Spirit of Japan Miami is a first-year convention at Miami Beach. Literally located in the big con center (that was renovated last decade) just to the side of South Beach, this new con brought big con guests which drew people like myself. It also is the Funko Pop Private Signing Wonderland that you might have heard about. Still I got to see Fruits Zipper and that made things all OK? Maybe.
The story really started at around AX time, because Sayaka Ohara went to AX and I want her to sign my Aria stuff, naturally. Of course, because MangaGamer, it couldn’t be done there, nor did I get a ticket anyway due to POS fail at MG booth first day of AX. I didn’t really get a chance to go back to do that either. So I said to my self, “Ohara is going to this first-year con in Miami, let’s just do that.” So I did.
I didn’t think much about Hiroaki Hirata much, or that Yuki Kaji will do a zoom panel there. Then the con added Ryo Horikawa, who is a staple of this kind of events nowadays. Oh, Burnout Syndrome? I guess Fake Star is involved. Then there was Satomi Akesaka??? Fruits Zipper???? Wow they called in that A-Kon rain check! Wow Diana Garnet (again)! The list is impressive say the least, not to mention for a first-year con.
Turns out, this con is largely run by One Guy who is a Japanese-American business man who really want to bring the stuff he loves together. The face he made when talking about Yui-chan on Sunday says it all. I was able to talk to him briefly and it was pretty fun to see this sort of thing being thrown down.
The event is a combination of a cultural festival and a pop cultural con. There was a “dealer room” setup with AA art walls and random lifestyle brands, mixed in there some vendors with merch. And by merch, I just mean walls of Funkos. There was a board game part with tournaments. There is a corner with actual arcade games and a few playstations set up. I give them props for that. There is also just a corner with all the autographs, across from the one and only stage. Lastly the entrance and exit is right by the cultural booths where you can learn tea ceremony (I wanted this but it didn’t pan out time-wise), wear a yukata, learn to draw manga, calligraphy, and what have you. There is also a sake tasting thing in a corner that is gated (of course).
I didn’t blog about AX2023 because it was not a good con, despite the best we made of it. Thankfully, the 2024 version of Anime Expo was much improved.
The new layout meant that people are more spread out. Additional entrances meant people flowed into the con during peak hour quickly–it took me about 30 minutes on Thursday around 9 in the morning. The exhibit hall pushed more vendors into the AA hall (Kantia) and spaced things out more. The R18 vendors also moved downstairs. It was easier to get around the hall than ever.
The badge-required space at the LACC expanded to include all of the front yard along Figuroa. The cross street by the Crypto.com Arena also belonged to AX for the entire time, not just on the weekend. It added more food vendor, drift space, and they put more performers there.
The autograph system moved online, and even after the snafu on day one when the printers failed, going barcode and ID check has been way superior. It seems even day-of tickets were distributed using showclix and email. The gnashing of teeth that was the 4pm-8am camp of yesteryear is done. We still got nasties like this but I am so thankful of these improvements. That said I only got a Kawamori Shoji autograph out of all this, because I didn’t really try for the others. I probably could have snatched one from Arifureta though…
In terms of content, we are closer than ever to Anime Japan on the industry track side, and there were still room for fan panels and side content to flourish. I think this year AX really struck that balance really well with the street MJ gang. There were rave/concerts from day 0 to day 5 of AX. I particularly enjoyed the One Piece Orchestra where Kouhei Tanaka belted out We Are along with Kitadani Hiroshi while the audience also sang along. Moments of Anibash reminded me of Mogra so much seeing Mizushima in the back vibing lol. It was chill and fun mixing during Constellation vol 5 on Monday, which gave me an excuse to hang out with local homies during the day on Monday/Tuesday. Hamu is amazing as usual, along with Teddy (a good set from him!) and Kotono House (the set was too mainstream for me but technically impressive).
Uma EN was a huge thing for me on my list at AX so I hit that Cygames booth the first thing on Thursday. I took videos of the whole thing but I think there’s no need to put it up anywhere, you can find it fine on Youtube. Cygames also had the party game in demo so I tried that, which is fun enough. That said Umamuusme fans are great, especially when I know half of these goofs having a blast.
I was able to drop by the usual IM@S gathering and appreciate a Matsuri cosplayer. Is this the power of anime?
On the industry side, it was wild seeing Sumipe doing her oversea stuff. Numerous others crossed path at the Entertainment Hall (like the gang promoting HypMic or moments when Mamo and KENN crossed path)? Sumipe’s anniversary panel allowed for photos at the end. She also ran into the crowd to hi-five people along the aisle. It was unhinged and fun. She also lucked out into a signed t-shirt for a fan.
I was able to see Seto Asami in person for the first time at AX, that was great. I also went to a talk from Aviot featuring Hirose Yuya and Wakayama Shion, which is this brand shilling character-voice earphones and headphones. They sponsored Kawamori also, along with two of the Gridman voice actors, so I saw them talk about Gridman and the Gridman headsets you can buy.
Otherwise, it still take some prerequisite camp time for every panel so it was hard to drift to multiple panels. In addition the schedule just had a lot of conflicts, so I literally saw Kuwahara Yuuki for about 60 seconds and Kito Akari for about 30 minutes. My greatest regret was skipping the Bocchi the Rock panel to go see the Game.
I watch MLB games casually so it was always on my list to hit up Dodger Stadium once. I go to LA often enough as is (second trip this year). When the Hololive collab dropped on AX Friday it was a sensible choice. It clashed with Anibash but the DJs I wanted to see was late in the day anyway. Then Aniplex dropped the shoe with Yoppi… Anyways, I don’t really regret it, the game was fun–Will Smith solo-dinging the Dodgers back from a Brewers Grand Slam was fun, and the home crowd responded well to the comeback win. What was less, well, well, was the massive buppan line for the Hololive collab merch. The baseball cards you get from going to the game sold for thousands of dollars on JP Mercari. It was wild. My friends stayed in the line for hours to get some shirts, and seems like the line to sell those shirts and hat went from gates opening until gates closed and people were kicked out.
— Donie Darko ?Gooba Shrimp? (@DonieDarko3) July 7, 2024
The drone show was great, so was letting the fans go on the field. What does it take to have a Gindaco in Yankee Stadium! Seeing and hearing Suisei (and Inotac lol) at a MLB game was surreal. Thanks LA Dodgers, I hope you learned your lesson and have more than 8 cashiers next time you do a Hololive collab.
I made time to drop by the Akiba Maid Wars collab cafe at Asayoru Little Tokyo Sunday, because there was zero conflicts on Sunday–there was literally nothing to do but maybe gawk at the charity auction. In fact we went to karaoke with friends until pretty late after the con closed. Anyways, the collab cafe was impressive, and Asayoru did a good job. Shoutout to our maid, Nana. I enjoyed the extended cosplay skit as it were.
In conclusion, AX2024 actually became not terrible. I always ding AX being the worst anime con in the USA because it’s a safety hazard from crowding and heat. This year it did much better on the first and somewhat on the second–still EMS had to come in for the CDawgVA/Ironmouse line, and someone passed out at the Cygames booth on Thursday (probably from exhaustion entering the con). It’s a big con, stuff like this does happen. But it’s all the more important that AX gets the fundamentals right. This year it seems it has taken a major leap away from the designation of “worst con” but time will tell how much better it can get.
As the new IDOLM@STER brand, Gakuen IDOLM@STER, slow-drips its hype juice leading up to the mobile game launch later this Quarter (or whenever Spring 2024 is), I have thoughts about not only Gakumas (the official abbrev) and the franchise in general. More specifically, context is important and also kind of amusing to think through, how one thing may lead to another or vice versa, and the joy of learning from the past.
Around 2020, we got Asobi Notes, which is kind of a new music brand from Bannam that included some of the up and coming track makers and DJs with a slant towards trending EDM and pop music. I only know this because they pulled a bunch of composers and DJs that worked on IM@S into their first online stream/concert (COVID era memories). Along side that was the launch of the Denonbu brand, which is uhh, character-based rave music I guess? Turns out Denonbu’s strategy and Asobi Notes form the music side of the Gakumas system. So far Gakumas has followed a similar plan between the idols and their music producers…I suppose around 2018-2019 the link between the music maker and the IM@S tracks has been more in the foreground in the marketing material, so this is the next step.
When IM@S hands off an idol to a music producer to make songs for, it reminded me when people like Inotac always wanted to produce Kaede songs, or when Jun Sasaki talked about Julia back when being asked about Airu. Now with 3 of the solo songs available, it seems a bit like that, but more so. I was rather taken by minami’s song for Temari, both that it is very minami, but also very good for an IM@S Blue solo, IYKWIM. Taken together with Giga’s and HoneyWork’s songs we can say that this is unlike any IM@S, and more like a group of good creators getting to create what they want based on the character concepts presented to them.
Which is just to say, based on the released commu, if Shiny Colors was a visual novel from the 00s, Gakumas is just OreImo (to no surprise–the PR material proudly boasts that the same scenario writer from OreImo is on staff). It is the same energy that warps around the same idol production story that has been grinded down like a raging river on smooth stones along the shore. Saki (Red), Temari (Blue) and Kotone (Yellow) may be signal lights, but I don’t see any Miki anywhere. The enigmatic and emblematic idol idea now lives between … Red and Yellow? It feels like the opposite-of-normal has happened with the cute but timid pink/red idol now being a confident and spicy brat who will tsun her way into your heart, while Yellow Is Just Trying To Make It with everything she got. And in traditional IM@S fashion, Blue didn’t change much in Gakumas. Is this what kids call “on brand?”
With the promo material slowly being released since the Gakumas announcement from KominoP (and his teammates…) the hype has been slowly building. Weekly release streams showing off the main cast along with their characters felt like both common-sense and uniquely new for the franchise. When a new IM@S seiyuu drops once a week it’s like getting a Christmas present once a week. The story of Shiny Colors playing off their yearly unit-add really shines through with this strat. The tech upgrade (thanks QualiArts) also are appreciated. IM@S official 4k videos are great and welcomed for something made in this decade. The hype continues to build.
I’m okay with my Aipura plus Oreimo plus Denonbu concept game so far. It’s got everything I want except the engaging gameplay part. I think as a raising game, the crown still belongs to Umamusume, being several furlongs ahead of the pack. It’s easy to forget the mess that was the first SideM app game which copied the gameplay loop from Hachinai, and only if they did more of it…
Which is all just to say, like the Ps who polled ML producers on Gakumas before even all the idol characters were unveiled, my prognostications are just that, premature. But what is clear as day is not just Giga dropping the name 15 seconds in Saki’s solo, but the direction of this franchise is going. It is thoroughly modern. It leans on famous and popular contractors. It is an ensemble work. It is aware (and its creators also are) of the past and hopefully, clear where it wants to go in the future.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see the rivals becoming idols themselves, but what we’re looking forward to Gakumas cook is how it will happen. The wonderous but a bit underplayed story of Luka Ikaruga, will she get a nod in Gakumas? Only time will tell.
PS. I wrote this before Rinami’s solo dropped, but I think it just continues the trend. Watanabe Sho’s entry reminds me of Pinky Hook lol, but maybe that’s because I am Mocho-Pilled a bit.
This is really a first-impression piece. I’m talking about my own impression but more like how a nice meal tastes, but with the right wine pairing.
You can now catch the TV anime streaming on Crunchy, after I guess some kind of exclusivity period. I would think none of this matters given how the entire series was pre-screened in theaters in Japan already. I have this story in which I could have caught the first segment during ML10th Act3 in Fukuoka, but time didn’t allow, and due to some snafu of not his own making, my hotel roommate during that weekender wasn’t able to see the show on day one. Instead, he went to catch this pre-screening.
Here are what I think are the relevant “filters” coloring my experience after 1 episode in, some personal biases if you will. In the interest of time I’ll just bullet them.
Miriani. Everyone likes to compare children of the same family, and while I am not any less guilty of this, I don’t really think about it. Rather, it’s an unconscious effect where before seeing the show I can see how people make these plot, writing or direction comparisons and it makes sense (to support their points about one being better or worse than the other). Or rather, Miriani is unimpeachable? I don’t think it’s that good (but I don’t 100% agree with those hankering for the A-1 days, FWIW) in the grand scheme of things, and after seeing Shinyani I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be, if comparing it to Miriani is something that happens either consciously or not. Ultimately, Shinyani is not some 10-years-worth of tears pouring into something or another, like Miriani was–that is more like pulling teeth since 2015, for an anime that would have been better suited in 2018. I guess this means I’m consciously ignoring that obvious comparison.
Visual novel anime titles from the 00s. There is one specific title I have in mind, which is one of my all-time faves. That title, ef, is taking the same vibe in which we are telling a story, mostly not with plot, but with vibes, or whatever vibes were called in the 2000s. It’s a common focus in many postmodern narratives, and visual novels tend to have this going on back when. Visual novel anime basically derives, in a figurative-mathematical sense of the term, the same feelings and storytelling techniques, in order to express emotions. I don’t know how well Shinyani will carry this concept that the OG Shinymas game kind of prides itself on, but I guess we’ll see. Generally though this takes a lot of time, and Shinyani has to deal with a lot of idols in a cour, so it’s probably not going to be a strong point. Anyways, all throughout episode one, I think of the sky, the feathered wing, the scene as set by the rhythm of the sun (note all the sunset scenes…), and all colored by simple piano chords. This is EF.
Gakumas visuals. I realized my impression of the Shinyani visuals before Gakuen IDOLM@STER is different than after Gakumas. In fact that realization prompted this post. Looping Rinami’s 4K intro clip countless time probably made me even more damaged than I was? Joke aside, this is because the IM@S 3D art style has shifted. I would say this is also kind of a subconscious impact of Miriani, in which we are now in a new territory where the A1-licensed artwork is ancient history, that MLTD is kind of a transitional visual artifact, almost, and Gakumas is the future. Or the present. Shinyani actually pairs well with the graphics coming out from those brave folks at QualiArts. I mean, when I saw this unveiled, it reminds me of someone saying something about courage.
Who I am as a Shinymas Producer. As someone who dips in and out of Shinymas game-wise, I’m really following it for the overall meta-story, the fandom, the songs, and the performances. Having been with the franchise since the start I know what I’m looking forward to, to put it in the same like as Gakumas as we’re doing weekly new-character-reveals, the overall progression of the franchise as new units are added to the series. The anime is not something I’m dying for–it’s clearly an onboarding for the payday pinata that is the Shinysong game that launched just months earlier. That reminds me, I should write something about it… but I guess you can guess how I feel about that game. Anyways, Your Mileage Will Vary here because I’m not sure how big my cohort size really is–probably not that much in the English-language speaking sphere.
So far, the anime is at least good enough to carry on the branding of IDOLM@STER from a production point of view. I’m not really sure how the story will take its turn at the end of the season, as they have announced S2 (completely with at least Straylight and Noctchill), but are they going to “progress” at that point on? I assume so. To say it feels kind of bad to announce and tease the new units of S2 before S1 even aired is putting it mildly. Unfortunately, speedy is the Otaku’s Sword of Judgment, errors and nuances be damned, and we know the cohort that knows Shinymas purely from zako illustrators on the internet and erodojinshi is much larger than the cohort for me, LOL. Anyways, I guess I’ll continue to watch this show, as if I had any other choice.
I think there are two aspects of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, or Souzou no Frieren, that really work well together to carry the story. One is that it’s a really emotional story. The other is that it builds a narrative that is well-layered. The two together works like a sieve of sorts. Instead of a Gunbuster-okaeri payoff you get a slow drip of the mono-no-aware (or as the kids say, “vibe”) over a longer period of time, in much smaller doses, as the story unfolds layer by layer accordingly.
From 30,000 feet up I think Frieren is repackaging the story also told by other cyro-timeskip plot devices, where you have some weak interactor that carries memories from times of ancient past to the present or future. This character is living history out itself so each generation connects with each other much like subsequent scenes in a movie featuring the same protagonist; or a TV show in this case.
