Category Archives: Franchises

August 10, 2006

I Love Simoun

By omo

I spend a lot of my leisure time with people on IRC. It rubs off on me, that pattern of behavior, you know, the entire bit about conveying emotion through emoticons, capitalization, image macro links, and just very clever asshattery. Jaded and now gotten used to the usual tricks, it is amusing what can be salvaged for my tarnished mental innocence, left floating in the gutter that is known as the internet.

Perhaps that’s why every time when I tune in to the plight of the Chor Tempest, I am right there as if I am Guraghief! Ah, this is the essence of the Battle Miko fetish, is it not? Or better yet, the best spin on the children of war theme? A symbolic coming of age?

But like most rewarding things in life, it doesn’t come to you without effort. Simoun is totally a show that got the shaft from the fansubbers at the get-go, but the fault lies on Simoun itself for being the best internally-consistent, unconventional fantasy setting probably since Last Exile. On top of that, the massive cast, the steadfast pacing, and a confusing (yet important) beginning can leave viewers bored, confused, disinterested, or all three.

However it has rather solid production values. Simoun boasts a competent voice acting cast, and it is directed by the director of Ranma 1/2. Working what’s left from their Fate Stay Night splooge, Studio Deen does what they do best: gorgeous (animated) illustrations. They’re frameable paintings, for crying out loud. The 3d-CG Simoun aerial fights covers their still-frame butts this time around, and while that looks cheap and takes getting used to, it doesn’t bother me after a few episodes. The music is nothing to write home about, but it is good.

If you are curious, definitely give the Wikipedia entry a read, or refer to Hashihime’s Simoun pages for quick reference.

What really captivated me was the focus on character drama. While we can pun away all day and night about the “they’re not really girls!” thing, Simoun presents itself very similar to a shoujo version of Last Exile–in fact the whole Tatiana and Alestia angstfest is a glimpse of what we see in Simoun. As opposed to renegade mercs, Chor Tempest is a parade of priestesses, offering their usual, but deadly, prayer to their theological object of affection when they dance in the skies.

On the other hand, you can look at it not too differently than day soap–it’s full of surprise, innuendo of rape; illicit relationships; people empathizing each other, people manipulating each other, and people growing up. Falling in love, falling from faith; claiming success, losing prestige. The whole nine yards. It’s a lot more subtle than offerings you find from Strawberry Panic, so it’s a little less “exciting.” At the same time, it deals with something that is just much more fundamentally resounding in me that I have to take it seriously. I just can’t do that for a 3rd rate Marimite spoof.

And again, there’s the whole children of war aspect. It’s blatant that shrine maidens are not meant for war (at least outside of Touhou). The mixed expectations crossed with the sacrilege of turning tools of worship into weapon for destruction goes beyond merely the secrets hidden within the Spring of gender crossing or the Simouns machina themselves, but in the heart of the Simoun pilots, or Sibyllae. It’s being backgrounded over time as the series marched on, but with the interplay of its setting, the enemy states against the Simulacrum, and the variety of priestesses for the one and only Tempus Patium, there’s so much stuff there that a 26-ep run will not exhaust it all.

So go watch it already! At least you can enjoy all these gorgeous vectoring of the eyecatches while fully realizing just how awesome this cast of half-misfits really are.

13 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Simoun

August 9, 2006

Geneon After Dark or The Alternative Dimension of Licensing Hell

By omo

When the day ends, you hang up your coat, put your guns away, lean back, feet up, and air out your tiredness. We did that at Geneon After Dark.

Unlimited Corny Jokes Works ALL THE TIME!

Geneon After Dark is the name of the panel Geneon used to describe their 1am Otakon 2006 industry Q&A where cuffs are mostly off and the fanboy producers (and fangirls) giggled with us. I rather liked it last year when I went crazy and committed various forms of idolatry against Nana Mizuki. Speaking of which, I did forget to reiterate the question why there’s no movement on that front…

The panel itself is fairly simple. We sat, they pitched a trailer, they solicit a few questions regarding that thing, we raise our hands and get picked, we ask, they answer, and we get a free item. Rinse and repeat. A few clips later they opened up to general questions, but we had videos to see all throughout the panel including the Hellsing Ep2 previews. The floor opened up a lot more after we saw that.

The freebies they gave away were pretty good. I think I was the 3rd person to get picked so I had a wide variety of choices–piles of scrolls and t-shirts, and a lot of random stuff. It was sad, though, because the only thing I want I can’t have (a box of autographed incest given to some Hellsing fan), and the second thing I wanted is…from Kyo Kara Maou. Yes, a shoujo anime that I don’t even watch. It was a tin of something. I decided to just go for my 3rd pick, at least it’s g. I would say “damn you” for getting that Fuu figure, but I don’t even want it that much.

I think a big problem with a gathering attempt like this is that some of the audience are just plainly clueless. If you didn’t know what Black Lagoon was at that panel, well, that might be the sign to you that you need a clue before opening your mouth; let alone ask a long-winded question that makes no sense and cut into Q&A time. On the other hand a lot of the audience very much keyed-on when it comes to pointed questions, so props to them. I think this really shows especially when nearing the end of the panel I feel a lot of us were just dying to simply get some plain Q&A, but with the freebie-giving-away in the way we couldn’t get the questions out and have that dialogue going unless you’re a knowingly-rude person like me who does it because it’s supposed to be done. Terry(?) was the Geneon guy picking hands and he was trying to get to everyone who hasn’t had something–nice try but bleh. People were just raising their hands and asking dumb questions to get stuff. Since the panel didn’t conclude until 2:30, I was mad tired and didn’t want to stay around to hear all the chit chat post-panel, partly because the Good-Question-to-Bad ratio is probably too high, and I am just done airing my laundry for the day.

That said, I did stay for a couple round with…that other producer guy. I would have made my rounds to Stephen but he was pretty busy with the music people and I didn’t want to line up. And that brings us to our real topical point:

No one will ever license Futakoi Alternative.

If you recall, Geneon licensed UFOTable’s “big hit” Dokkoida. And you might also notice, if you pay attention to hype and fan clamoring, Dokkoida isn’t exactly a hot title. I think even in the fansub-sphere it didn’t make a lot of noise. Or much of noise at all. A speedy sub was all that was left in the path of an excellent but sadly forgettable show for most people, it would seem. What’s wrong with UFOTable? What’s wrong with you (who did not buy Dokkoida yet)? That’s not a big deal compared to what awaits Futakoi Alternative.

The brief conversation we had with…ugh, what’s his face next to Terry? Sorry for not remembering your name at 2am in the morning. In any event, said Geneon Guy professed his love for Dokkoida?! (and o/ for you brother) earlier which reminded me about Futakoi Alternative, one of the few titles I hunker for license-age. Naturally I brought up the topic later and he countered with something like “Well, the Japanese licenser will probably want to sell Futakoi too, and I don’t know about you but Futakoi is…”

A-yep. Futakoi is, yeah. Not a title Geneon would really like to license, at any rate.

So there we have it. It’s not the same kind of licensing hell Macross Zero is stuck in. It’s definitely not the same kind of licensing hell that Random Shoujo Series is stuck in, but that one might affect Futakoi Alternative indirectly if Dokkoida just doesn’t do well enough to justify it from the bottom line. In retrospect this situation probably has played itself out in the earlier years of fandom especially with game licenses. How do you get a “Tsukihime” without a “Tsukibako” anyways, right? How did businesses overcome that? I suppose licensing two shows is different than licensing one and ignoring the game counterpart.

More importantly, just what do we fans have to do to get a piece of it? Sucker a company, or wait for one, to license Futakoi vanilla first? I don’t really like the idea of that, but it might be the only thing left to do. Got any bright ideas for us threesome fans?

Certainly no more “Alternative” shows! Unless the original isn’t crap, anyways.

5 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Futakoi Alternative, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

August 8, 2006

Otakon 2006: An Average Story about a Convention

By omo

If words were enough to describe this convention, I wouldn’t need pictures. Even if words were enough, I’d still use pictures because I am lazy.

I was a Harutard

But some words are necessary. Like tags. Could be chronological:
Hot Thursday prereg, drinking, dinner, drinking; hot friday lineup, ticket, sat in line and watch anime, dealers, eat, Nobuteru panel, Madhouse panel, eat alone, concert, karaoke; Saturday ticket, dealers, Kawasumi panel, autograph, karaoke, fate meet, concert, mt meet, Geneon, Hellsing, dinner, art gallery, 4chan, Geneon panel; sunday karaoke, art gallery, hotel crap, karaoke, lunch, karaoke, home.

Or more descriptive:
Haruhi-tard, ETERNAL BLAZE, Hottest. Otakon. Ever., Kawasumi Ayako, Lafiel, Mahoro, Trap-chan, Raptor Jesus, Getsumei Fuuei, MUCC, fatigue, NO U, Free Stuff, Mihata no Moto ni, Pictochat, Geneon, Dan Kim, Futakoi Alternative, Touhou, Ever17, waiting in line, Nobuteru Yuuki, Nakazawa Kazuto, God Bless…

There were the usual amount of cosplaying. Without beating around the bush anymore, you can click on these links at your own risk. Traps, you know. I think the variety this year matches more my expectation from last year than this year.

A good meme from the con to recall is Web 2.0. It’s amusing how much I’ve changed in doing an otakon write-up over the last 9 years. And yet I’ve done it every time save my first Otakon, in a blog form. Instead of AMVs maybe I’ll do a trip down memory lane kind of thing. Some things, despite age, just don’t change time and time again.

Like hitting traffic on the NJ Turnpike.

But there are still stories left to be told of our battle last weekend. Yours and mine. Like how karaoke post MUCC concert means you can’t hear the monitor too well. Or our Canadian friend makes one helluva Trap-chan. Or how 4chan manages to transform time and space and bring anonymity to a convention line. Or how the panels I missed out I wish I could attend, or watch videos of. Or how I asked about Lafiel, and made a fool out of myself at the Kawasumi panel. Or how people should do more Nana Mizuki songs at the karaoke. Or just how much fun we had, or how we wish you were there, too.

I was actually looking for Os on Friday–imagine we were all in the Mad House panel…

Perhaps one more notable point to it all is how my friends played into the picture. There was a major blurring between my RL friends, different circles of RL friends, internet friends, and random people. It’s good to know people who know people but knowing so many people can make things difficult. This year marks a good, sharp distinction between people who I consider “con buddies” with “visiting friends” and “groupies.” It’s so important to have all three. Just don’t mix them up in the wrong categories… And keeping the right kind of stories to the right kind of crowd :)

And on that note, I wish you all would show at Otakon next year, because I have high hopes…

5 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Black Lagoon, Blogging, Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Eureka 7, Modern Visual Culture, Ouran High Host Club, Popular Culture, Rozen Maiden, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Suzumiya Haruhi no Uuutsu

August 7, 2006

Fangirls: Don’t Leave Home without Them!

By omo

In anime blogging terms, Otakon (and several other cons like it) is a wellspring of ideas. You can write a long article on Kanaria DX, but for a con-goer you could also write a long article on just finding Kanaria, trying to haggle price on it, fail and come back the next day and bite the bullet, then take pictures of it with Kanaria cosplayers and finish it with a parody sketch of Vita hammering down on Nana or something equally nonsensical. Now multiply that by fifteen or something.

Thanks, Dan Kim!

Yet at the same time, American-style anime cons are not for everyone. Even as fans, we cling onto different ideas of what it means as a fan, what motivates us to act like a gaggle of idiots, and what makes us shell out the big bucks. Even what makes memorable memories vary from one fanboy to another. I respect that.

To that end, that is why I love fangirls at cons. Don’t get me wrong; more often than not they are bringers of headache and long waits. They’re the kind of people who would wait 8 hours in line, overnight, for a Seki Tomokazu autograph (and well worth it, I say). They may also be kind of self-absorbed and singled minded to the extent that they behave like a scary mob of … fangirlness in which levels everything in their path on their way to rush from one line to the next. It’s hard to talk nice about fangirls unless you’re just as equally self-absorbed to care. However, in the context of an anime con in the US, they fit right in.

Especially at the right types of musical venues.

I’m not sure how many people are at all aware the plight LOAE and his cohorts had in order to “get it right” for a certain variety of musical guests. Some concerts are the type you sit down and listen, like PLAY (I would’ve, could’ve, didn’t)–an orchestral rendition of pop video game music hits. Some concerts are the type you want to stand up sometimes (Kanno Yoko‘s piano interludes). Some concerts have seats but you’re not suppose to use them if you can help it (Yoko Ishida), and the rest you are just suppose to stand (any kind of Jrock, or MUCC for this con).

When we have these strange yet wonderful Japanese musical guests at anime cons, the problem is this: a lot of people at the con, and attending the musical events, just don’t know what sort of a show it may be. Unless you live near a major city, too, you are probably a tad shy in terms of concert-going experience. It’s not like going to a movie theatre–most people don’t hit up musical venues in their spare time unless you live in real proximity to them, or chase concerts like, well, a fangirl. A two-tier problem.

On top of the fact that an anime con is really a conglomeration of many kinds of fans with many different kinds of programming, shy of bands like L’arc~en~Ciel, you will really only be reaching a very specific audience segment. Even artists like Yoko Ishida or other more “mainstream fanboy” is going to shoot short of gathering the right kind of crowd. The MUCC concerts at Otakon this year are a good demonstration of this problem, and partially, the solution.

1. The right venue. Just to get it out of the way, the Powerplant sucks–to walk to it requires going around some really seedy parts of Inner Harbor, plus this is still probably the Hottest. Otakon. Ever so I really wanted to spare both my back the heat, and my feet the wear–it’s about a 15-minute powerwalk. Both times I did it I was doing it upstream of a bunch of Yankee fans, too. Generally a blah experience. Still, a proper musical venue is a must. I remember seeing a bunch of punk kids at ACen’s SID concert. No. Even worse was BOA (the UK band) at Otakon back in 2000. No no no. You need the right venue like Ram’s Head for a band like them. It REALLY makes a HUUUUUUUUGE difference.

2. The crowd. Friday night’s MUCC show with Nana Kitade opening was probably MUCC’s best performance out of the two. They were high and mightily powerful, and probably not exhausted yet. But the crowd on Saturday was about 10 times easier to work with. Part of the cause, I imagine, was because of Nana Kitade. She draws a radically different crowd, although I think some fangirls do like her as well. While I may be a gothloli fan, I don’t really like gothloli culture at all, and she’s all about that. I’d say about half of the crowd was into the show overall during MUCC’s gig, and the other half were just there. The hardcore fangirls took the lead and there were even some mild moshing, but it’s nothing compared to Saturday’s crowd. People were broken in, the fans were more organized, and people who can’t bother with cheering just didn’t go through the added effort to come to the show again.

3. The repeated showing. Having two separate shows probably helped sifting through the fans as well as giving everyone a chance to get familiar in terms of what to do at their shows. The second show may be a lot more tiresome for the artists, it was just a better fan response. I think just between Friday and Saturday Kitade’s fanbase at the con doubled, so go her. It probably helps that her hair didn’t get tangled up with the guitar the second day.

In that conventions in the US have been getting musical guests for some time now, these considerations are nothing new. I’m well aware that cons have bigger worries and other restraint too, making these things simply not possible sometimes. But it makes a huge difference, especially when we’re talking about a band that’s playing in a foreign language, from a foreign culture, and don’t have the resources to play the crowd like how a big shot stadium-like concert can.

I think for the rest of this week I’ll try to squeeze in as much Otakon-related entries as I can, so please look forward to that!

3 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Rozen Maiden, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

August 2, 2006

Howling for Indignation, A Pack of Coyotes

By omo

I have better things to do under a hot August day than this?

Straight from Danbooru

I mean, what the?

I’d just have left it on the Stock Exchange, except I hate those things that requires me to use a bug-me-not account, as to not going to bother with it at all. Furthermore I think his post merits commenting, so instead of working on the damn long blogging series or preparing to get my house in order before Otakon, let’s see what I can spare.

1. The truth is that Coyote Ragtime Show is pretty decent, yet it manages to take a very mainstream subject matter and turn it on its head for the sake of a particular group of people that has a perchant for this sort of shows. It’s not another Cowboy Bebop, that’s for sure. It isn’t even Samurai Champloo, although I think people who enjoys Coyote Ragtime Show will no doubt like both of them. It is the forging of a genre identity in the sense that UFOTable managed to take something essential to all those shows, and make a twist out of it. The result is that the new identity is only going to be appealing to those who liked those essential elements.

2. Badassery. Those of you who saw Futakoi Alternative may recall Niidaime’s father. He, really, is what Mister is. I agree that until Mister actually dishes out some whopping it would remain hard, for some people, to believe this old dude is capable of it. But a badass is a badass not because he can do badassery things–it’s because that’s who he is. I think this point is only strengthened by Franca’s relationship with Mister (and her father to some extent), in comparison with Rentarou and his. Just how much does badassery get in the way of a healthy relationship? In other words, to Rentarou, his father isn’t a badass; nor is to Franca, Mister. Yet Rentarou’s father is a total badass to everyone else. The difference here is that Rentarou’s dad is not a part of the viewer’s experience, OTOH here we’re looking at the “real side” of Mister along with Franca.

3. Obfuscated focus. We started the Coyote adventure with Angelica and Chelsea. They are wonderful characters by all means. But ultimately they are important only from a plot device perspective. Given how the audience are being told the story from the perspective of the Coyote crew, we already have that inside view. Maybe the narrative may pan out back to Angelica like how the show has been doing it so far once we get to another mysterious junction where Mister alone holds all the cards, but even then the rest of the Coyote crew have no clue what’s going on. Which is to say, what role will Angelica and Chelsea play? There really isn’t much left for them to do. The narrative, however, will pan back and forth–what are we to do? It lacks focus.

4. Popularity. Yes I’m fully aware people who like that kind of show are probably watching it already, thx gg. That’s that. But more people can watch and enjoy Simoun. Seriously. ;)

Simoun fans unite!
Soft subs!
Sqeeeee!
KEKEKE!

5 comments | posted in Coyote Ragtime Show, Modern Visual Culture, Simoun