Omonomono

January 7, 2014

Space Dandy: Paionium

By omo

Having finally watched the second coming of Mushroom Samba, I can say that there needs to be more boobs.

Dandy

Less jokingly, the best thing about Space Dandy 01 is the ending joke, which is the one most faithful thing from the esteemed comedy side story of Cowboy Bebop. Other than the possibly psychedelic influences. When you take the mushroom out of Mushroom Samba it is really just kind of dull.

And that’s kind of how Space Dandy is so far. I think to help with this, they added boobies, and unfortunately some people take breasts really seriously so the effects will vary.

I watched the Cartoon Network premiere and the EN dub was okay. It’s easy to get overblown in terms of pointing at the differences, but after watching the JP dub (which is probably best watched on Hulu for Americans), I think it’s pretty okay. I think the Space Ball joke about going to Plaid just didn’t work out the same if you didn’t work in the Paiotsu angle, but that aside, everything is tolerably localized. Oh, I guess it was missing that ending. It’s Yoko Kanno arranging an Etsuko Yakushimaru song, which is A Big Deal in my book. Even if said Big Deal sounded only Okay in the TV cut.

Thanks for Noucome, we know what a Paiotsu is. And yes, this is basically also the first episode’s most consistently running joke. The dub can’t work out the pun, understandably so, and we miss out on probably the one life saver Space Dandy episode 1 had. Oh well.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Space Dandy

January 6, 2014

The Feels Economy

By omo

It’s so last decade to say that American otaku party, but don’t pay. I think the problem is about who otaku pay.

If we take saving anime with an ounce of seriousness, we won’t be talking about cancer, Yamakan or underpaid animators. We would be talking about how to monetize it and how to keep the money in the family. Anime cons are a way people pay, but it’s awfully meta (we would know). There’s that disconnect between an Otakon and its sponsors, for example. Or Otakon’s host city, its vendors and merchants, and how none of them has anything to do with anime. Putting it to perspective, a big telecom show or a show on medical devices pays the locals for hotel space and exhibit space, and its attendees bring their corp spending accounts. Those are big bucks industries doing their job as a matter of business, an exhibit is incidental.

Anime cons are not like that at all. They’re destinations for people to have a good time, to meet up with other fans, shop in the flesh, and do stuff hard to do on their own otherwise. As someone who attend cons for guests, it’s always a reminder that it costs a lot to fly one across the globe, so fans band together and pool their dough to make it happen. We attend because we want to attend them, I think.

So wouldn’t it make sense to design a monetization strategy based on that? To provide a good experience? UX in this sense, more or less, means feels.

I hope you guys are not the kind of people who throw a fit when people use that term in this way. Pursuant of a singular, resonant and memorable experience is a big reason why I attend cons.Â It’s a lot more fun than lining up for loot, half the time. This is why being a voice actor in Japan means sometimes you have to attend events like these. It’s also customary nowadays to cap out these otaku anime runs with a live show, featuring the OP/ED artists and the voice actors in some kind of stage production. It’s just one-shot, but it typically sells out to a full house.

Which is to say, this is what I mean by the blog post title. It’s about making money through feels. It’s another way to look at how otaku spend money, and what motivates them to do so. I mean, in a very basic sense that’s why we buy DVDs and Blu-rays, so we can enjoy watching the show we love to watch repeatedly. But for many of us, per se consumption of anime is just the beginning, not the end of the road. This is why we seek out guests, I guess.

The tricky thing is that for many of us, per se consumption of anime is also a tangential thing. It’s the whole “scenester” concept. It’s like how you can claim to be a huge Touhou fan and not really like the games. It also kind of make my skin crawl but that’s just how it is, and I might even be guilty of this at times. I mean, if you want to get a PhD on manga, you might have to read a bunch of manga that you don’t particularly love, or even like. That’s an extreme example, but many of us enjoy being a part of a scene, or a group, in which it becomes necessary to watch certain shows.

Which is just another way to say that per se sales of anime can only go so far. If you want to monetize better, you have to go deeper. And that is nothing new.

