by taking a normal car or mass transit. The World Is All One indeed.

Up next: Or is it “Gotta Catch Them All“?

Continue reading

1 comment | posted in Idolmaster, Introspectives, Modern Visual Culture

December 16, 2012

Descending to the Next Level: iM@S Songs

By omo

Miki

Invariably if I keep on playing these games I will have to identify songs that I like. That implies that:

  • I have been listening to them,
  • I have been reading up on which song is which, and
  • I have been thinking about them enough to form an opinion that can be written down.

Here is a list of songs that I can actually tolerate repeat “listening.” As in, I can play the game with these songs, at least. Not sure about looping m@ster versions or what not.

MOONY
Jibun REST@RT
L.O.B.M
The World Is All One
Ready
Change
Ai Like Hamburger
Jitensha
Little Match Girl
Megare
Kyun! Vampire Girl
Otome yo Taishi wo Idake!!
Meisou Mind
Watashi-tachi wa Zutto… Deshou?
Colorful Days

This is not even based on a full sample. There are lots of music from iM@S that I haven’t listened to, even if we just limit to the main group of 13 (or 16 or 19 or whatever) and not the Cinderella bunch. A lot of the older image songs, for example, I am definitely not familiar with or never have heard. It makes sense that this list skews their more popular hits, songs that get publicity via the two main iM@S games, and songs that get played at their recent live shows. As an aside, the Shiny Festa games help with exposing some of the older tracks.

I do have to admit I like a lot of these songs primarily for ironic reasons. I mean, how can anyone (in the USA at least) hate Ai Like Hamburger?

PS. This song is a mind worm, circa 2006. Funny thing is, it sounds old school enough to be treated like revisiting something from the last decade, which I am, but I mean it in the 1990s sort of way.

PPS. I don’t know why I don’t like a lot of the original iM@S ensembles, but I like many of the 2nd Vision ones. You’d think I’ve heard THE IDOLM@STER enough times.

PPPS. I’m just seeing which next Shiny Festa to buy. Pretty much done with Groovy Tune for the most part…the rest is just achieving and playing pokemon with SOF mode.

EDIT: PPPPS. I added the links to youtube for those songs you might want to listen to because you don’t know it. There’s just too many songs from iM@S to keep track for even mild fans I think. Also because the videos are amusing.Otomoe yo Taishi wo Idake PV from Shiny Festa is just a…firm Haruka walking down the hall and having her way with a recorder. Which is amusing both because it reminds me of this and because it’s just like the generic PV you see in Jitensha.

20 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Idolmaster, Modern Visual Culture