So this is a story all about how
my life got flipped, turned upside-down
And I’d like to take a moment
Just type it out
I’ll tell you how I became a P as an American.
Category Archives: Idolmaster
That IM@S Flower Thing
Crowdfunding Is Just Danketsu, Isn’t It?
As someone who consumes a lot of iM@S crap, the word danketsu (団çµ) gets floated around a lot. The term just means unity in this context, but not knowing Japanese that well I can’t give you all the nuances of the term.
In my mind, the joy of fandom is partly based on sharing. It multiplies; it’s not a zero-sum game. It might be a zero-sum game regarding your bank account, but the things you get in exchange can be priceless, or so I think. So when the opportunity came for some bros and I to set up a flower wreath at the iM@S SSA concert this February, how can I say no? And by extension I want to share that joy with you as well.
You here meaning the fans of idolm@ster, and people who want to partake the joy of fandom. And it’s easy. The opportunity here is that you can financially back our plans to set up a ring of flowers decorated with a catchy English phrase (in the usual Japanese tradition of 2 or 3-liner plate) and a commissioned fanart, AND, send a message to the idols of iM@S.
What we will set up in the very near future is a page where you can donate via Paypal and it will give you a field to put in a short message. You can donate any amount (although Paypal does charge a fee so you have to exceed that) and then put in your message. It’s that simple. What we will do with your money is put it in our pockets to reduce our out-of-pocket costs of paying the flower vendor, the commission artwork, and making a booklet of your quotes. What we will do with your message is to screen it (this ain’t no im@s confessions), translate it into Japanese, and put both EN and JP text in said booklet. Because we aim to translate your words, you have to keep it short (maybe < 300 characters) and get it in before Feb. 1. Also because we plan to print it in a neat booklet. The flowers will be delivered by a flower vendor in Japan (Ever use an internet flower service to buy flowers for a wedding/funeral? Same basic idea). The booklets will be given to the idols at SSA (there’s a gift deposit box system setup for this).
We have been working at this for a couple months now, so things are already pretty much set design-wise. We are in the process of finalizing the deal with the flower vendor and figuring out how to print and deliver the commission artwork. We got an experienced call book maker on the booklets, so it will probably follow that kind of format. The total cost is still in flux but we’re looking at at least $400. Probably a chunk more depending on printing and shipping costs.
We’re also planning to print a bunch of the booklets for people who donated over a certain amount. Like $10 or $20. Not important but it just means we’ll have to pay for shipping LOL and do fulfillment. Also, we’re open to taking your donation in person if you happen to run into one of us, and you can send us your quotes via ordinary methods. We’ll figure out something.
At first, we want this project to be limited to American Ps. But it slowly expanded to English-speaking Ps on this side of the Pacific. Or NATO. Whatever. It’s kind of funny because our project has a USA-bent to it but I hope that doesn’t stop anybody. It’s also funny because we can’t just keep this to ourselves, by force or by will, it’s naturally “The World Is All One” kind of a thing. We do, however, hope that people will take this donation seriously. It’s not a big deal if you are not a fan, but I hope you consider liking iM@S! It’s the one thing that brings us together, and by contributing you become a part of it. This is not Kickstarter. This is danketsu.Â
If you have any questions, please post in the comments below. Hopefully the site will go live next week. The deadline will be ~Feb. 1st, so think about what you want to write!
Year In Review 2013: The TsundereM@ster
A survey of where I am at this iDOLM@STER nonsense.
Last winter, my list was like this:
- Makoto
- Miki
- Takane
- Mami/Ami
- Ritsuko
- Iori
- Yukiho
- Haruka
- Hibiki
- Chihaya
- Yayoi
- Azusa
This winter, my list is like:
- Makoto
- Miki
- Takane
- Mami
- Ritsuko
- Yukiho (up 1)
- Hibiki (up 2)
- Haruka
- Azusa (up 3)
- Yayoi (down 1)
- Ami (new)
- Iori (down 1)
- Chihaya (down 3)
Why? I don’t know. I don’t even know why I bother to split out Ami, but this year I feel as if I am ready to take that position.
And that’s about where I am at in journey inside this forest called revenge I mean being a Producer. I guess I still can tell Ami from Mami. Most of the time. But at the top of my ranking I am still more or less the same. I dig my ramen-chomping 真祖. I dig the rice-balling do-it-all. Mami is still the purest extract of adolescence. I’m just glad Makoto (and new mom Hirata-san) is still a thing and back in black. Yukiho and Hibiki’s upward movement probably has to do with their seiyuu actually. I no longer temper my opinion about Chihaya in respect to my fellow producer-in-arms because they deserve better, and it should be okay to not like something more than something else?
The truth is, I still like everybody. Even Chihaya. That’s why I’m still engrossed in this nonsense. Yes, I even like some CG/ML girls, but you wouldn’t know since I don’t even remember their names. I’m bad enough with names when it comes to real life people, and there are more than enough 2D characters I remember to fill a book, cut me some slack? But hey, AmiMami. That’s why I can say I actually want to be a Producer, because it’s pretty cool and in some ways I already have paid some cost to it. At the same time it is also why I can’t say I am a Producer, because like, I don’t feel that otaku spirit. And I certainly have not “paid the cost.”
And as I end up doing more iM@S fan things over time, it just gets to me that how deep and far stretching this fandom is. It’s old–approaching its 9th year now. It’s so wide that I’m pretty sure some parts of it isn’t talking to some other parts of it. People not only came and left, some came back and left again. It’s not only a normal mixed media franchise, it’s gotten too big in some ways. Given its roots in video games, the franchise is also very different than the ones I’m familiar with. Well, except Sakura Taisen I guess. I don’t even know if calling ourselves Ps makes sense in terms of what it means, and what your average fan does. I certainly look at that word with some amount of respect–perhaps too much.
But when you watch Winter Live from the concerts earlier this year and realized Azumin was doing it with the guitarist was straight out of Shiny TV/Shiny Festa’s version of Alright* I can only…not just make a face, but tilt my head as if Senjougahara heard something dumb out of Arararagi’s mouth. It’s as if I’m tsundere with this franchise mou.
Changing topics: the list of iM@S songs I can withstand over time looping has decreased. The nice thing is that there are more songs to be discovered in iM@S. Given there are so many, I am at the stage where I know I still don’t know a lot of them. I wish I can join some kind of Spotify iM@S-p playlist sharing group (if such a thing could ever exist). I guess the fact that the back catalog is so daunting is another reason why this fandom needs the fans’ own helping hands to get new people involved. A real rough figure indicate that I am probably at the 75% mark in terms of unique iM@S tracks “listened” if that.
Looking back to my usual im@s playlist, it’s still awfully in the “let’s get to know the songs” stage. Maybe I’ve moved on to the second semester of the first year in the course, but it’s a long shot. Maybe my wotagei credits will come in handy.
In 2013, the list of grindable music is now like this (sorta kinda):
MOONY
Jibun REST@RT
L.O.B.M
Change
Ai Like Hamburger – this one…is close to the edge
Jitensha
Little Match Girl
Megare
Watashi-tachi wa Zutto… Deshou?
Colorful Days
Eden
Machiuke Prince
Ready is off the list but I think I am okay with it as long as I am an active participant. Even if it’s just to vote for it. Surprisingly this list hasn’t changed much. I am still oblivious to Aisute’s music output, but partly that has more to do with my low opinion of it out of what I sampled. Some songs like KisS or Precog may make this list if I spent enough time listening to it, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. They need to be in games.
Being able to play it in a game helps a lot. I thought a big reason why I feel like I got further in this fandom this year had a lot to do with the English language versions of Shiny Festa on iOS. It got me to buy an iPad mini and I spent a lot of time playing it, just because it made sense. The iPad mini is also a terrific device to carry around, just on its own, so having the games with me all the time just happened.
At the same time, as much as I am currently in love with the franchise, I feel the warmth of the light–the light at the end of the tunnel. As I stretch myself to try to attend the next big show in Japan maybe I am finally getting to that point where I can say farewell with another obsession in a series of obsessions. It’s a gambit, because the alternative is just falling deeper in love with the people, the works, the music, and spirit and feeling both the high and low of it all. Having producers who will also egg you along in this foolish enterprise makes it even more fun.
Year in Review 2013 Index:
Year in Review 2013: Introduction
It didn’t feel like Christmas until the calendar turned the corner on American Thanksgiving, which is really the main signal for American to switch gears from “normal” to “holiday.” Given this year Thanksgiving was at its latest possible date, the whole holiday feel sprung on me very suddenly. But it didn’t hit home until I saw this in the news.
People have already been rolling up the holiday preps. I see people doing end-of-year blogging (at least writing it, not publishing it) and what secret santa things. I will do my two cents worth of sprucing up the holidays here.
Looking back in 2013, it’s a year when a lot of things came together. On the internet, I’ve been doing more writing than ever, and a lot of it is on Japanator. For better or for worse I’m kind of writing for them in a capacity that I imagined I would for the longest time. I guess this does mean I am now forced with the choices of cutting something somewhere so I can write more consistently. For better or worse, I am also watching more anime now than ever, which just means my novel reading has come to almost a halt. I think I finished 2 books in 2013. Blame it on LTE technology, I guess. And video games. Having all three Shiny Festa games on the iPad, or that I own a Vita now, or having the opportunity to crash through Project Diva and Ni no Kuni, stuff like that.
In some ways I wish I could’ve seen 12 Ghibli films in a month, again, but instead I will spend time getting ready. Or getting L@DY as they say. Thing is, I’ve been doing this crap for too long to shortchange the depth and passion of the Producer fandom. iM@S Ps. Nerds who love idolm@ster. Whatever. That has been kind of a thing this year more so than 2011 or 2012.
But that hasn’t been a theme, if you get what I am saying. What has been a theme is that slowly what excited me beyond anime and manga has consistently been simply things that enhanced the experience. Like meeting a seiyuu I like or going to a concert full of music from shows I loved. Both of these things happened this year (and somewhat surprisingly, every year in recent times). I mean, Otakon 20, man. If I didn’t already jumped the shark back in 2009 this would have been one awesome memorable Otakon, not that it wasn’t awesome. Cons are still tiresome but that is about as tiresome as not getting sleep; I could have skipped out on sleep to marathon some crap anime or play some video game, too. What I’m saying is just that, the totality of the fandom experience for the monetary enabled, hardcore otaku overseas has narrowed closer to the Japanese, in recent years, by some significant amount. And the simulcast business is just a small piece of that pie.
It’s just easy to point to Daisuki and Anime Sols, I guess, because they are entities out there promoting themselves. But this Producer-wannabe (I feel unworthy to truly partake in this fandom, but I will still make some business cards) is trying to board an airplane comes February to go see M@STER OF IDOL WORLD 2014. Having made a similar trip in 2013, it really kind of unsettles me in that I am not sure if, well, I will be ready for two Japan trips within 12 months. It feels that the logistic and legal hurdle between Japan and its distributed works are slowly but surely eroding. I guess that’s great if your business operates on hauling butts across the Pacific in giant flying metal cages. Or the Atlantic as I met my first UK Producer this year, heyo.
The “World Is All One” aside, I did have a good time in 2013. I just wish I could do my next trip not just purely to hit up concerts, as this trip is shaping out to be another “stay in Tokyo the whole time” kind of thing. I guess I could sight see on a day trip to go to… Mt. Takao or something. LOL. I mean they have a Yama no Suzume trail right? Right?
At least that hike is short.
Year in Review 2013 Index:
Getting Down with Shiny TV Means Getting Ready
Digi Kerot has a primer. As usual you can wiki it. Basically think of this blog post as day one and the post below as day two of Shiny TV.
The main takeaway is Machiuke Prince. Click on these for Normal MV and Special MV, which is cool because that’s Shiny Festa/TV for ya. A translated version is embedded below.
I won’t get too deep into the lyrics and the little touches, but let’s just say it’s great to have Haruka’s USOTSUKI, Makoto opening the song and Miki closing the deal. It’s also very important to note that Machiuke Prince is while not the first iM@S song of this kind, it’s the first one of the relay medley style of song that could possibly be performed live in a way that is a lot of fun to watch. Those people who are planning to hit the two-day live in February, are you READY?
Some key thoughts:
Skill do translate over. I played Shiny Festa a lot–SS rank in two out of three, and almost SS in the third. And that’s not including my PSP playtime (which is not nearly as much admittedly). Notably, I play the group songs to death because they are fun and easy, plus you see everyone in those. (However I do admit I have not gotten 100% on most of the songs on M@STER.) So when I was unlocking those season 4 challenges, they all came pretty easy. Outside of Yayoi’s season 4 episode 1, I didn’t really have much problems. I guess Ai Like Hamburger was a little annoying because that one is also new, but not new enough like Machiuke Prince.
It was a feat of effort and stupidity to clear Machiuke Prince’s minimum challenge in Master mode while I totally forgot to turn on charms. LOL. Probably could’ve saved me at least 30 minutes to an hour.
It has to be said that the controller makes a huge difference. I only have a Sixaxis and a Dual Shock PS3 controller, and both are getting a little long in the tooth (although it’s not like I use them all that much). Actually, it isn’t terrible except trying to press rapidly on the D-pad sometimes. What happens is that there’s gradation in pressing down so some presses end up not registering if my finger didn’t reset back far enough. Don’t have this problem with the buttons on the right at all. The trigger buttons have way too much travel to be practical I think. And I never got the analog stick trick to work.
Which is just to say the PS3 controllers are way better than the PSP buttons on my first-gen PSP. Yeah, this is partly why I didn’t play Shiny Festa on the PSP all that much. It pays to get a good controller, although it’s kind of arguable if it’s really necessary. In the end Shiny Festa is not a hard game, nor is Shiny TV.
The Shiny TV challenges from Takane’s DLC pack is about as hard as Haruka’s. For me it’s slightly more of a challenge because I was never all that good with Overmaster and Next Life, although the other original songs end up being easier. Kimi wa Melody, however, I played lots! And somehow Ohimechin’s gravure mode came off as appropriately classy and not nearly as nosebleed-prone as Haruka’s or even Yayoi’s. Outside of Gravure mode, however, the navi costume you get from logging in however many times can be a little sketchy. I mean, what’s up with that Yukiho outfit? That’s like, Love Live level man.
I thoroughly expected to be schooled by Chihaya’s pack when it comes out next week.
PS. For those of you care to vote for Ready in that Anime Music Tournament, it is in the middle of the second round and losing badly to an admittedly god-tier song. Check it out! Voting closes in another 4 days or so.