Maybe it’s more illuminating to see how much I spent to chase feels. A trip to Japan to just watch concerts will ring up a few grands, I can catch maybe 3-4 shows, more if I push myself but it’s already a daunting task as is. (For the record, I’m going for at least 5 this time.) But that few grands is more than what I’ve spent last year on figures, and maybe even more than I’ve spent at all my cons combined in 2013 (I didn’t go to too many of them in 2013).

It really dawned on me that in the near future, this is slow ly going to be how hardcore otaku end up spending their cash–concert tickets and related costs. I mean, it was already pretty clear from how Love Live took off in 2013, and this means companies were already in tune of this right around ~2010 or so. Good for them. It’s like the usual rhetoric anti-RIAA types say about how artists make most of their money from touring? Because you can’t pirate feels.

Who says? I think it’s better to say that digital piracy still has a very long way to go to achieve the kind of feels you get from being there in person. Which is why people still go to movie theaters!

PS. It might be too late to invest in Ruifan, but it might not be too late to invest in glow sticks and glow stick accessories.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture

January 3, 2014

Year in Review 2013: Signs from a Mermaid

By omo

This is the last post, I promise.

I Â want to post Muromi-san’s opening, because it’s that special.

Thanks, Yuyucow. Anyway, the OP sequence itself is so full of this short anime’s essence, it’s basically an episode all on its own. I don’t think any other anime in 2013 was twice itself in the same duration as any given episode. It’s also so cool *_* with the gang signs, the evolutionary creationism, the rocking Sumipe number, the meteor, the mermaid-in-space pan, the way their chests wiggle back and forth in the water, the yeti, the paper buttons, basically this.

It is also much like 2013 for me–frantic, lots of fun, and it’s over way too quickly. In it, it’s a whole year’s worth of crap, but it felt like a buck-thirty long. I visited friends all over the place, went to some lives in JP, hit up the usual haunts, hung out with more local Ps. Ate good stuff. Can’t really complaint about any of this, but it did gave me less time to be contemplative and write more.

Hoping 2014 will be better in those ways!

Year in Review 2013 Index:

Leave a comment | posted in Introspectives, Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

January 1, 2014

Year in Review 2013: N-List

By omo

So, the usual.

6 comments | posted in Aku no Hana, Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Gatchaman, Genshiken, Gundam, Introspectives, Love Live, Maoyu Maou Yuusha, Modern Visual Culture, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru, Ro-kyu-bu, Shin Sekai Yori, Suisei no Gargantia, Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jo-Gakuin Koutou-ka C3-Bu, Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabu Kome wa Machigatteiru., Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita., Zetsuen no Tempest

December 27, 2013

Autumn 2013 Wrap

By omo

Incoming train of thought–

I took a nice vacation at the end of the year (I guess I’m in the middle of it) so I was able to catch up on a lot of stuff. Like Valvrave. I really enjoyed it, more so than I expected at any rate.

I was wondering if CLAMP designed the characters instead of Hirao-face-looking group that we had, maybe VVV would have more legs. As is, it’s actually a very good story but it just didn’t get to flesh out. The plot and the symbolism and themes all make sense and it is a good, liberal (as in liberalism) message that would resonate with kids. But I don’t know, it feels like the right message but it’s probably preaching to the wrong crowd. It could also use another 2 more episodes to flesh the ending out.

This season is tricky because I couldn’t tell that White Album 2 has another episode, I mean, what. Nagiasu really seems like it went off a cliff this week, because there’s another cour after that? Don’t even bring up Samumenco, geesh. I’m still enjoying Magi, and as far as sports anime goes I really like the past few episodes of Ace of the Diamond, explaining some basic sports mechanics sort of things that are not obvious to most people. It also got “good enough” to be talked about, IMO.

Say what you will about Yuushibu and OBC, both shows are great, and I had a good time with both. I think I enjoyed Yuushibu a lot more in that meta context, also it probably wins some award for dragging out a Star Trek joke the longest. OBC was more of the ideal guilty pleasure sort of anime, because the show didn’t really go anywhere with its soft power digs. I mean, it’s not even bush league. It’s not even softball. It’s more like wiffleball. Kind of like that football game they played–you knew they could do so much better but they just went with whatever, lawl. A shame I guess.

I still think it’s incredible that people walk away from Yuushibu episode 1 and think it’s bad animation quality. It’s insane. I suppose this is how some people feel about Kill la Kill when I say it’s actually not really that great. I think what’s good about it is that it is an anime done in a way and in regards to subject matter common to B-tier Japanese live action TV and movies. Now finally we have an anime like this–full with underboobs. I mean, you can’t do that on TV normally. Studio Trigger’s newsletter is great and it basically confirms all this. Also, maybe it’s because I saw Hentai Kamen live action movie this autumn and it kind of makes me feel like Kill la Kill is an inferior version of that. I get the feeling a lot of people watch anime as a medium don’t venture outside of it, so this is all fresh and exciting stuff.

The best anime this season is a tough call. I would give Kill la Kill the most creds as the most stylish, YZQ for the best sakuga feast, Kyousogiga for the most arthouse and best first episode, VVV for the most daring in terms of story, and Arpeggio will win the “It’s not Girls und Panzer but it’s close enough” award. OBC probably has the best meta fanservice and Yuushibu has some…serious fanservice. Best ED is obviously Unbreakable Machine Doll and best OP might actually go to Galilei Donna. Best concept has to go to Samumenco for not only the most meta but also the best written meta that I’ve seen in a while.

I also feel compelled to give Gundam Build Fighters some kind of recognition, so maybe it will win Aila’s biggest buns trophy or something stupid. Too early to call it the best AU Gundam but it’s definitely up there.

That’s kind of how I feel about White Album 2 too. I really enjoyed the series so far but it lacks a few compelling components in terms of plot. It’s too centered on the girls and not enough on the guy. I mean, I guess I don’t want another Golden Time but Haruki is at least interesting enough to get a little more exposition. Speaking of Golden Time, I’m okay only because I did watch Natsuyuki Rendezvous, so I’m build for it. That said gosh yes Koko is a bitch and the whole ghost-in-the-amnesia thing is dumb can we please just slap everyone and hire Linda to cater to more underground parties? I do give it a lot of credit for making every one of its characters a lot of substance and it’s easy to understand them, even the weirder ones like Miss Denpa.

Golden Time is also surprisingly meta too. That Nana-senpai.Â Even shows like Tokyo Raven is pretty meta, when it’s a run of the mill kind of a battle mystery story. Is it really necessary? Even I think it’s too much, and I’m someone who loves the meta.

I still want to watch more Sekatsuyo, but I can’t get past episode 4. I should just jump to the Chiaking episodes.

Kyoukai no Kanata was a thing. It all makes sense but it didn’t gel, which is too bad. It is the sort of beautiful nothings that we’re used to seeing from Kyoani, which is by all means something we can never run short of. Did I like it? Yes, but I probably won’t watch it again. It’s funny, but when you lay it side by side to something like, say, Noucome, I would take Noucome every time.

Perhaps Noucome is the ultimate guilty pleasure, sorry OBC. If being funny is a sin, Noucome is worthy a Kotaku post about how sinful it is. Too bad they pegged it as just some solid comedy.

But what does that make Log Horizon? It’s not a guilty pleasure, but it is for me–I’m totally watching it to trip on old school MMORPG feels. That, and Yumi Hara going all osaka, which is only appropriate. It’s a good anime as they say; it’s like if Maoyu got a Fate/Zero treatment, except not quite. I mean, that story could totally be built up better. Log Horizon is appropriately less ambitious in the scope and in turn more down to earth, but it’s also somewhat less epic on the face. I guess you can’t have everything. And that is okay when all it is to me is a guilty pleasure.

In a busy season like this I still watched 4+ episodes of Gingitsune, which is solid, 12 episodes of Infinite Stratos, which is disappointing, and all of Walkure Romanze. Man, that horse show is actually quite good in the way that exploitative eroge about fancy and peaceful setting can be, all because it has a freaking koushien in it. I respect it as one respect a well-polished trope. The fanservice episode clever and outside of the box, which is another thing you kind of didn’t expect a show like that to do. Nakamura Eriko-sensei can speak English to me any time.

Viva Torture!

Leave a comment | posted in Gingitsune, Golden Time, Gundam, Infinite Stratos, Kakumeiki Valvrave, Kill La Kill, Kyousougiga, Nagi no Asakura, Outbreak Company, Samurai Flamenco, Walkure Romanze, White Album, Yozakura Quartet, Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita.