Category Archives: Popular Culture

January 15, 2007

Anime Composers

By omo

I don’t know why I write about this; perhaps because Anime News Network had that casual poll, or maybe I read a few blogs that talked about it. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve hit a dry spell and I always have a lot to say when the topic rolls to anime music. But perhaps more than usual what I have to say is a lot, and disproportionately a lot of that is baseless, subjective observations, unschooled in the normative language of the relevant arts. It doesn’t stop me.

I think everyone has to make some kind of decision, conscious or not, to make music a part of their lives. It’s not that you become a fan or anything, but much like drinking tea in the afternoon or taking a nap, it’s just something that has long been with human beings for a long time.

Let’s start with Joe. Joe Hisaishi is one of Japan’s most celebrated composers, not so much because of his Studio Ghibli works, but his soundtracks for live action films. It also helped that Beat Takeshi is one of those very liberated film types? Nonetheless, I enjoy his work in a very casual capacity. I think my favorite theme from him is Summer, from Kikujiro. I think Laputa‘s main theme (track 2 on the OST, or this image album) comes next, and I especially like this re-arranged version.

Friends and I call him by an endearing term, “Hesushi.” To mock yet another friend who’s a Hesushi fanatic, of course.

I think the first soundtrack musician in anime that I endorsed with money is Hayato Matsuo. I bet most of you have never heard of him, and his anime soundtrack career is a long but spotty one. I still really like some of his works, like Magic Knight Rayearth and Rescue Wings, but it’s fairly casual involvement here too.

One more before Yoko Kanno…I think Toshihiko Sahashi is the second person I gave money to as an anime soundtrack person. The instrumentals in Rayearth OAV was dark and dreary, but alone on disc it sounded actually thoughtful and it flowed well, and that’s what I bought. I think because he actually have a long list of shows that he wrote for–Tsukikage Ran, Smash Hit, Simoun, Gundam Seed, Gunslinger Girls and Full Metal Panic are just a few–I saw his name pop up here and there. It’s fresh in the mind. He kept up, too, with a lot of good stuff.

But of course, there’s always Yoko Kanno. I think it was love at first (few) listen; somewhere between Macross Plus and Escaflowne I was sold for good. But somehow I never figured out what was so great about Bebop’s soundtrack, aside from showing her diversity. I thought Macross Plus was already pretty darn good, even, at showing diversity. Yet nonetheless I bought a ton of Cowboy Bebop crap. It was the thing to do back then. I think I even got that one DVD with Seatbelts live. They put on a good show.

But we all know about Yoko Kanno, and Yuki Kajiura as well. I think I took a liking to her once I realized I was playing Aquarian Age TV OST over and over again, yet somehow this was before she got huge from doing .hack and what not. I think at some point I listened to her Shin KOR soundtrack, and found that while unremarkable, very solid and charming.

I think however Kajiura has that whole pop-synth aspect to her music which made it very enjoyable. To me the two YKs are most distinct between repeated listenings. I think I still can stand .hack OSTs and Aquarian Age OST repeatedly today, but OTOH I run through all of Kanno without any irritation. I’m not sure if that says anything objective… Maybe that is why I spend more money on Kanno?

That and Kajiura’s stuff is domestically available!

I think if you look at my collection you’ll also realize I’m somewhat a big Taku Iwasaki person. It’s actually not so true. I do enjoy his works but I’m fairly casual about it. Although, I think I like his Witch Hunter Robin works the best. The second OST is oozing with goodness… Any of you Oban Star Racer fans enjoy the music?

At any rate, I think I can continue on for some time, so I’m going to call it for now. People like Kunihiko Ryo deserves more than a terse blurb at the end of a random anime blog, but I hope at the least that gets you curious. I remember seeing him playing the piano during a demo reel for Emma @ AX2005. That was sweet. Studio Pierrot retained him for the project because they love his music so?

6 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

December 29, 2006

Animenano Idol 2006 – A Primer

By omo

Hung’s karaoke contest is pretty rocking. I never would imagine that about half of the entries posted are female vocals. That’s just awesome.

OTOH, I think there is a serious lack of gag entries. It would’ve been pretty fun to stand shoulder to shoulder with TJ and bring some real laughs, but I’ve been having problems recording–basically somehow my vocal recording would always be out of sync with the karaoke track, even when I recorded using it. I’m not sure it’s because my playback is out of whack or because my instrumental mp3/cdda import method is out of whack or what. In the end that entry of Grand Blue is just this old recording I did when the single first came out God-knows-when ago.

I might have to pull a Jal and get this Skill recording mixed later. Sigh.

By the way, I voted for that uncanny rendition of Daichi no la-li-la. It’s freaking good. I suppose whoever was singing Yasashii Gogo was just as good, but that’s an easy song that I can even do (in fact, I can prolly do a nice butchery of that once sufficiently intoxicated); or I should say, Daichi no la-li-la is hard to sing. Yubiwa is another song with some difficult parts in it. But, man, singing your own harmony is hard enough, let alone in Oranges & Lemons style and then taking the time to record it like that? Just wow.

But, yes, the point here is that there are so many great entries. I already mentioned Yubiwa and Yasashii Gogo, but whoever is doing that Star Ocean EX song should go sing something that’s got more bite to it; such a waste of talent ;). Ten is scary; or rather I mean she needs to get some friends who can mix her voices right, because it can sound a lot better than how it sounds like from the karaoke page.

And … uh, a girl singing LoveLoveLove no Sei na no yo! That’s so unreal…in a “Can I have your babies” kind of way. That song is so set up for butchery, yet there’s this sweet and honest entry! I’m moved.

I suppose that’s what always happens. In an exhibition it takes a certain level of insanity, self-confidence, talent and courage. I’m all for “everybody let’s sing” but it’s just unavoidable that the rest are put to shame by these great performances. Sometimes it helps to be a penguin, I suppose.

4 comments | posted in Blogging, Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

December 21, 2006

The Reason for the Season, or the Real Melancholy for Me

By omo

Social Anxiety Disorder?

If I haven’t made my Christian leanings clear to you yet, well, I probably won’t in this post.

I’m here to give thanks, in a way, and show some appreciation for the various people and entities that made this blog, this network of blogs, and all its readers and contributers stick together as a loosely associated community that, believe it or not, has meaningfully affected my life this past year. Doubly so for those who bear the brunt of my run-on sentences. Thank you.

But just thanking thankless fansubbers is not what I’m good at. If I were to dwell on that I’d quickly give into friendly jeering and mockery at our mutual detriment. Instead, I’m going to do it, with help with (and thanks to) Henry Jenkins, with a short article published in Reason Magazine.

Sure, when you boil it down, Jenkins’ article says nothing we fans haven’t heard of. It’s a rehash of the same argument I vaguely nodded to every time I debate about copyright and piracy’s empirical effects. Yet, at the same time it’s a celebration; it paints a concise picture to the historical example how a bunch of crazy retard fans paved the way for the fact that half of the anime blogs are chasing the disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi and its reappearence. Just why did sos-dan.com sold out? Or ANN and Anime on DVD? I don’t know; but it’s only made possible through the road fansubbers have built.

Legal, illegal, ethical, unethical–that’s all besides the point. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone to see eye to eye on the issue in all of its nitpickery details. I’m going to just say that copyright law is arcane and ambiguous to even lawyers; and unless you’ve given it a lot of thought and self-education it’s hard to make heads or tails out of it. In fact, that’s part of the problem–people don’t know what they’re doing, so we’re in this mess.

But as much as manufactured culture expands through the growth of industrial media and technology into the arena of everyday life, it’s only because people are living safer, healthier, wealthier, and more leisurely. The product of a society less bothered by the drudgery of the Nine-to-Five is a society freed from the chain of necessity as a bar to creativity. This society gives freer and appreciate more what they have been given (so I argue). We might think this newfound freedom disturbing, but America has had at least 40 years of experience in this culture revolution; Japan is still struggling seriously, along with much of East Asia, Middle East, and parts of South America. Places like China and India are only a decade or two behind. What’s troubling about this revolution is that it occurs in the meta–it isn’t what people do or say, but the framework, the mass-market behavior and trends, and how businesses conduct themselves to be profitable; and ultimately, how people think and react to certain stimulus 3 years ago just isn’t going to be the same 3 years in the future. It’s not just a new school of thought or a subject matter, but demolishing entire perspectives and challenging the fundamental ways we think. From Superstring Theory to understanding why YouTube is worth 1.6 billion dollars, all these things are revolutionary in varying degrees.

Copyright law is just one of the major battlefields in this changing society. For the first time ever fans can import foreign cultures through distributed subtitling efforts (well, save for those people who do all their fansubbing by themselves) and promote an information good to audiences wide and far. We’re no longer in the SVHS days, folks, even if that information model was first put together during that nostalgic period in my life. Cheap broadband, anime clubs and cons, and fun fun websites just made it so much more accessible and easy, arguably, for a little Palestinian girl.

I guess revolution and battlefield might be extreme and loaded words to use, but if you’ve got 10 minutes left after reading Jenkins’ article, spend it here and hear it from some Open Source folks worrying about just where our culture are going. It’s dated, and it’s for Open Source folks, but it characterizes what’s at stake very well.

Alternatively, you can chalk up my crying wolf to my own personal experience this past half year; I’ve read more on this topic than that is probably healthy. Lessig and his company of copyleftists make a variety of compelling arguments. But much like the internet, it’s hard to see how it all translates into our daily experience; yet likewise I’m sure whichever genius that does will profit greatly along with society generally. It is a source of melancholy.

Anime is here because it was made free. We are blessed; and it’s only natural to extend this blessing to those trapped still. Even if that means making a funny nod at the doujin culture in Japan, so be it. Thank you for partaking in this subconscious act of civil disobedience; no matter as a fan or a subber or just someone clamoring for attention. No matter if you’re ill-intended or well-intended, we’re all in this for the long haul.

3 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Suzumiya Haruhi no Uuutsu, The Law

November 16, 2006

Sing Like You Want to Win – Animesuki Edition

By omo

It’s a while, but the sixth annual Animesuki karaoke competition is taking entries until the 29th. The contest will “showcase” by a live streaming of all the entries. This year they even have a separate site all set up for it.

It’s one thing that if I submit something (I probably will), but I think it’ll be fun if you can also get a lot of other people to terrorize a captive audiencejoin the fun. The particular format of streaming audio, mixing bad entries with good ones…a disaster in the making!

Of course, it’s just fun to also participate in good faith, because I sure would like to hear JAL sing! And I know I’m not the only one.

Actually, if you read this blog and is participating, I want to know! It’s just more fun to do it as a community, like the AS forum folks do.

Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

November 12, 2006

Celebrate Comics with Yotsuba

By omo

Honey for your thoughts?

Yotsuba&! is a heart-warming manga written and drawn by Kiyohiko Azuma, the creator of Azumanga Daioh. Perhaps if you read my blog you would know this already.

What makes Yotsuba&! great is not so much how it celebrates life, but that it does so with its own style, and it’s a great style. Channeling proverbial fundamentals of life and everything through the focus of a child is something that is frequently done in American comics–the ones you can find in the newspaper. The shtick is nothing novel. But rather, I think, what makes Yotsuba&! distinct is how cute it is. And this is not the sexualized, contextualized cute that Japanese pop culture is famous for.

To elaborate, reading Charles Schultz’s Peanuts (or something similar) can often result in the same mental and emotional response. It paints a slightly different picture of childhood and a different perspective of the world. That’s good–we want competing worldviews embodied in shared experiences as different works. It isn’t how charming or pathetic, but both positive and negative feelings, that we get from reading these works that defines them.

Seeing a grown-up problem with an adult’s perspective of a child versus the perspective of a child looking at a grown-up’s world is a scale that I propose where we can understand the appeal of these kinds of works. Sinfest is easily my favorite take about adults looking at adult problems, but pining for that childlike idealist feel. On the other hand the popular Calvin & Hobbes paints sophistry while giving deference to a child’s perspective over an adult’s. Yotsuba&!, I think, is akin to a child’s takeover of an adult’s world.

Continue reading

5 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Yotsuba&!