Omonomono

June 7, 2013

Con Contra 2013

By omo

Con season this year plans out to be something like:

Animazement: all done, just waiting for their charity auction. Since it is for charity after all, let me spill the beans a bit–the guests donated a lot of stuff at Animazement for charity, and the con charity auction ran too short to get to all the items. There are about a dozen or more stuff, as a result, that’ll probably get eBay’d for charity. The funds will probably go to OK tornado victims and for Touhoku relief. The items, I had a chance to look at them, and there were sketches and stuff. I have my eyes on two specific items: autographed scripts from Chihayafuru S2. It’s great, because I’d like to have one, and I won’t really think twice if someone outbids me on them, just because, you know, it’s for a good cause and I can put the money into use for something else.

Anime Next: June 7-9. The schedule is here and unlike last year there is no iM@S panel. Unlike last year there is an Aniplex panel. And unlike last year I didn’t have two weddings that I had to be in back to back. Not expecting much from Sayo Yamamoto but it would be nice if I can get her to sign something. Like, I don’t know, maybe a copy of Arakawa UB? I love that OP. Maybe I can catch Moon Stream there instead of AX? I mean, I plan to see Vertical anyway so that’s one conflict I can definitely live with.

Origins Game Fair: June 12-16. OK, this is just FYI if I’m missing for a week.

Anime Expo: July 4-7. Well, I don’t know what I’ll be doing there but I’ll probably be doing more press stuff. Hopefully I can catch up with all the twitter and blogging boys and girls. I might even get to go to a Megumi Han panel for once. I guess it’s time to dig up interview questions because some of these folks are at least interesting from that sense.

Otakon: August 9-11. Should be one of the best Otakon ever in terms of guest roster. Yoko Kanno brings all the old,Â decrepit, fallen-off-the-wagon fans to the yard. Too bad she’s not playing in Camden Yard or something, as the Orioles have away games that weekend. Joking aside it should be a good time and it will be a very trying 3-day period, with so much content overlapping each other.

And that’s really it. I expect I might attend NYCC, and I might attend, as a super long shot, AWA, even if it’s not really in the cards. I want to attend AWA this year, let’s put it that way, but I don’t think I can justify the time off or the flight.

Anything else interesting going on?

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts

June 3, 2013

The Garden of Rainy-day Sinners

By omo

It took me 3 tries for Hoshi o ou Kodomo, so if it takes 3 times for Kotonoha no Niwa then at least I can do that in nearly a third of the time. It’s at least gorgeous enough to warrant watching it three times.

But yes, I’m still not sure how to react to the film. My initial feelings are both somewhat moved and yet slightly enraged at the odd composition of the romantic relationship. It all came together in a way that just felt a little wrong. It doesn’t, thankfully, take away the underlying emotions and the way The Garden of Words wraps around you and moves you.

I think you really have to go into this show without knowing what it is. The revelation later on int he film is a little disruptive and even if you’re a big fan of indie Japanese cinema you might not quite have it all planned out. And if you’re not, then this is probably not the kind of anime you expect.

It is the kind of anime Shinkai fans expect however. Visually it is beautiful. Tokyo has never been this gorgeous. Short of flooding this post with caps let’s just say that the Blu-ray can’t come to my house soon enough. [Especially since it’s in an order with the Festiv@l of Winter blargh, which means it’ll probably get here when I’m not home @ AX.]

So many rainy sunshine cuts, so few rainbows. It’s not Shinkai to do rainbows, I guess.

Leave a comment | posted in Kotonoha no Niwa, Modern Visual Culture

June 1, 2013

All I’ve Got Are Stinking MADs

By omo

Convention season is also remembrance season. Spring is, for me, always a time to get excited. It’s when I fell in love with things like Sakura Taisen and Tsukihime and other nonsense that I can only look on fondly as memories, plastic figures, and a lost seashore of words as grounded sand by the passage of time on the internets.

I was just in the mood. And maybe you are too, to remember a couple old MADs that accompanied my recent fandom: Love Plus and the Idolm@ster. Or maybe they’re new to you?

It’s weird, because they do mark the points when I my tastes decided to change. In the Love Plus case, though, I was already playing the game around launch so maybe it was already too late.

I would like to thank the guy, who made the MAD, that made me first pay it any attention:

You can catch it at its original location on Nico (man, 2008 was not all that long ago). A high-resolution version can be found here.Â And, there’s sex bomb, a follow up.

The great thing about this video is that it doesn’t take much to understand what’s going on. The song is catchy, and it’s in English. The humor translates well without any meddling. It even has that iM@S feel within the concept–a gang of entertainers, being entertaining by being themselves. Sure, it’s still full of in-jokes, but that just adds to the flavor, not a requirement to get it.Â The follow up video is the same, too.

Less I could say about this pretty neat video featuring Love Plus (the original) and Nene the virtual girlfriend. I think it speaks for itself. And it doesn’t take an in joke to explain much anything. Familiarity with Love Plus just makes this video more striking.

You can find it on Nico andÂ Vimeo. Only half a million views since 2010, this is pretty obscure relatively lol.

3 comments | posted in Bishoujo Gaming, Idolmaster, Love Plus

May 30, 2013

Mikasa Goodman

By omo

This guy thinks Mikasa AckermanÂ is a good girl. I’m not so sure. But while I was listening to that gaggle of voice actors sing along to the intense audio trope of a song the other day it dawned on me: Mikasa is played by Yui Ishikawa, who is in my mind, just Princess DNAra. A quick look on ANN says that MikasaÂ Ackerman is her second lead role for animation voice-overs. That’s a long time, relatively, in between. It’s also another incredible opportunity, to play a big role in a big show.

The thing is, Princess DhianeilaÂ is also a “good girl.” In fact she is supposedly the literary parallel of some Greek mythological ideal for human goodness. I mean it in the “in contrast with, say, Gundam’s Relena or Lacus” but a force of nature pushing humanity into the next evolutionary level of existence, to join up with our space brothers and sisters; to chase after that mythical ancient race of gods or Qs or Precursors or whatever. In essence, DNAra is That Newtype. It’s about superhuman feats for an age where only such things can propel us forward, to overcome the other giants of the world.

It’s not too different, in that sense, from Shingeki no Titan. So what makes Mikasa Ackerman, and her muscle density? Or her voice actress? I have no freaking clue. It’s just yet another row in the database, where we bloggers run join queries and create nonsense for our entertainment. Ours and yours, hopefully.

And while sure, Mikasa, like Princess Dhianeila, are good girls, they’re also symbols in a way where a sense of flawlessness crusts over their humanity, their weaknesses. In my mind that is a great thing but it’s also not my cup of tea. In other words, I prefer girls who are more, shall we say, human.

2 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Shingeki no Kyojin, The Heoric Age

May 28, 2013

Animazement 2013 Wrap: Kaku no Hana

By omo

There are a few big things I want to note but also some small details here and here. So the result is more aimless rambling from a sleep-deprived mind. Business as usual.

The Big Picture

This is my first true con of the year. Anime Boston’s new date this year did have some impact in the sense that it deprived Animazement some more dealers and a weaker dealer room presence. It also made it impossible for me to go to AB. AZ itself is possibly the same size asÂ last year, I can’t really get a good grasp, but I didn’t think it got bigger. I think this year is generally feeling slightly less…good? Which is all to say, a down Animazement is still better than most cons out there.

4 comments | posted in Aku no Hana, Conventions and Concerts