Category Archives: Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

June 25, 2014

Franchise Positioning: LL And IM@S

By omo

Happy Birthday Hidaka Ai!

I’m just thinking about how to approach that material for my hypothetical panel, which is now rejected from Otakon programming. I find myself approaching this mainly from a business model point of view. It’s hard to say what is special about … this thing. What is this thing anyway? Cartoons? Or cartoons with idols in it? Or cartoons with idols being the main schtik? Invariably you have to talk about the media mix-ed-ness of it all, so naturally it becomes a discussion on the business.

One approach I was thinking about is comparing different well-known “idol anime” situations and see if we can gleam something. To jump to the point, one key difference between Love Live and IM@S is the sort of businesses they are. One is a video game franchise with stuff spun off it. The other is pretty much that idol concept from the first iteration.

I also want to highlight and examine what makes Love Live, seemingly, a franchise more friendly to women. That begins with first ascertaining the premise–which, really, all I have is that more women attend the live events than most other 2.5D idol events featuring an all-female cast. I wonder how that compares to the female Oukokumins out there. It also begs the question about how does live attendance factor in, which can be explained but only with so many words, unfit as a sentence’s clause. It’s also another angle where IM@S stands in stark contrast as a video game franchise born under the shadow of the declining arcade scene. I recently watched the bonus Blu-rays that came with the UNMEI Live CD singles and when Pyonkichi took an informal poll, the hands went up were about 10%, at most. Which is probably roughly the same as SSA in Feb as I remembered, maybe a little worse for those 2013 live shows, given how much of a maniac you had to be to get in to the smaller event.

But that’s kind of how far I could go. I can make an argument about how Love Live does a pretty okay job channeling that “utahime” feeling, a modern polish on the “I want to grow up to be an idol” idea with more Niconama streaming and less Fancy Lala. But that’s just interpreting the text. It doesn’t mean much in that I can see how these narratives can connect to both men and women, as IM@S has its fair share of similar stories to tell. Times like this I wish I can read doujinshi from circles that have done these kinds of analysis.

There are other low hanging fruits in this comparisons, of course. I think the depth and extracurricular context around IM@S, partly as a result of its age, also adds something that both encourages certain behaviors characteristic of its fandom, but also deters. It’s the kind of unintended walls with maniac behavior that happens with fandom, although in these cases it is more about intimidation than inaccessibility. For example, it’s easy for me to make no mention of how it feels to be in a crowd of grown men jumping around to the rhythm, but that can be intimidating even to someone who is simply new to the situation, let alone others who might have other causes for concern. Love Live started from scratch a few years ago and nothing other than the status quo of wota culture was in the way.

[By the way, that live 2-BD set is so good if you want a preview of next generation powerhouses…namely her, Koroazu, Machico, Yuiton and Mocho (happy birthday!). Also, we gave Tenchan a new nick: 10ch. Who are these people? Use this list.]

2 comments | posted in Idolmaster, Love Live, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

June 5, 2014

Serendipitous P

By omo

Reading Author’s anecdote is like seeing a scale from a fish that you were riding all year, as you look back fondly after you’ve gotten off it and went home from the adventure. Except this is someone else’s scale and you are pleasantly surprised as he was that he has it.

I say the scale of a fish because this thing crosses oceans and exists on an unimaginable scale. The problem here is that we can say, “maybe you should watch Madoka because spawned the top grossing late-night TV anime movie, as if you need another indication to know the magnitude of the thing” and it only lightly signifies the issues with your average east-meets-west situation when fans of “obscure” things collide. This tortured analogy for all the Producer-ness, Producer-hood, or whatever it is, is just a poor attempt to explain how amazing it is to find fans who flew to Canada to see Harami, or fans who flew to Saitama to see Harami (and others). It’s this crisscrossing of people who are doing rather irrational fan things yet find beauty within. I mean, in a nutshell, some folks flew overseas to attend events. That’s not too unusual these days. But that’s just a single fragment or patch in a mural that depicts the kind of CUTE COOL PASSION a stadium full of nerds with glowsticks that people do not see when they see a news report or a synopsis video. It’s the fan-iceberg beneath the surface. And it’s a pain in the butt to describe this iceberg in full.

It might be why I am playing Million Live, so when I run into a P I have something for show? Or why all P should make business cards?

In that sense, as someone who lives in a world where nobody knows IM@S (eg., the USA) and half of those who do only do so at an arm’s length, even those who like idol anime (and this is part of the “problem”) or whatever, that’s both good and bad in that it makes the chance encounters even more beautiful, but I lack the resistance. I mean in the end IM@S is no different than any other media mix franchise, something Japan does in bulk and all the time. Just because this one sticks, for all the (right) reasons, it doesn’t mean all that much beyond that we have bonded as friends. Does this mean every seiyuu from 765Pro visits the USA I’ll have to travel and attend an offkai? Ouch.

It’s doubly problematic because IM@S, comparatively, is also a very broad and wide fandom with a varied history and a lot of assets and entry angles for fans to latch on to. Just like those people who build shrines of characters, or the koebutas that chase after the voice talents behind the 2D, or just plain gamers (because as far as idol games go, IM@S is pretty deep), we are sort of all for one. Not to say other fandoms don’t have these problems, but let’s just say Love Livers have it easy.

If The World Is All One is the feverish dream of a victim from chuunibyou, then One For All is the reality marble that turns dream into 2.5D reality. It ends when you wake up, still, but at least now you can look up strategy guides for it.

It reminds me of that song from Sakura Wars 2.

It’s beautiful, in a way, because of the direction the franchise is taking. I am more interested in the characters from Million Live and Cinderella Girls. The voice talents behind them are very good, if ultimately a different type of talent than the ones from the main group. This is the kind of pivot that I can get behind, if you know what I’m saying.

1 comment | posted in Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

May 25, 2014

Anime North 2014: Day 0-2

By omo

Well, the party ditched us, so we’re at the hotel typing up the con report and what not. That’s the bad news.

That and I didn’t get a Harami autograph on day 2, which is not too bad because the good news is that so far everything else at the con has gone according to plan. This means we had a great time at the offkai talking to some gents from Japan who really like Harami.

Harami sure played it like an idol, which is okay given that has become somewhat expected of her, who announced her first solo live and what not.

Exciel-P has got the charisma and enough organization powers to pull things together. I did what little I can to pitch in, and Paranda is baller as usual. Moy made a good tsukkomi partner. FirstP brings us back to earth with his student-like attitude about the world.

So far Anime North is proving its status as third crowded, and unlike last week’s Anime Central the whole affair feels distinctly international, and not just because there are more than 30 JP Ps here (or maybe better put as Hanamaru Cluster) because it’s gotten “so bad” that the Ps here are talking about how they are kind of ruining AN for the locals who also love Harami.

The brunch experience is tops, and I recommend it again for any AN goer next year.

This also marks the second cosplay I did, back to back cons… Man.

Roll with the best

PS. Mai Goto is like a cuter Chiwa Saito lol.

2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

May 12, 2014

The WUG Life Chose Me: WUGners’ Valkyries and the DD

By omo

Intro

In the opera house, the Ride, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the Act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_of_the_Valkyries

The WUG and WUGners

https://twitter.com/yamacane_0901/status/381692162141720578

The Wake Up, Girls! are formed in 2013. The anime and related activities went into full swing late 2013-early 2014. In September of 2013, Yamakan and company coined the term for what WUG fans are. The intent to call the seven-girl idol team WUG was also pretty clear cut early on.

It’s not clear why Yamakan called them WUGners. It’s also not clear why WUG was named after a love hotel in the anime.

The flight

The WUG are coming to America, visiting Chicago’s (and the US Midwest’s) premiere anime convention, Anime Central. ACEN 2014 will also host 15 WUGners from Japan, if not more. The Japanese fans are somewhat organized. For me, it’s almost adorable to see oversea folks do logistics like how we did logistics for the trip we pulled earlier this year. Thankfully Chicago is a well-connected US city from Narita. Thanks to the internet, you can track them down on Twitter, and on various online locations. There are no lotteries for tickets, no proxy really necessary. You can sign up for Crunchyroll even if you are in Japan.

In usual fashion, Japanese WUGners will bring their cheer and some green glowsticks to spread said cheer.

On arrival, the Japanese WUGners will face the usual hurdles one faces at a large anime convention. From the registration line to the apathetic concert crowd at the usual con concert, how will they handle the adversity? The difficulty communicating in a foreign language? Trying to do their best in the context of a foreign culture? Will WUG themselves be enough of a unifying force? Will others, WUGners or not, lend their hands?

The life of a DD

And here lies the rub.

Let me flash my hand real quick: it’s almost like a proof to a existential question. What I want to know is why can I write what I just did. Do I even like Wake Up, Girls? I am going to say yes. After all, one of the WUGners (the one that posted in Acen forums, actually) is also a fan of Yamakan. What a coincidence! Glad to see I am not alone out there. While I admit I don’t always agree with Yamakan or his methods, and surely I can see where he would likewise disagree with my beliefs, I think on the whole he’s on the right track. So it’s not just a superficial cute-girls-from-Japan-that’s-also-from-an-anime kind of thing that is getting me all excited about ACEN or flying out there to see WUG. Maybe.

It isn’t that I am prone to liking idol stuff–I think my tastes for media entertainment developed contrary to mainstream hooks for such things. With proliferation of the cute girls variety show that passes for the independent or underground idol scene, it’s not a surprise to see someone who consumes so much media to find something he likes. I think that’s just the way it works. The problem is that pureed mix of what passes for chic critical thinking and what passes for merely jadedness as a form of self-selection or self-protection. That’s bullocks.

How do you make of the people who enjoyed Yamakan’s works? Or just anime with a splash of spice and flair? How about the people who post videos of themselves dancing to anime themes on Youtube or Nico, or the cosplayers that chase the year’s hottest character trends? Friends, this is the life of a “daredemo daisuki” (DD) scenester. It’s not like just because I call myself a MakotoP, I like only Makoto. Just because I put her in the front of a series of greater-than signs doesn’t mean I don’t care about anyone else. And it’s with the realization that even among those who are considered “hardcore” you have people who does it with some sort of perspective, a bit like a cross between spring fever and someone who can play a bunch of different MMORPGs and still get his homework done.

You take those two concepts and you get what is clearly the next step: defining the Live Lover.

Outro

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one in a group of female figures who decide which soldiers die in battle and which live. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Walk%C3%BCre

Instead of idol wars, let’s check out the most excellent way.

PS. “Love live” is as bible as it gets.

1 comment | posted in Introspectives, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Wake Up Girls!

May 3, 2014

Anison Sales Cycle, Plateau

By omo

In the mid to late 00s there has been an anison boom. The question is has it cooled since 2010? With the 8th Animax Anison Grand Prix canned this year, what do we make of it? How about Love Live S2 OP sales breaking records? Or the way different anison artists “being dropped” by different things? It’s intriguing.

Thankfully, someone already wrote it up, so I don’t have to.

maki

My own opinion of this is that, like all musical artists, the way people make a living vary depending on where you are at on the chain. As a “live lover” I appreciate solid acts and people who can put on a good show. Thing is, a lot of anison artists during the boom are hardly that different than the seiyuu idols themselves that are now replacing them, in terms of exactly that–their live abilities. Then there are those who are notably better, invariably because that’s their bag to begin with; they are the Angela’s and LiSA’s of the bunch; the super robot singers (because seiyuu are not quite there yet?); and the singer-song-writers (which includes bands like Angela too, but also Nano.ripe, Ali Project and Yousei Teitoku. And the occasional ZAQ).

I’m not sure if we can make a distinction between the seiyuu idols who are now more like regular artists versus “idols” who are seiyuu, like StylipS or Sphere for example. I mean I enjoy all their shows, but the way I enjoy say a Nana Mizuki live is not going to be the same as how I enjoy IM@S. It’s harder to get that drooling, wallet-opening fanbase going if you are Maaya Sakamoto versus the newly debuting Azusa Tadakoro. You know?

But I’m not really worried. I think anison is no different than other categories of music as far as market and culture is concerned. It might contract or expand in cycles like everything else, and we’re probably just seeing that play out. Maybe this is why when JAM Project tours the world, their message to us is that they want the anison base to expand. So it can accommodate more artists?

So. How about that I’VE SOUND 15th Anniversary?

Maybe meg rock should tweet more in English…

8 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop