Category Archives: English Language Modern Visual Fandom

January 7, 2014

Space Dandy: Paionium

By omo

Having finally watched the second coming of Mushroom Samba, I can say that there needs to be more boobs.

Dandy

Less jokingly, the best thing about Space Dandy 01 is the ending joke, which is the one most faithful thing from the esteemed comedy side story of Cowboy Bebop. Other than the possibly psychedelic influences. When you take the mushroom out of Mushroom Samba it is really just kind of dull.

And that’s kind of how Space Dandy is so far. I think to help with this, they added boobies, and unfortunately some people take breasts really seriously so the effects will vary.

I watched the Cartoon Network premiere and the EN dub was okay. It’s easy to get overblown in terms of pointing at the differences, but after watching the JP dub (which is probably best watched on Hulu for Americans), I think it’s pretty okay. I think the Space Ball joke about going to Plaid just didn’t work out the same if you didn’t work in the Paiotsu angle, but that aside, everything is tolerably localized. Oh, I guess it was missing that ending. It’s Yoko Kanno arranging an Etsuko Yakushimaru song, which is A Big Deal in my book. Even if said Big Deal sounded only Okay in the TV cut.

Thanks for Noucome, we know what a Paiotsu is. And yes, this is basically also the first episode’s most consistently running joke. The dub can’t work out the pun, understandably so, and we miss out on probably the one life saver Space Dandy episode 1 had. Oh well.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Space Dandy

January 1, 2014

Year in Review 2013: N-List

By omo

So, the usual.

6 comments | posted in Aku no Hana, Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Gatchaman, Genshiken, Gundam, Introspectives, Love Live, Maoyu Maou Yuusha, Modern Visual Culture, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru, Ro-kyu-bu, Shin Sekai Yori, Suisei no Gargantia, Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jo-Gakuin Koutou-ka C3-Bu, Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru., Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita., Zetsuen no Tempest

December 23, 2013

Wrapping Up the Story You Didn’t Even Know: Animusic Tourney Ends

By omo

It’s pretty long, the Anime Music Tournament.

I ran a bracket. There was a winner. I actually want to give presents to not just the winner, but also the person who came in second, because the winner won by way too much due to the way the bracket is set up and the way, well, the bracket is set up on my end. It’s complicated but let’s just say congrats to not just the loot-winning person(s) but also the song that won it all.

It’s not as rock as their latest album, which features this piece to open things up. It’s also more about Koeda (and maybe Chelly too).

In that sense, the post-Nagi Yanagi era of supercell as studio album publishing entity has taken somewhat of a turn. It’s welcomed because it does feel kind of played out during their second full blown album in which that winning song came from. It speaks more to the strange way supercell went from indie to pro than their creative powers. Well, maybe it always does speak to ryo or supercell’s ability to make music, its melodic arrangements, those drawing sounds of strings that peaks with the vocals and punctuated with rhythmic piano. But since Nagi Yanagi has already release her own studio solo album even before ZigaexperientiaÂ came out, thinking back, Today Is a Beautiful Day simply came out too late? Is this just how it rolls for the tie-in driven, mixed media engine that is supercell?

I guess none of that matters, because in the Anime Music Tournament it sure didn’t feel like people were really deliberating on songs within their finer details. They just voted, because that’s all it matters.

In that sense, the tournament is kind of a sinkhole of information; a lot of it went in, but it didn’t seem to give a result that reflects the information provided. You learn more about the voters and the songs from merely the nomination exercise. There were of course some dark horses or outliers, but in a tournament with 256 entries I don’t think there were even 2.56 dark horses? Maybe just 3? or 2? Certainly none of the top 4 were ranked lower than 10 so it’s all really just a waste of time in that regard.

To take this with a more positive spin, the Animusic Tourney was a great opportunity to wax nostalgic of a certain MAL music club, it’s good to hear from voices who complained about how lame the tournament is, from people who I’ve not heard talking about anime music in a while. And that’s really the best thing I can walk away from, that we have a dorky music tournament to serve as the nails in the coffin of a chapter in one person’s life. But it takes a certain something to pull it off. Can supercell replicate their magic touch? Will Zzeroparticle cry to us playing Tenshi ni Fureta yo?

Anyways, here is the loot list for our winner:

A JAM Project album…probably one of their best-of.
Adolescence of Utena OST
K-ON Season 2 vol 2 BD (Region A?) (This is the best stuff, this.)
Madoka TV DVD (Region 1)
Kira Kira (All Ages)
Random trinkets and one clear folder because, why not.

The second place winner needs to contact me, but he or she will get a JAM Project album…probably another one of their best-of.

Yeah, not kidding, I just have dupe JAM Project albums coming out of wazoo for some reason.

2 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

December 13, 2013

The Sidonia Maneuver

By omo

News broke today when Netflix finally got in the anime simulcast game. I use the term simulcast loosely to describe going direct to Japan to procure this content. Previously, Netflix offered anime content in North America via local distributors and licensees. I’m not sure if an usual licensee is in the mix of this, but so far it seems like a Netflix special.

There are a few other attributes worth noting. First, this is a world-wide stream, and will be dub-localized to their respective regions. We know there will be an EN dub for UK and US/Can. But what about other non-EN regions like Mexico, South America and the rest of Europe?

Second, the PR seems to word it so it implies the whole series will be available in Summer 2014. This seems to mean that it’s not a simulcast as we know it, but a … simul-marathon-cast? Basically, for weekly viewers, the Netflix stream is bullocks. For users who marathon shows, however, this is just as good. It may not make a lot of sense coming from a CR/Hulu type consumption pattern but here at Omonomono I watch anime every ever which way, and it fits the typical Netflix TV consumer pattern–when you put on 24, you want to watch it all.

Too bad this is Knights of Sidonia, not another season of Aria. Oh wait, you probably won’t want to marathon a show like that either.

This reminds me of how simulcasting is a part of the marketing aspect of a show. By doing it after it’s all over you kind of lose part of that marketing impact. I mean if it’s screening the whole three months you get three month of free WOM buzz. Worse, if the show tanks from the Japanese TV airing, now you just have a product nobody is going to bite. And they’re dubbing it!Â I mean when Funimation decided to go all in with Space Dandy, that show has all the creds to be something salable in the long run. I wonder what Netflix is trying here in terms of Sidonia. I’m sure the story (the manga seems my bag of tea, actually, though I’ve yet to read it) is fine, but it’s done by a 3DCG firm so it’s likely going to rattle conventional viewers, as in the people who will be talking up the show before the Netflix stream.

More importantly, who is going to do the home video deal? I guess Netflix could, but LOL? Netflix furthermore has its own original programming agendas. If House of Cards is a guide, then it just means in Summer 2015 Sidonia will be available in all your usual venues, plus some unusual ones (Amazon on demand?). How will it be priced?

Obligatory: How much of this has to do with the Chernin Group buy-in of CR? Heh.

Maybe I should revisit this if Knights of Sidonia is actually any good, because until we know it’s worth watching, this is all just nonsense.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Knight of Sidonia, Modern Visual Culture

December 10, 2013

Year in Review 2013: The New Age of Media Literacy, the Otaku Newtype

By omo

Since I started “blogging fer reals” or whatever that means, I’ve been writing and more importantly, reading, what other people blog about surrounding the same interest topics. What I find is that it’s almost one to one in terms of what I find an interesting read to what the writer has to do in terms of their media literacy powers. It’s kind of interesting in that yes, some people who engage anime blogging this way do have academic experience in the humanities, but it is easier to see when the writer doesn’t have a background in that.

But no matter who you are, the importance of being able to really bite into media you consume and pull it apart for what it is, and more importantly seeing how it impacts the way you look at the world, is super important. I was talking with a friend about Lessig’s free culture since he wasn’t sure what “Copyleft” meant. In truth it is the legal illustration of the way human culture has evolved from folk and oral to mass commercialism. If we think of copyright law as the set of rules that governs commercial activity of entities that engages in trading human culture beyond the folk and oral traditions that accompanied us since the beginning of history, it is easy to grasp why the free culture movement is important–because almost everything written down that is read by someone growing up today comes from some form of mass media. This stuff, culture, is the substance that defines Â us as a group, as human beings, and even as individuals. So we really owe it to ourselves to know what we’re consuming today.

But that is one realization far, far most people do not have.

If we assume that an anime otaku watches a lot of anime (which is a bold assumption to make in America, to say the least), then I think media literacy is a prerequisite of being one? Understanding tropes is like, 101 level stuff. It goes so much deeper, so much more than that. And it feels like a lot of the time I enjoy some crap-tier anime BECAUSE it is so interesting once you break it down into pieces. Like this year’s Oreshura and Oregairu. Or the classic Genshiken Second Season. Girls und Panzer and Arpeggio. Outbreak Company. Log Horizon. Love Lab, even. A lot of these shows are fun to watch on the surface, sure, but a lot of them aren’t either. But both types are enjoyable to me because they’re built on frameworks I can parse well.

It’s like the one core thing that makes watching post-modern media content enjoyable. It’s that beacon that shines in the darkness that is the sea of this unfiltered, unadulterated deluge of otaku crap.

At the same time, though, it’s weird reading into why people would want their Kuroyukihime uncensored and castoff-able. It’s already pretty much naked. Poor girl. I mean, like, if you can resign yourself as some lolicon-moe-sick kimoi otaku, the least you can do is to max your sub-class and gain something useful. Media literacy is one of these things. If you want to compare/contrast Kill la Kill with Utena, rest assured you won’t look any more stupid than any of these guys talking about how to get things more naked.

Year in Review 2013 Index:

4 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Introspectives