Category Archives: English Language Modern Visual Fandom

June 2, 2011

Con Season 2011: Preliminary AX Scouting Stuff

By omo

With Memorial Day weekend squarely in the rear view mirror, it’s North American anime con season proper. With Anime Boston, Acen, and the Memorial Day triplet at Anime North, Animazement and Fanime Con, it feels like I’m already conned out. Except I did not go to any them!

Still, it’s good to keep an eye on what’s developing. With the Tohoku disaster still fresh on our minds and with the disaster opening up new opportunities while shutting down old ones, the guest-guessing game is a bit odd this year, I suppose. I’m just going to do a brain-dump of the AX events transpired thus far, since I’m planning to attend it.

Anime Expo is slowly rolling out its big guest announcements, but to many the Miku-fest (or properly, Mikunopolis) is going to be the biggest one. And amusingly to others it may not be obvious as to why. Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe not. It’s somewhat of a “large” event for any con, anyways. With Toyota behind them, it’s kind of just how it’s going to be. I just hope the organizers are encouraged by the result when it is all said and done.

Seeing Miyuki Sawashiro being announced, though, is pretty neat. She’s a very unique talent in a sense, since she’s on the full seiyuu career track for a while now (10+ years), and is already an industry veteran before she is 30. I mean, she’s only 26 or something (for perspective, Aki Toyosaki is 25). Also, she’s not really doing that idol thing either; instead she is just in a ton of random shows. It’s a very different kind of perspective. Anyway, it is her first real oversea fan event.

From the PR it looks like Miyukichi’s participation at AX is brought to us by at least NISA, with those ArakawaUB plugs. The other possible tie-in is from GSC–she is half of Black Rock Shooter OAV, after all. The president of GSC is going to be there, with Danny Choo. It makes you wonder. For the record, by Memorial Day Weekend 2010, the big guns for AX 2010 were already posted (not counting Secret Guest Kanno, but you knew). So compared to last year, AX is rolling out late by a couple weeks. Blame it on the quake I suppose; and definitely the best announcements, hopefully, is yet to come.

Well, a Kalafina is fine too. It’s cool to use this opportunity to see how much bigger of a fan I have become of them. I wasn’t much of one during their AB visit a couple years ago. It was amusing to see myself and some others I know in the omake video that came with the second album, now that during the time I have grown much more fond of their music. For a group formed just to do music for Kara no Kyoukai (why do a seiyuu group when you can use real singers?) Kalafina’s got some long legs. I wouldn’t even need to burn any glowsticks for this one.

On a totally different note, I want to see what’s on the menu for the symposium AX is hosting. Having seen (online) at least one Ian Condry talk, it sounds like something worth going to see. Is it worth an hour of precious con time, however, is something to be determined.

On Mangagamer’s side, the latest word from Bamboo during the live chat he hosted last week, it was unclear what industry or artist guests he will be able to arrange for. He did note it will be a quieter year in terms of that. The extent of the damage from the quake is large on the galge development efforts, given that they are often very small operations. Maybe next year he could drop by Otakon?

And speaking of the other Summer cons, Otakon has up to 6 seiyuu guests slated, along with a couple directors and the like. Could be very interesting! AnimeNext is the next con up on my list, even if I may not be covering it. I wonder if they have any opinion on Naoto Kan’s resignation and the recent vote-of-no-confidence thing. Wonder if Taro Aso would make a trip these days! Even if he ninjas into NYC like Aya Hirano, I don’t particularly mind.

That just leaves AM2 to be figured out. Scandal would be a cool addition to my list, but while at AX I would be at mercy of locals in terms of legging it to Anaheim and back to downtown LA. It’s about an hour drive, more with traffic. The con is free, but they do sell some special tickets for shows and what not, plus a paid badge for extra perks. It’s totally gimping off AX. Aside from the fact that it is run by people who used to run AX and released a PR about they’re not gimping AX, they are totally gimping off AX. On the other hand, AX is huge; the people can use an alternative. And I think that someone could double-dip on Scandal or kanonxkanon (Koi no Doutei? soooo not like Calendula Requiem. Heh) is always a boon than not being able to.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom

May 29, 2011

This Is Why I Watched Moshidora

By omo

Moshidora is a fundamentally sound anime. You would think a show about management principles would at least have the “principle” part down in the subject matter. It has to; because a core tenant of sound management is to determine and follow through these underlying principles. And it’s a NHK animated special, it has to be fundamentally sound…right?

I think what elevates Moshidora beyond a trite exercise at edutainment is that I can soundly apply cynicism towards its primary subject matter (which, not to be confused with baseball, is management) and the show respond to it. But whole manager’s angle to sports (and by manager I mean high school girl, and by high school girl I mean a anime-style 2D-construct voiced by Hiyocchi, and…you get the idea), is why I’m here, too.

On the conflict of goal-oriented versus process-oriented philosophies: it’s a philosophical conflict rather than one that results in fundamental problems. As in, I personally believe either way gets you where you want to go. More specifically, when there is only one way, both philosophies will lead you to it. The way they may diverge simply imply that goals were not set to include all your stakeholders, or someone is hiding something. I believe the “right” read here during Minami’s last chat with Yuki is suppose to show that Minami has lost sight of the long-term, unspoken goals and was too focused on the intermediate ones.

It’s kind of like talking with amateur fans who watches too much SC2 pro matches and not realize the goal is  to just have fun when playing the game, or not realizing the context in which these very high level games were playing at, that as applied to their bronze-level play it doesn’t really make sense.

That is an overarching purpose of sportsmanship. One that is sorely not cultivated in the age of video games. We need it badly.

On the hardness of life, Evirus spelled it out well. Baseball is unrelenting like that: statistics is yet another type of tool of the devil. I’m not a sabermetrics person but I believe in some of its fundamental concepts; hard working person, doing everything right, has no guarantee of success. It’s only when taken from a large sample, the statistics would say they are successful. It’s an illusion when applied individually, but it can highlight sound baseball principles. It just means nothing in a single-game face-off, and little more in a best of 5 or best of 7. It is not about being the best, it’s about being the best all the damn time. (See: the dude who chokes 3 times in a row.) The former is achieved through the stuff all those crying baseball anime is about (as in, it’s fiction; a fantasy), the latter is achieved through management.

Going to bounce off Evirus’s post some more: on pitching and control, I think it’s a little more specific than that. No-bunt-no-ball strategy is just a simplified version of style of play when your pitcher is pitching-to-contact. You’re playing the odds, and you can manipulate the odds somewhat when you execute certain plays: namely when your pitcher can consistently throw 2-seam fastballs and a complementary pitch for strikes. IIRC in the high school level, 2-seam fastballs are the predominate form of fastballs? In Oofuri, it’s actually much less about control and more about delivery–Mihashi’s out pitch is a fastball that isn’t, he gets hitters out by fooling them. (I think Evirus just didn’t get far enough to see this.) At least, once we get over how amazing he can throw pitches to the 9 zones at his level, anyways. Which is to say that’s the usual sort of the miracle plot devices I give these baseball anime/manga a free pass on.

The last thing to bounce off: no-bunt has a specific context. Bunting in MLB is something you do mainly because either the batter at the plate is probably not going to have a productive at-bat (which can be due to a lot of different reasons, such as the opposing pitcher is on a row, or the pitcher is batting, etc), or you want to just threaten to bunt, giving the infielders something to think about or position them a certain way. At that level of play, the infielders have tremendous responsibilities given the average caliber of batters being able to muscle any pitch (even a lot of balls) through the infield by strength alone. That additional threat of bunting can be a big deal in terms of opening gaps in the infield defense. There are times when a speedy lefty batter would bunt for a hit, but it’s safe to say those hitters do so to keep the infielders on their toes; hitters at that level is expect to be able to slug, if at least to expand their marketability as an all-around player.

In the context of Japanese high school baseball, bunting is often the statistically smart move to play given an uneven lineup for moving the runner. Not bunting means a few distinct things:

  • You don’t need to do bunt drills–remember these are noobs, and students, who are time-throttled and thus you can optimize their training more on hitting. It also optimize their at-bat experience. Someone who bunts all the time isn’t going to get those good looks at the pitcher.
  • You don’t need to keep the defense honest by reminding them you’re bunting. By the book, the bunt is always on with less than 2 outs with a runner on base. It would be a reliable psychological factor until the opposing coach got enough of a scouting report on you. For the unprepared coaching staff, they may even plan their inning wrong.

That’s all on top of the whole Moneyball stuff Evirus aluded to. There are other advantages: every batter is a RBI risk (psychologically); no easy outs means you wear the opposing pitcher down more, giving your pitcher more rest between innings (a big deal for those summer tournaments), whatever.

Now I can nitpick Moshidora in terms of how scouting play a role in competitive baseball at that level (read: it plays a huge role) but whatever. For people who can appreciate all that nonsense, the show is a fun watch. If the economics doesn’t get to you first.

PS. What if a high school baseball team’s manager read Lewis’s Moneyball? Does this mean my cynicism is naturally, uh, American?

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Moshi Kouko Yakyuu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" o Yondara

May 24, 2011

Rally Behind Terms, Fracture; Obvious Stuff

By omo

A lot of people say a lot of different things in terms of what defines anime or manga. I don’t know who is right, wrong, if even they are in conflict or if the varying definitions are incongruent. What I do know is that anime and manga are broad brushes that describes a lot of things. Once we throw games in the mix, it actually…gets no more crazy than it already was.

The gaming community is a good way to look at it. In reality there are a large number of different types of games. What’s more is that video games have long since reached the mainstream in the utmost sense, especially in the past few years when casual gaming tied up with the gadgets everyone wanted, on the social networking platform everyone was on. It’s gotten to the point where everyone knows what Angry Birds is, and really, why is this? I don’t know, besides that the game ties into a variety of devices.

All I’m trying to say is, say, someone like me, who doesn’t really play much in terms of marquee titles, is very different than my bros who play Halo and CoD and what not, which are all too different than a blogger on hiatus or one who’s not. Are we even gamers? By some stretch of the definition, sure. We might all watch anime at some point in our lives, too. Or read manga. But we are not similar in our inclinations at a fine grain resolution, to say the least.

I see this, painfully so, when it comes to manga in America. The general marketing concept behind it has not evolved beyond TokyoPop’s brand of “Woah this crap comes from Japan! It’s like, girls read this thing! We call it manga! UNCE UNCE UNCE!” Which is fine, if the calendar says 1989 or something like that. But in 2011 terms this is woefully insufficient, especially since Japan is thoroughly involved with this little localization scene. Especially now that the internet is a major player, and the path everyone is taking to get to the next level.

The sad thing is, even posh and classic manga publisher like Vertical can’t get stuff lifted off the ground in this way. It’s like selling mushrooms, to use an analogy: $500/lb truffle can be marketed in the same way as your $2/lb white buttons, simply because they share some biological similarities in their life cycles? I mean, yeah, you’re a mushroom dealer. And not even the illicit ones. So, again, just because you read/sell/buy/review/follow manga, what does it mean? What does Drops of God has anything to do with Bleach? Nothing, I propose.

I mean, compare this with, say, Marvel or DC’s catalogs–there’s this kind of fracture for attention that is just unimaginable and unseen with these American publishers. It’s not to say those DC or Marvel don’t have diverse offerings, but they really aren’t concerned with just the wide range of topics, forms, modes, and concepts that all of manga has to offer. Which, is to say, manga covers basically everything under the sun.

And naturally, this extends to the fanbase. Just because I may have an anime blog, it doesn’t mean it’s the same sort of blog as any particular breed of anime blog. Anime is a lot more niche than manga, relatively speaking, so I think the relative success of marketing based on that product identity in the west is much better as a result. Ultimately when I go to an anime con, most people overlap in their anime consumption experience, as far as what makes them fans. I cannot say the same thing for manga, at least, not as confidently. But to not just contradict myself, I probably cannot well-identify with majority of American con-goers either, just because I am well-above the average age. Maybe. Honestly, I don’t really know.

Which is why things like this happens, I suppose. Learn to offkai amirite? It’s more serious than that: Learn to realize your hobbies is actually (slightly) different than mine? Do we need to create/import vocabulary for this to happen? Is your illustrated pornography different than mine? How different is too different? Or are they really the same and some people (at the con) are just old and some other (characters) are too old? Do you belong better at a JumpMangaAdaptationCon than a LatestLateNightTVAnimeCon? Or maybe go straight to 4ChanCon? Do plot-driven drivel get you going farther than the House the Artfag built? Or do you require the services of both? Neither? All these things can strongly dictate what we enjoy, what we experience, and how we enjoy yourselves, together. I don’t know why we would want to confuse them. Let’s spell it out.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Franchises, Modern Visual Culture

May 18, 2011

Bamboo Shoots

By omo

Not a Nichijou post, sorry.

I am not really an insider with regards to MangaGamers and their relationship with the various bishoujo game makers/eroge scenesters, pro and otherwise. It feels, at times, a fairly close knit circle because it’s full of small timers doing something that they like, making a living off it. It’s kind of the feel you get from how characters relate to each other in Koe de Oshigoto. In some extreme cases, it really is a family business, like in 07th Expansion’s case (and others I’m sure).

But from seeing the way he does things, both at AX last year and now in the thread he started in the forum of the company he produced (it sometimes gets left in the cracks, but it’s vital to remember that MG is a company created by the Japanese!), I get the idea that he has a solid grasp of the issues surrounding the growth, sales, proliferation of these games.

So when he decides to go directly to the BBS, it makes you wonder why. He’s also taking requirements for their made-for-foreign-player tourism game (granted it looks close to be completed). By “taking requirements” I mean he’s soliciting opinions on it. But anyways, it’s interesting to note a few things. I’ll just quote EvoSpace’s translation:

First of all, I would like to start from the current status of the Japanese bishoujo game industry.

<Current Status>
Many companies in Tokyo and nearby regions were heavily affected by the earthquake in March and their schedules were thrown off. Although the damage may differ in size, companies working with MangaGamer, such as Circus, OVERDRIVE, Navel were all affected as well.

This has finally calmed down now in May, but it’s still not safe to assume things. I wouldn’t say it is bad as Fallout3, but we are still having difficult times.

It’s cute, and by Fallout 3, heh. There totally needs a game that uses American oldies and pairs that with the Japanese visual novel experience. Ideally, it wouldn’t “heavy” or “noire.”

<About the titles we are negotiating>
As a premise, most of the bishoujo game companies in Japan make their games with the minimal number of staff, and obviously, their main market is Japan. And because of piracy and the unknown size of the overseas market, many times, they are uncomfortable about working with us, and it takes quite a long time to have them understand what we are trying to do. As the producer of OVERDRIVE, my company is not that big either. Yet, I am trying my best to go around trying to talk to different companies while releasing our games in Japan.

Most Japanese game companies are thinking this,
– Is it really going to sell overseas?
– What about the laws?
– Is there a demand?

This probably is on the mind of 90% of the companies that you wish for. Since sales in Japan is going down recently, it is even more diffcult for them to look at the overseas market.

We’ve been running MangaGamer for a while, and have visually seen that there are indeed fans and demands, and our sales has been increasing over the years gradually. Using such data, we are trying to negotiate with several game companies.

So, first, MangaGamer is doing better than before. That’s good news. It’s a big takeaway.

The second concern is well-phrased. I think Bamboo is realistic and understands that ultimately the western VN community is full of people who would buy games, but also full of people who would pirate them. There’s an overlap, of course, but it does nobody any good to dwell on it. It’s probably better to think of it as an availability issue. It would be reasonable to pin the lack of availability as one of the primary reason people pirate stuff, after all. With digital distribution, this is even more of a glaring gap.

Looking back from the perspective of a Japanese development house, then, the same issue is one based on increasing risk. That’s how I read “Is it really going to sell” and “Is there demand”? I think there’s nothing we can do about laws, but there is money to be made. To that end, Bamboo’s statements is pretty simple: buy his games. I’m not a big customer of MangaGamers, so I’m indifferent about it, but if the proof is to be in the pudding, he’s well on the way to make some.

<minori and ef series>
We are still working on this game with minori.
They are the ones helping us with the actual development of the English version.
We are taking a good care of the translated script, even if it is fan translated.

<age and MuvLuv series>
“Muv Luv” is a big title from age, and they take significant care about their games. It’s not that they are ignoring the overseas fan, but because they still put their priority in the Japanese market, their response is slow. The Japanese fans refer to their 3 years as “1 age”. That’s how long and serious their development span is.

Also, they just announced the Xbox360 version but it took a while until they told me about those things. However, it’s natural that they needed to keep things a secret until the announcement. For a large budget game such as that, not only the game company, but several companies may invest for its rights. This is called the “Development Council” in Japan and it is a common form of how anime are produced. Although there are some merits, there is the demerit that unless all of the members of the “Development Council” agree, they can’t make decisions.

It’s a good insight into how a big game production is like versus the little ones that localization companies typically deal with.

The rest of the post contain the plea from Bamboo about improving the image of western market in terms of piracy and what not. I think that’s a long, long road, but one that has an end. If people really like the stuff, they ought to walk it. And maybe talking despite the language barrier is a start.

Leave a comment | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Franchises, Modern Visual Culture

May 16, 2011

Parenting with Anime, Or Not

By omo

I read Tangle’s guide to anime for Christian parents, and I’m kind of disappointed that it delivers not much beyond the usefulness of a Wikipedia article. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that, it just doesn’t go to any of the instances in which I find some connection spiritually with the anime I’ve seen over the years. Maybe I shouldn’t have been looking for that, being an insider rather than an outsider.

Truth is, religion and spiritual beliefs are intensely personal things, so it’s difficult to write anything about them in a way that is intended for a general audience, at least for me. Parents, too, would also apply that rule, so I think, even if the application is just as intensively personal on the part of the family. It takes a certain gifting or certain moment of inspiration, I feel, to be able to generalize to that level in this category of topics, and at any rate stuff that I probably do not have.

What’s probably just as bad is trying to talk about parenting ideas in the same way, because I feel that is just as personal as anything religious. I mean, do you want to get all up and in inside your tween’s media consumption? Some parents do, others not as much. I don’t blame them. Either of them. I mean, if I was a 14yo, do I want my dad to watch anime with me? I guess regardless how I feel about it, it’s up to the parent or child to decide.

Or not. Because I think either way could work. It’s like how some find religious release and salvation through simple stories and personal anecdotes that resonate with the deepest part of their existence, a personal revelation. Others seek answers in rationality and things they have a deep grasp of, to construct the system that they live by. Some do both.

It’s how I approach anime, actually. Invariably, when we’re dealing the media output of one of the most introverted country and culture in the world, it feels a bit foreign. In other words, anime is a bit like a stranger in my eyes, in my culture’s eyes, and in the eyes of its analysts, critics, policy makers, academics, parents, and what have you. There is not much that one could call gospel or bible when it comes to anime (although there may be a few encyclopedias lying around, and one very black bible), so most people are left to their own devices to make sense of it.

Thankfully, anime is cartoons. It’s not something made in order to discuss really complex issues (even if it can) or to hide something from plain sight (even if it can), or just plain confusing (which happens more often than one imagine, but not that often). I think the average tween-raising adult (probably in their 40s or 50s?) should have enough common sense to handle it. Because the average teenager is by far more complicated than the average anime, and that includes even late night offerings.

So, perhaps it is naive, but I am hopeful that kids will still be kids, and grow up in such a way that how they were cared for reflects appropriately in the end.

And this is basically how I approach the whole Manabi Straight thing. The thing when I wrote about that it is the picture-perfect illustration of God’s kingdom. Because it’s about seeing it; it’s the way how prophecy, anointing, hope, patience, faith, standing up to what is right, fighting for what you believe, understanding, reason, charity, acceptance, and by some measure, love, come together to make a beautiful whatever-it-is. And the thing is, you won’t be able to see it unless you are looking for it, and you can’t find it unless you know what it looks like. That stuff, no amount of anime is going to be able to teach you.

Just ask your mom.

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