Category Archives: Conventions and Concerts

July 16, 2007

E: The Dempa Letter

By omo

Aika

Code-E is a lot of fun. Studio Deen gives that very classic feel to a lot of the shows they produce. With this crew it almost reminded me of the typical TV anime back in the 90s with both mundane but interesting female leads and equally mundane but more traditional male ones. Sort of like You’re Under Arrest. Sort of like summer.

I am not sure what I should be expecting from Code-E, however. It has that big-budget ROD feel but at the same time it doesn’t feel that way? Maybe I’m just distracted by the OP and the brassy show of a BGM track. Unfortunately, the jury is still in session for Code-E, because this is exactly the kind of show that traditionally gets mishandled and wrangled by poor pacing. I hope they start kicking ass sooner than later. Just because it’s dempa anime doesn’t mean it has to suck, right?

Otakon draws nigh. So does the final stretch of my cramming. Aiee. But I still managed to catch up on sleep, Potemayo, and a bit of Claymore. It’s not helping that the freight train of pre-con anticipation sounds its steam horn, leaving me to brace myself with the anticipatory regret that I’ve just spent a lot of time for very little gain, and said time is really running out. Ah well, I’ll get to see this poor sod again, and many of my online acquaintances. East Side~

2 comments | posted in Code-E, Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture

July 12, 2007

School Days -> Tsuyokiss, Singers and Singing, And Other Seasonal Checklistings

By omo

End your pilot episode with a strong kiss…

Needless to say I really dig School Days the anime so far. Also needless to say it’s way better than all of Tsuyokiss put together at episode 1. (Still want a collection of all its eyecatches…) I think I’m enjoying it even more so because I’ve already seen what the game had to offer, at least for a tiny fraction of it (namely the introduction part (where episode 1 of the anime covered) and some of the LOL endings). I have hopes for this show now, even if the delivery came off a bit like a shaggy old man who may had the charms when he was a mere … 29 years ago. That alone will probably alienate any good will for the greater anime viewing demographic in this post-Haruhi generation of TV animation. Well, that’s to keep (mostly) silent about how to adopt this tricky animated visual novel.

But while I was singing my heart out in my car to (some of) these tunes sometime this week, It only dawned on my then that Summer is con season, and con season means karaoke season. And because this year, unlike of my prior few summers, I haven’t been to a con yet. I am so ill prepared…

And that’s just one MORE party I’m late to. At least this party should be on DVD…? I so have to hit up Animelo one year. We can all scream our hearts…and lungs and intestines out in public.

Sigh. I have a lot on my plate between now and end of this month, so don’t expect a lot of entries from me. I will be at Otakon, though, and more of that nonsense will come…

As well with that music video. It’s still on the plate just…no room to do anything with it or to it.

I’ll end this strange mid-week rant with a couple questions:

1. What should I karaoke at Otakon? I really want to do SKILL at Otakon (again), but that require at least 2-3 people, but ideally 6. (Are you interested? Let me know!) On the plate are all my old songs that I’ve done at various cons before, but I want to hit up a new one. The problem here is that all the new songs I want to sing I can’t really do–I still want to do Break the Cocoon but I’m lacking an off-vocal track nor the English part of the lyrics near the end. I sort of want to do Gravitation but Angela is…not an act I should follow. I can always do God Knows again, but I rather like the Momoi’s cover more in terms of arrangement and how it has very little breaks in the middle…except that we’ll have to rip the voice out.

2. Questions for Mamiko Noto? I’ve said it before, if you want to have fun at a con panel, think up questions ahead of time. I’m probably going to ask at least one question about Touka Gettan, but that’s just the beginning. I’ll take your suggestions! Help me get my brain juices going.

6 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, School Days, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Touka Gettan, Tsuyokiss

July 6, 2007

An Entertaining Uninstall Redux

By omo

Flowers for Ishikawa

Chiaki Ishikawa at AX explains a lot about Uninstall. And how Simoun’s production was full of girls.

Yea, some guy booted the audio from her show. To save you the trouble of having people yell into your ears by listening to that hour-long thing, here are some tidbits:

1. As an anisong singer (she explained what that was) she really got into it through Kajiura’s collab in Gundam Seed. Their partnership had a deep impact on her, it seems. She has been doing solo only a year or two.

2. Speaking of anisong singing, she wrote Uninstall in a way that people (in Japan) will recognize that it is an anisong. So, naturally, Ishikawa sang “a ni song, a ni song.” HAHAHAHA. You go girl. Only a song’s writer can mock the song’s fan the best? Oh, oops, I’m suppose to keep this secret! (Isn’t this on the internet already? But I bet not a recording of her singing just that…)

3. Which songs? Annaniisshodattanoni, Kimigaitamonogatari, Yasashiiyoake (she soloed), Uninstall, Utsukushiikerebasoredeii, Kimiwabokuniniteiru, and Obsession. Ugh @ Obsession. I hate this song. Well, I think she sang it better here than on the CD at the least…

4. She doesn’t do many lives at all. (Ugh)

5. I can use a picture of her costume? LOL.

Speaking of Uninstall, though, there’s also Ishikawa’s blog and it talks about that a bit (under 7/3). Among other things. For someone who saw the first Gundam series when she was little (I guess this is heading 6?), she’s a champ for toughing it out on this AX trip…and wow, that’d also make her someone who was inspired (well, maybe subconsciously) by it and ended up working on the franchise, even if probably unintentionally. It’s all up there.

6 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Simoun

July 2, 2007

AX2007: Manhandled?

By omo

Well, pissed off con goers are dime a dozen, at least that’s how I feel as a long-time con goer. This year’s AX, however, is a different story. I’ve not been, so I can’t say on my own, but I have all the hearsay in the world to back this up.

For one, Halko Momoi herself openly dissed AX. Com’on, guys, Momoi might be a little less diplomatic and forgiving than the typical Japanese guest, but she really loves her fans and whatever that pushed her this far can’t be just some trite little thing. ANN reported a bit on it, but you can get a bigger picture of what went on in the comments and especially as detailed here, by someone who was at the Momoi events.

Of course, the extra-hours wait in itself is not too, too unexpected; the multitude of concerts AX has this year invariably will mean one or more mismanagement and legions of pissed fans. The delayed concerts and the subsequent chain effect? One pissy performer can cause all these subsequent ills that would affect just the fans attending those shows (a large amount to say the least). But, well, AX forum itself is full of horrid stories: like 50 autographs for the SOS-dan girls? That bit of news made even 2ch.

I’ve seen my share of inept con managements. But I think what is unfathomable is pissing off fan favorites. People like the SOS-dan trio and Halko Momoi are really big (or will be) in the scene, and that kind of ill-will goes far to discredit not just AX’s management, but western fandom in general. Even if this was a once-in-a-lifetime screw-up.

To that end, it’s not so much a matter of “AX’s fault” or any kind of silly blame-game, but it screws with the prospect of other cons scoring these guests as visitors in the future. It creates the sort of damage that (perhaps) not even time and money can undo. Perhaps, as of this writing, it is already by-gone and water under the bridge. I suppose I can only plead humbly to the other con organizers to treat their shows not just “yet another con” but that for the special guests themselves, this is their livelihood; and the collective sacrifice of your typical major-con goers has to be respected. It’s ugly when the middleman screws it up, you know? Con managements do not have thankful jobs and they really get to deal with a lot of crap with very little glory. I’m sure there is more to the hearsay floating around out there that make all of the trash talk fit reasonably. But please, do something! D:

9 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

June 30, 2007

Today: AnnouncementTorrent

By omo

This year is not too bad as far as US con news goes so far. Definitely an improvement from the last. I’m just going to highlight some of the ones I care about:

Emma being licensed is actually my biggest ZOMG. It’s a great little gem but it’s so far off the well-treaded path for anime, let alone anime in the US, that RightStuf might have some trouble finding good homes for their DVDs. But somehow it’s the sort of show that makes you think “hey, there must be some people out there who’d buy Victorian romance imported from Japan.” Especially in the US. Especially after you scrub-a-dub-dub and remove traces of “Maide In Japan” from it.

Gurren Lagann being licensed is a nice treat. I like the show enough to watch it, but it suffers from the Eureka 7 problem in some ways. I wish it was shorter so at least I have no excuses about being able to afford it. Then again, technically I can still wait for a thin-pack from E7, and ADV is much better about releasing collections than most other studios. What’s wrong with Eureka 7? It’s too long, it’s not the sort of thing that you want to watch the whole thing twice (although some episodes definitely many many times over).

DMP is going to release Flamboyant. We know they’re bringing over a Megami compilation later this year, so this is more of the same, I guess (I hate Megami stuff with a passion, but it’s good to know). It’s interesting because I bought Flamboyant back when it was hot enough for a second run… Well, at least it’ll be cheap (and with more artwork!). Flamboyant, for the noob, is the first (and so far only?) art book by Hakua Ugetsu. Sure, it’s got the name Bakuhatsu Tenshi to taint, but the stuff inside is awesome.

Along with the re-announcement of Nanoha and Nanoha A’s, I think I might even buy the SRW OAVs when they come out. Probably pass on SRW TV though. These are all “maybe” but I think I like A’s enough to not pass.

Cosmode USA. Uuugh. In other words, a US cosplay magazine.

Last one for the day: Wings of Honneamise on DVD and HD-DVD is actually a big deal. The US is ahead over Japan on the HD home video effort. At this point in the game I don’t care if it’s Blu-Ray or HDDVD. I just want my anime on 1080! And this is a classic to own for this purpose.

2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Emma, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann