Category Archives: Modern Visual Culture

February 20, 2012

Inu x Boku Secret Service Is Fruits Basket, Isn’t It?

By omo

I don’t know why it took this long for me to make the connection. Let’s start with the biggest difference first: Fruits Basket is about some downtrodden girl who, by fate, puts on her iyashikei powers on a supernatural family of hurts. Inu x Boku SS is the opposite, where the story begins with someone in said supernatural family of hurts, is hurting, and somehow becomes healed.

This change in perspective aside, it feels very much like the two are really the same. I suppose Furuba puts on hardcore girl-pandering when it comes to some of those 12-Chinese-zodiac things, where as Inu x Boku is more about the male audience crossover. I suppose that is the difference of the source material being serialized in a shoujo manga mag versus a shounen manga mag. These days though I’m not sure if that distinction means fewer girls are buying either types of magazines. Well, I don’t know what Inu Boku manga is like, so I can’t really say much about that.

I think when it comes to making late-night anime adaptations of manga that are otaku-aware, it’s the ultimate challenge–create something that can appeal to a growing number of more hardcore subgenre fans. Or at least, so it seems. I’m not too sure how well Inu x Boku does this schtik, but it does try. I guess the question is then are there any girls watching it?

I think it is an ultimate challenge sort of thing because it takes a big risk–it’s the classic tale of going after two birds and getting none. But even in the era of one bird-in-hand beating two-birds-in-bush where anime production committees tend to play it safe, I think it’s natural that you want to position franchises and promote ideas that sells to more people. Invariably this issue comes up.

I guess I’m just curious: Does anyone who likes Furuba like this show?

8 comments | posted in Inu x Boku Secret Service, Modern Visual Culture

February 18, 2012

Random Grab Bag

By omo

Life’s pretty chill when you have time to rest when you are weary and things to do when you are not. Kick back and relax to something like:

Help yourselves.

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Author explains his thing about Haganai. I am sympathetic because I didn’t agree with the general discourse on the topic from the blogs I’ve read either. Like, the whole thing comparing the anime to the manga. I thought the anime was slightly more authentic in that the girls are genuinely unlikeable, versus some kind of semi-tsundere moe that gets you in the manga. I understand the whole “clumsy but likable” distinction but I didn’t think that was the point of the original works? But I didn’t really care about Haganai beyond the visuals and voice acting, so I didn’t really want to state an opinion. Well, I guess on occasion it was genuinely funny, and that was why I watched it in the first place.

The thing I wanted to see the most is that proposed crossover between Seitokai no Ichizon and Haganai. I hope they make an anime based on that.

Also, I kind of like the OP, even if it happened right in the middle of that Aki Toyosaki stalker drama. Props to Tom H@ck. I also have a history of liking these painful anime OP, so take it with some salt.

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Con season 2012 is still a ways away, but now that Halko Momoi is landing somewhere a bus ride away, I will try to oblige. See you there?

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I understand why, in theory, a Ritsuko or Kotori figure would be desirable, but I think this is a good real-life example.

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MOOOOOOOOOOO MOURETSU! The PV and the live dance OP are, well, common idol schticks, but I can’t imagine iM@S to come up with something like this, even if songs like Honey Heartbeat rivals it in awfulness. These two videos have a strange addictive qualities to them. I recommend checking them out just for how weird they are.

The fusion of idol and anison is power!

1 comment | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture

February 17, 2012

The Correlation Between Perceived Cost and Profit

By omo

You know how some people talk about media, they assume that if people pay for something, it will continue to exist? Is it even true?

I’m inclined to think on the whole, that’s just not true. I mean I bought every “main” Sakura Taisen game and where’s #6? And I’m not even counting the US release of ST5. It’s probably better to just concede that the thinking about paying into what exists in the future is just not a reliable indicator. Every single franchise that died had paying customers, and before someone exlaims about not having enough of them, it needs to be established that there has to be a limit (ie., when is it ever enough?), and a personal decision to buy something should have no impact if everyone else is buying the same thing. Certainly that’s not a criteria to any media criticism unless, well,  you actually sell media for a living. Or if you are a normal Joe Schmoe who buy games partly motivated by being able to talk about said game with other guys (for example).

There is a case, however, where it’s really, really clear cut. iM@S DLCs. The other day there was an announcement about how if you sign up for that iM@S Visa credit card, you can get a 10% discount on all future DLC purchases. It’s a small motivation, second to having, well, an iM@S credit card. I mean that would be why I sign up for one (if I could, and I can’t). The bigger issue is that it is until only recently that I realize how much all those DLC stuff costs. PS3’s iM@S2 contained the first 3 “volumes” of iM@S2 DLC available to the Xbox 360 version of the game, which totals to like, 25000 yen. That’s precious money some poor otaku has actually spent on the game. I mean, it’s news enough for Kotaku (well, that doesn’t mean much). It’s more than the cost of the PS3 iM@S LE box set. There are like, what, 8 DLC volumes now for the Xbox iM@S2 line? Imagine if someone had that credit card at the start–they could have saved like $50. And the game is not even a year old.

To me, that kind of numbers says that iM@S is a line of game that will continue to exist, just because it’s so expensive, and yet people are still buying it. I mean, surely that sort of money means there will be iM@S content from now to the infinite future, right? SakuTai Kayo show tickets are way less than that. And that’s just on the Xbox, which is pissant in terms of total reach in Japan. The PSN-PS3 combination will bring in some real cash, surely.

Another missing piece to the puzzle of seeing the “value” of iM@S DLC is understanding how attractive it is. I guess I’m saying it is a missing piece because I didn’t know how it was until I started playing the game. Now I have to fight these urges of trying to plunk down 200-300 bucks on PSN network cards so I can buy all the songs, at 1800 yen a pop.

Yeah, the singing tracks of 12 idols (do Ami and Mami use the same track? LOL) probably warrants a price more than your average CD single. But 4 of these kind of tracks equal the game itself, and 9 purchases of these songs equates to the freaking superduper BD-Game boxset.

But the DLC is really just scratching the surface. I haven’t even mentioned the G4U nonsense (truly, truly) which is like, what, 8000 yen every month times nine, at this burn rate? That makes buying the anime on BD like child’s play (what a great deal! I guess). Or collecting the massive amount of CD content fairly tame.

The list goes on. I think it’s only since the anime adaptation did Bamco really step into the merch game (I really dig these) beyond their software nonsense. But at the prices they’re charging at, this nonsense extrudes the notion that it ought to be hella profitable.

On the flip side, it’s much more difficult to see  how the money rolls in when it’s a cheap thing that is sold in bulk. Like BL on the Kindle store or Funimation’s top sellers. Or almost anything anime-related in America.

6 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Idolmaster, Modern Visual Culture

February 15, 2012

Ano Taiga de Matteru

By omo

The only thing that reminds me of Toradora, from chara designer Tanaka and director Nagai’s Ano Natsu de Matteru, is the ever-present Remon Yamano. Or as I sometimes call her Lemon Ichigo–she is sweet-sour and ever-refreshing. She also looks like Taiga from Toradora, shedding just a little of her blonde-ish sheen from OneTi and OneTwi.

I think in a nutshell that is the problem I have with Ano Natsu–there’s just not enough of the pin-pointed hooks that distinguished Toradora from many other light novel romance drivel for boys. Let’s get it on the record that I definitely adore the show thus far, and find it entertaining enough to watch it twice a week, once fansubbed and a second time on CR (not to mention the exercise is a good way to hammer out the nuances in the translations; there’s a fair amount of word play in the script). In terms of my time commitment I’m spending 2x more time on this show than any other this season. Well, maybe except Mouretsu Pirates.

Oh, right, my problem: the show is lacking a lot of key things that catch people’s attention. Granted at episode 6 we’re still half way in the climatic vacation arc. If you think Taiga and Yuusaku Kitamura’s confession in episode 2 of Toradora was pretty neat, remember that a couple has already got together and done it by episode 7 of OneTi. That’s the kind of things I’m looking for. (No, not the “doing it” part although I’m all about Mio dialing up her game, coincidentally. Go for it!) Of course, none of this stuff happened yet. Yet. Is it yet too late?

In a nutshell, it’s fair to say that Kuroda’s writing has improved by this much since Onegai Teacher. One could say the handling of romantic frustration in AnoNatsu is pretty slick. I’m not here to disagree with any of that. I’m just waiting on the payoff. The Minori Kushieda moment. The Ami-awakening moment. The cut of Yamada sulking in the rain. None of that has much to do with Kuroda I think.

Oh right, Nagai also worked on Honey & Clover, in case you didn’t read about it in the links earlier. So then, when will it happen? It has to, right?

I’m patient, however. I think it would be ironic to say the least that I can handle 5 episodes of Marika getting to learn the ropes of being a pirate, versus six episodes of romantic frustration build up like a bottle rocket, waiting to shoot into the skies. But I think I can only take so much of this sophomoric teasing for so long. [Nagi’s vocals is excellent aural sex, by the way; fits a dirty label like I’ve Sounds to a tee.]

I remember Onegai Twins. There was something similar–more like a bottle rocket of awkwardness in which results in that cute, dark-hared girl with glasses taking the short end of the stick. She was a champ, I thought, but it brought only short-term relief and a messy out for that character. It’s just like Herikawa’s post-confession wet-rag status. Well, it’s more like she became a defined, determined being and I ended up cheering for them even more. Is this what pushes the buttons for me? Is this moe? At any rate, the confession was just the midway point. The problem maybe is just that.

This is the school of adolescence through hard break hearts, folks. There are already enough tigers (and cougars?) on earth that when you’re orbital bombarding bombshells, the good girls do not stand a chance.

7 comments | posted in Ano Natsu de Matteru, Modern Visual Culture

February 14, 2012

Anison’s Slow Road

By omo

Congrats to Shimokawa and Koyama, tying the knot at their respective ages!

I think it’s a good opportunity and it feels right to bring up Mikuni Shimokawa’s CXCO’s past. They debuted around the same time as Morning Musume (1998) and this Akimoto-P project obviously didn’t fare as well, and disbanded only after a year. Shimokawa was 18-19 years old at the time, and she was one of the top girls in that lot.

Well, it feels right because I’ve been playing iM@S all this time, surely. It’s also nice to see how Shimokawa’s career twisted and turned in the past 10+ years, making her solo debut right around that time. If you remember your early 00s anison themes you  might remember that occasionally some idol will do an OP or ED here and there.

I know I’m not the only person who really enjoyed Mikuni Shimokawa’s variety of light pop music over the years. And she’s been associated with a few projects of note over time. Well, you know her songs, like her FMP tie-ins. But have you seen the idol vids she was in? Here are some more, OH MAN SO OLD.

I’ve been listening to Shimokawa ever since 2002. She’s been with me all over the place, on trips abroad and at home, while at work or writing at my desk during some grim and happy times. It’s got some wetness to it, all these memories that I can associate with her music. So it’s a lot of fun to reminiscence to her music, with this latest announcement. Plus there’s this “remember the fallen” aspect to this, LOL, with forgotten idol groups. I wonder if AKB48 people even care?

Idols and idol groups may come and go, but Shimokawa’s contribution to anison is just as valuable; if you’ve been reading those 2ch repost blogs you might have noticed some study about how up to a third of teenagers have purchased an anison CD today. That means in another 40 years something like a sixth of Japan’s population would have done something like this. That’s pretty amazing. Of course nobody can pin that to the efforts of one person or even one group, but I’d like to believe that everyone chipped in, and laid down a brick to build that house of anison.

1 comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop