Category Archives: Franchises

July 18, 2013

Monogatari Series Episode 2 Girl Talk, About Random iM@S Notes

By omo

I don’t want to dwell on it, but it basically boils down to:

Oh Japan?

I think the chit-chat between the co-stars of the Monogatari series in episode 2 is not only an excellent fanservice vehicle (in the way boys like to see two girls get it on in the way Senjougahara explicitly inferred for what Araragi likes), but also it’s just exhibition of Hanekawa when we take a known value that is Senjougahara and put them side by side. It’s character development. But yes, the two girls did talk about the guy, since it is a point of reference as a foil device. Is it Bechdel compliant? Is it problematic that we are thinking it in terms of compliance to Bechdel? I think that is more so the case.

===

Mayako Nigo, Festival of Winter 2013

Some Idolm@ster info:

From Exciel-P, who rolls his own blog. Basically, it’s a touching story about a man who loves Azusa and then went on to become a legend.

Here’s some fan translation of a guide on how to do the iM@s 8th Anniversary tour. It’s noteworthy because I think it’s a good intro guide to people who have never done nerd concerts in Japan before. At least the big ones. This ain’t how it rolls if you want to attend, say, underground idol lives or CooRie’s shows, lol. What it gracefully and unfortunately leaves out is how to get tickets. Getting tickets is still the most difficult barrier one has to overcome to do such a show, especially for foreigners.

Lastly, some caps from Mayachan’s Big Jump. A bit of background: this past February there was a 2-part concert and during the first show, Mayako Nigo’s first solo act had a tumble and fall. Basically she’s catapulted from the rising stage a little too … fast, let’s just say. While she continued on like a champ barely missing a beat, it was a (somewhat slight) shock for a lot of people watching it. Now I get a shock from watching the concert on home video.

6 comments | posted in Bakemonogatari, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Idolmaster

July 16, 2013

Kick Heart Is Vanilla Kickstarter

By omo

I remember there was a charming brute from Kaiba by the name of Vanilla. He’s basically the essence to Kick Heart. It’s about as cheesy as what I told Yuasa when I saw him during AX.

Me: I just want to tell you, you’re a genius!

Yuasa: Oh thank you!

Me: Also I am a backer for Kick Heart. Just wanted to let you know I backed it because of that. [This is a paraphrase because I had to work it out with the interpreter.]

Yuasa: LOL you got good taste!

I’m not sure if it came across right but hey.

"A project like this would not get made otherwise."

It’s the same salty-but-sweet, like saltwater taffy (a NJ special lol) or the general mid-scale cuisine trend of using sea salt on your chocolate/caramel dessert combo, kind of a characterization in Kick Heart. The main character is, really, a tsundere. Except in good o’ Hentai Kamen style, the more he is down, the stronger he gets.

It’s also exactly the kind of project that Kickstarter is best designed for. I don’t mean this in an “indie police” kind of way but in a “this is how businesses do business” kind of way. KH was plug-and-play for the most part–one shot, animated short, primed as theatrical release material, stretches/rewards into DVD/BDs, original and made from scratch, limited funding options, etc. We’re not blazing new trails here, besides that Production IG is a new player and this is anime we’re talking about. Still neither Japan nor its animation are exceptional in this sense. If it fits all the right criteria, it’ll work fine. Especially with a genius animator as the “看板娘.”

Small and sweet Kickstarter yields short and sweet animation. It delivers on the dot. And maybe that’s all that matters.

Plus it’s nice to wake up to an email saying “click here and put in this password to get ten eighty pees, baby” that does not involve penis enlargement spam, or anything illegal.

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

July 14, 2013

Double Duty

By omo

It’s one thing to be prominently credited in an OP, it’s another to be prominently credited in two OP in the same season.

Prism Iliya

Watamote

Oonuma Shin. He even storyboarded the OP for Watamote.

How does this work? I know this occasionally happened for some SHAFT guys but really now? If this is not a red flag, I don’t know what is.

 

2 comments | posted in Fate, Watashi ga Motenai no wa dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

July 12, 2013

Watamote

By omo

I watched the first episode and… To answer this

I’m going to say yeah, this reaction is not unusual. What’s weird is that my reaction was like Author’s. I think when I was a kid I didn’t have that kind of experience–to be honest it’s hard to see who did, at least on some sliding scale, because it’s not a binary determination. We homely and quiet nerds are often put into situations like this, and different people have experienced/suffered varying extents. What we see in Watamote is albeit an exaggerated version of something, but at the same time it’s easy to see how real people can have had it worse than Tomoko.

It “hits home” for some people, that is why they like Watamote. It “hits too close to home” for others, that’s why they think it’s humiliating.

But don’t you feel humiliated when you watch, say, Love Hina? I definitely felt that way about the nth time Keitaro walks into a half-naked girl, and I don’t really have any connection with K-taro in the way that Watamote is building things up. The odd thing is, the Watamote anime reminds me vaguely of B Gata H Kei, which is actually a story premised on the core idea of embarrassment (and I definitely don’t relate to Yamada). Watamote, so far, is more about self identity and pride. Well, that’s kind of related. But the tone of the two shows can’t be more different. Probably because one show is actually funny? In the riotous, raunchy teenage sit-com kind of way?

tomoko

The irony, though, is that Watamote is the story of someone who struggles to connect with people because this “society” reacts to that sort of a narrative with embarrassment and shame. I didn’t really hear anyone get angry or passionate about Watamote, other than those who “hit home.” For those people God bless your souls and what not. For the “hit too close to home” people, please realize you are what Watamote is actually about–either as part of the problem (eg., society) or as a victim who just hasn’t quite gotten over it. I’m inclined to think all of us are one of the two types of people at some point.

Personally, I think this is all the by-product of self-depreciating humor for a crowd that don’t enjoy hurtful and self-depreciating humor. Basically, can you 8man? And it’s true–it certainly doesn’t have to be enjoyable and it isn’t for a lot of people. But the same goes for everyone else who can (including the people who created Watamote, who have the same problems, and wrote about them in such an open way) enjoy the humor in Watamote, the slow burn, the helpless flailing of arms. There’s a sense of helpless at play here, and you know how that goes.

TL;DR – One man’s joke is an insult to another man’s mom.

8 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Watashi ga Motenai no wa dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

July 10, 2013

Little Cash Academia

By omo

kickstartedwitches

Little Witch Academia is this one-shot Anime Mirai short funded by some government money to encourage new and young animators to strike it out. Studio Trigger, which is a new studio made up of newbies and veterans, most notably for their Gurren Lagann Imaishi connection, are behind LWA. According to Trigger reps, they began exploring Kickstarter when people commented from oversea about LWA, as LWA hit youtube soon after it was done screening at various events. The energetic OAV-length episode was well-received.

At Anime Expo 2013 they announced that they will kickstart episode 2. Now that it has come here are some details that I find a bit head-scratching.

The Kickstarter is for just an extension of episode 2, which is already green-lit. I presume after hitting (more like pulverizing) their funding goal the bonus money will go into making more LWA in some way. This is Japan, after all, so they’re more likely to be responsible with public money in the private context.

There isn’t a lot of details as to what LWA episode 2 will entail in terms of its additional content, versus what is already promised. Compared to, say, Production IG’s Kick Heart, a thoroughbred art film, LWA is hella mainstream appealing. This is from a rising star studio that has the highly anticipated Kill La Kill on the horizon. I’m not sure if LWA needs Kickstarter, as much as Penny Arcade needs Kickstarter.

And this goes to the heart of the problem. I think if we just think of Kickstarter as a new way to raise money, it is probably a great thing that more anime studios are looking to Kickstarter as a way to fund their projects. Of course we still should extend the usual degrees of scrutiny upon any Kickstarter project, but I’m more likely to give anime studios slack because the current ways of funding anime is one of the core root of ills plaguing the industry. “Dealing with fans” is likely a gamble well worth trying, if that’s the only down side. That and face, maybe.

This post is brought to you by the fact that my AX writing-up is taking forever and at the LWA private screening they even tossed the possibility of LWA the TV, so there you have it.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Little Witch Academia