August 10, 2011

DVD/BD Sales Figures Fun

By omo

There’s not much more you need to know beyond this 2ch write-up on how to interpret Japanese anime DVD/BD sales. I say this mainly because, well, there’s not much more you need to know, unless you have a knack for spreadsheets. Knowing beyond a casual, internet-warrior level of what those numbers means is like a 8yo genius trying to teach his working-class parents how to calculate the angular momentum of a rigid body in 3 dimensions. It’s unnecessary and is an exercise in futility. But it’s really amusing to see how a lot of people just don’t quite get it, when they saw this Crunchyroll post from  yesterday. I could farm twitter for even more lulz, but that’s not going to be worth the effort. I guess successful troll is successful. But in some ways it is also insightful, so I’m going to try to say a couple things.

The obvious thing  here is to realize that DVD/BD sales figures are kind of meaningless in terms of revenue. This is something you can explain away in different ways, but basically it is the best part of the troll. I mean, DVD/BD sales figures are obviously extremely meaningful in terms of calculating revenue and profit. That is not just common sense, but the cold hard facts. So what’s wrong with this picture? Clearly there are other factors that also impact revenue/profit/etc; or better put, what qualifies as success.

TL;DR, that “infographic” compares apples with oranges.

[Actually I can launch into this other tangent about how most infographics out there are evil and you probably shouldn’t pay them a lick of mind, according to my small amount of actual education on interpreting data in graphical form (elitism: they teach college level courses on this stuff for hard science majors, except people who do infographic on the intarwebs are typically too academically challenged to take those courses).]

I mean, how many people who commented on that infographic knows about how late night anime are financed? How it compares to Bleach? Or how a mix media franchise works? I don’t even know all about all of those topics, and while I am nobody, I am less of one than probably most people who bothered to comment on it. Because if you are somebody you wouldn’t even comment on it!

Let’s identify the fruits in that list. It’s not all apples, nor is it all oranges, so what are they?

  • Stuff that were never planning to make money via home video releases, eg., Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, etc. People need to remember before the DVD revolution and how everyone nowadays know youtube exists, people generally don’t buy TV shows on home video. Movies? Sure, because it cost a ton of money to take the family to the theater, and you can buy the tape (or DVD/BD today) for a fraction of price (in NYC it’s approaching 1 BD to 1 ticket…which is just sad and pathetic). Why would you buy Bleach? Because you have dirty clothes, that’s why. I mean you would probably even buy a Doreamon movie or your child’s favorite episodes of One Piece just so you can pacify the poor little dude/dudette when you’re busy cooking lunch or something. It’s suspiciously the metaphoric fruit that is missing in this chart; probably because Japanese edutainment programs are horrid and nobody but Japanese kids (and their caretakers) watch them.
  • Stuff that were paid up front, eg. WOWOW anime, etc. This is something most people wouldn’t know, because these shows are relatively rare. A lot of the time what these channels will do recently is air OAVs, but it’s like if enough people watch Game of Thrones, HBO has already achieved its goals. In other words, some anime are created as premium programming, available only to those who have paid subscriptions to those channels. Video sales to them are icing on the cake. It’s like pre-Chappelle’s Show.
  • Stuff that were paid up front #2, eg. movies, etc. I split this one out because it’s obvious to you. I mean if Transformer 3 does a bijillionquadrubple bucks in the box office, who gives a damn about video sales (besides that it will also sell bijillionquadrubple copies)? It can sell less than Kaiba and still be like, “yo I make more money than all your mamas.” But as I alluded earlier, this never is the case with movies. In fact, movies tend to sell the best (see: bijillionquadrubple copies of Transformer 3). Part of it has to do with the fact that unless you are a Kara no Kyoukai, you end after one film. Or at least, you give this unspoken assumption about this is it and sequels? What sequels? It lowers the barrier of entry of paying for a series versus just an one-shot. [But in reality, when you buy a very popular film, the odds that it will have a sequel is pretty close to 100%. So if you can’t stand owning just the first volume and not the second (even if the second, third, fourth, etc is horrible), you really don’t have any business buying popular movies in this day and age. Or rather, that is their business, eh?]
  • Stuff that were used to recoup from investment costs, eg., most late night anime, etc. To be specific, this is why moe anime is made. Because they can consistently bring in a steady, if anemic, stream of sales. At certain pricing, it is steady revenue. This is why Bakemonogatari (and its kins) sales numbers are such a big deal, because they are by-the-book late-night anime business. Their sales figures on home video is a large narrative for home video publishers, since it’s usually their slice of pie at stake here. So that kind of shows get made.
  • Stuff that were paid for during the TV run, eg., the rest. Evangelion has pushed a lot of units on home video. But it would have been considered a success on the TV viewership numbers alone, because it brought in eyeballs, and sold real ads. However the fact that it was so successful on video too gave it a second wind, so to speak. That’s the Chapelle’s Show’s model. I keep on referring to Chapelle’s Show because for the longest time, old TV shows just didn’t sell on home video (see Bleach, Naruto, etc) but somehow, Chapelle’s show has become the sign post of home video sales floating enough money to justify the continuation of the show because of its ludicrous sales figures (compared to prime-time television). Is this a sign that our society is becoming more  maniacal about our favorites? Maybe someone else can tell you about that, but these kind of anime are in a league of their own. I mean, I speak of home video sales, but the key here is that this type of show don’t solely rely on it; it’s kind of just a sign of how crazy some otaku are about kiddy TV shows. They are the AC Gundams and Pokemons of our times, where their sales figures on home video only told a part of the story. As an aside, this group also fields the majority of original anime titles out there. Because as long as the models are cool and the video games are hot properties, the anime has already served its purpose.

To continue, a good 25% of the anime on that list is original. I think that kind of reflects the top Oricon charts, by overshooting it. The bottom tier is probably full of original titles. Does Denno Coil count? I’m not sure. Even this apples-to-oranges analysis doesn’t tell the story behind the difficulty of original anime breaking through things at a glance. At least it tells you how special Madoka is. (And to note, Nanoha StrikerS isn’t too far behind it I think).

In the same vein, it makes you wonder why we continue to include shows like One Piece, Bleach and Naruto in the overarching anime discourse in America. I mean, sure, they are anime, but they’re as anime as Kaiba. And nobody talks about Kaiba! Joking aside, it’s as relevant as its low sales figure. Maybe it is kind of like how anime fans may yell buttscratcha memes at cons, since Family Guy is not anime either. At least that one makes more sense than Marco Polo. Maybe even more so than Bronies. In my mind, Naruto is almost a meme. A lot of people read the manga or watch the anime, but it’s kind of the noise in the background and it isn’t really relevant to anything beyond Viz and fans of the franchise.

That’s going to lead into my last observation here. I’m kind of surprised; speaking of cosplay icons at American cons, where’s Trigun? Its sales figure was pretty abysmal too! If America was different than Japan, I can’t think of a better example than that. So why is Trigun missing from the infographic? Maybe that’s too apples-and-oranges in that graphic? It breaks the trend/trap set up by the infographic? I don’t know. But you know, people in Japan actually bought Cowboy Bebop, too. So you’ve got to wonder.

Leave a comment | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Franchises, Modern Visual Culture

August 9, 2011

Tribal Link Review

By omo

I don’t really do music reviews, but why not. I really enjoyed these covers, and this is just as good as any other excuse to listen to Makkun’s Abyss over and over again.

Release Date : 2011.07.29

TRIBAL LINK-R

1. Velocity of sound　Vo. Faylan
2. The Maze　Vo. Utatsuki Kaori
3. Jet Smash!　Vo. Momoi Haruko
4. Ever stay snow　Vo. nao
5. Lupe　Vo. Kawada Mami
6. Automaton　Vo. Okui Masami
7. Close to me…　Vo. Shimamiya Eiko
8. jihad　Vo. Sakakibara Yui
9. Permit ～Yurushi no Tou～　Vo. Satou Hiromi
10. Lilies line　Vo. Larval Stage Planning
11. Philosophy　Vo. Hashimoto Miyuki
12. FLY TO THE TOP　Vo. KOTOKO
13. Double HarmoniZe Shock!!　Vo. MAKO and Kawada Mami

TRIBAL LINK-L

1. IMMORAL　Vo.KOTOKO
2. Abyss　Vo. Okui Masami
3. blossomdays　Vo. Larval Stage Planning
4. birthday eve　Vo. Kuribayashi Minami
5. Suna no Shiro  -The Castle of Sand-　Vo. Kawada Mami
6. Anata dake no Angel☆　Vo. Sakakibara Yui
7. Jōshiki! Butler Kōshinkyoku　Vo. nao
8. Face of Fact　Vo. Utatsuki Kaori
9. For our days　Vo. MAKO
10. Collective　Vo. Faylan
11. Princess Brave！　Vo. Momoi Haruko
12. Leaf Ticket　Vo. Satou Hiromi
13. SHIFT -Sedai no Mukō-　Vo. Shimamiya Eiko

So for the uninitiated, I’ve Sound is a brand of trance/denpa style electronica stuff. It is just a bunch of Hokkaido-based musicians. Over the years they’ve tied up some female vocalists (utahime or whatever people call them) and among eroge and anime fans they have gotten some name recognition. KOTOKO is probably the most famous vocalist to make it out of it, but regardless of who, there’s like a 80% chance that Kazuya Takase, the founder and a big part of what I’ve really is, wrote the song. You can read about it on Wikipedia.

The two Tribal Link albums are a tie-in with an associated event that took place in early July, when the artists covering these I’ve classics teamed up for a day-night double-header anison marathon. You can read about its first initial announcement here; the show was on Nico live stream, so maybe a copy is floating around too. The recording on these two CDs are studio recordings though, and the arrangement is the standard version, not some remix. It all feels a little unpolished, but the main interest here is the sort of music. It’s kind of like how they still put up crossfade preview tracks for their stuff. It’s this kind of details that I like about I’ve. And it’s also kind of ghetto. But hey, they even have a Comiket booth.

Some more about the vocalists. Overall there are three categories: ex- or semi-ex I’ve Sound artists, current breed I’ve Sound artists, and totally not associated types. Tribal Link features all three groups, and it’s kind of a Lantis mash-up; I believe all the non-I’ve associated artists on these discs have Lantis distribution deals. For that matter, please remember Larval Stage Planning, the new-ish idol-pop trio from the brand, is doing an anison tie-in for the first time this season (Bakatest 2 OP).

And all this text is just to give you some background. Being able to appreciate the cover singers is the major draw, beyond that you’re definitely buying a Best-Of collection as well. Tribal Link is definitely for fans of both I’ve and the attached artists. I mean when you hook in the likes of Momoi and Yuinyan you’re going to get a certain group of people interested. Or the group who like like Faylan or Makkun. There are also some old-timers on the list, and one doing an appearance for possibly the first time: I’ve Sound’s MAKO.

[Yeah, I’ve’s is evil, but I’ve Sound’s is less. Then again, only crazy Japanese would have the word “larval” in anything that isn’t biology or SF horror.]

So, anyway, R first. Because I am backwards like that. I’ll try to link to clips when I see it.

  1. Velocity of sound is as much as a signature I’ve piece as they come, and I think Faylan did justice. The problem is more that her singing style doesn’t really mesh with the trance-ness of it all. It feels as if she’s just singing it like one of her own songs. Which is to say, maybe someone should vocode her or something, it could work much better. The end result, as is, is a good try but it probably disappointing the nature of Faylan’s music as hypothetically merging with I’ve Sound’s … sound.
  2. Disclaimer #1: I never really liked Utatsuki’s songs. The Maze is a pretty okay piece especially considering how the previous track was kind of disappointing. It’s pretty decent, even when considering the original.
  3. Momoi goes all moe-moe depna on Jet Smash! is something to be expected. But I think it’s the kind of thing that either works or not at all. Yeah, those refrain clauses are cute, and the fact that she tunes it to her singing voice for the rest works pretty well. I just don’t think it’s got as much crack as the original.
  4. Ever stay snow is a classic; that’s going to be a trend. I’m not sure if nao did it justice. And why am I so hung up on justice? I guess it’s partly because it’s not really that different than Shiho’s interpretation. I would say this is probably slightly more pleasurable to listen to than the original, but it’s got less of a bite. I never really got into her FripSide stuff either… No real opinion here.
  5. I definitely dislike Kawada less among the newer crop of I’ve Sound utahime. Well, she’s not exactly “newer” by 2011 standards. Her version of Lupe is really good though. I think I like it more than the original. I suppose it credits her for just better at this trancy stuff, versus the screechier KOTOKO take.
  6. Disclaimer #2: I am a big Makkun fan. Her involvement in Tribal Link is already worth the price of admission for the two albums. Automaton is surprisingly not as good as I think it should sound, but it’s still a very nice switch from Makkun’s normal fare. It’s also a bit more rocking compared to the typical I’ve track, which is closer to her usual style. Despite that, though, it feels like she’s taken over this song.
  7. The big sister of I’ve Sound continues to walk on. The big news from 2010 was how Eiko Shimamiya announced that she got cancer. It looks like things are doing better after a brief respite and with her recovery. Close to me is yet another classic track with some cool tricks on something otherwise pretty simple. Aside that these cool tricks involve Engrish, I think she nails it. It’s like, when KOTOKO does it, there’s this harpsichord feel; where as Eiko-neesan actually flows with it. With better Engrish, too.
  8. The title of the song, jihad, reminds me of a certain Sakakibara’s album cover… Heh. Disclaimer #3: I like her deep voice more than her denpa voice. In a lot of ways Yuinyan’s musical inventory is the kind of divide between the two sides of I’ve. Except instead of trance it’s kind of this half-image rock thing. Her rendition of jihad is exactly that kind, which works out pretty well for me. For that matter, Faylan would have hit a home run with this song. Yui Sakakibara was able to channel the sweeter side of her voice for this, even when staying with that rock style. Very nicely done.
  9. I think Hiromi Sato’s voice is pretty close to MELL’s, so her version of Permit ～Yurushi no Tou～ is pretty okay. The biggest difference, though, is how MELL is pretty champ for a soprano; she’s got that frame. Hiromi-shacho, OTOH, not as much. This song, being a ballad, shows the difference.
  10. Disclaimer #4: Larval Stage Planning what? I mean I know who they are, but I’m pretty much totally new to them, and they’ve done nothing impressive so far besides being able to sing the songs from I’ve. Lilies line doesn’t address my concerns, although they’re pretty cute-sounding in it. What I really need is an idol dancing style PV or something. And something less psychedelic than this.
  11. Philosophy is another classic piece. Personally this song accompanied me in a lot of the long trips I’ve taken over the past 10+ years. So hearing a softer version of it from Hashimoto was kind of nice. I’m not really familiar with Hashimoto’s stuff, aside from hearing it here or there. Unfortunately this song by itself doesn’t quite get me any more interested in her. It was nice though.
  12. For I’ve fans, KOTOKO doing FLY TO THE TOP is already a huge treat. More objectively, though, it’s basically MELL’s version with more sugar and less oomf. I did notice some funky background tracking for the vocals plus a little bit of it at the ending, that weren’t in the original, which is kind of cute. I think fans may be divided but more probably would prefer the original. I mean, after all, that’s what sets I’ve Sound apart from the rest–oomph over sugar. MELL’s got some real vocal chops that even the best of the best denpa princesses will have a hard time overcoming, so it’s not to KOTOKO’s discredit. In fact I think she’s done a good job all considering.
  13. MAKO is basically a lower and less sweet version of Kawada, so when they teamed up for Double HarmoniZe Shock!! I’m not sure if I would be able to tell them apart. I guess I still can if I pay attention, but the layering during the chorus isn’t going to give a lot of contrast…maybe that’s just like the original! Well, KOTOKO is really easy to tell for me. The big difference is probably how the original version is sugared-up plus that rocking track, and this version is just all rock. Kind of a preference thing as to which one you’ll like more, although this version is definitely not harmonized as cleanly.

So. L.

  1. IMMORAL is definitely the better way to kick off the album. KOTOKO does her usual job here, although I think her voice cuts through the melody a little too sharply. Kawada’s voice is notably less remarkable than KOTOKO’s, but I guess I’m just used to it on this song. I think it’s pretty much comparable, and what makes it tick for you will just be how much you like KOTOKO.
  2. I really dig this version of Abyss. (See previous disclaimers about Masami Okui.) However, in practice it is kind of a mysterious track because part of it is vocoded (or is it?). I can listen to the chorus and pre-chorus all day long though. It’s a pretty awesome song to begin with, now it’s just even more wonderful. Yay! I mean, to keep on splooging, the big thing that makes Makkun’s voice work in this song is that she has that fairly unique register at around the same pitch as KOTOKO’s, so it really shows when she draws it out. Not to mention her voice is just bigger, and it fits in this song. Also, Abyss would make a killer Faylan track, too.
  3. The LSP cover for L, blossomdays is slightly less catchy but probably for the better, because it’s more like denpa crossed with eurobeat and sings better. KOTOKO’s original rendition isn’t exactly the most inspired thing either, so I’m not sure how to feel about it. Maybe that’s just indifference talking.
  4. Minami Kuribayashi trades spot with Miyuki Hashimoto in L, with birthday eve. It’s a really, really staple I’ve Sound piece. In a way the arrangement kind of overruns Kurinoko’s vocals, which is too bad. Her vocals really fits the song when it isn’t busy overlapping with the synths. I don’t know what she or the sound engineer could do to make her voice stand out more. It’s kind of surprising because I really enjoyed it, despite it being not so great. I suppose that’s I’ve Sound in a nutshell lol. I hope someone gets her to do this song with a different arrangement in the future…
  5. I always thought Suna no Shiro  -The Castle of Sand- was hard to sing. I’m not sure if Kawada understands it, although it is pretty neat to hear her do it. That said, the original was kind of a mess, and so is this one. If there is one redeeming thing is that Kawada’s screeching is way easier to pick up than Eiko-neesan’s.
  6. While I do like her rock voice over her denpa voice, I think in this case I like Sakakibara’s denpa voice too! Anata dake no Angel☆ came across just as it should have been in the original, TBH! Maybe disclaimer #1 is in play more than #3!
  7. I wasn’t expecting much for Jōshiki! Butler Kōshinkyoku, nor am I big about nao, but this one is better than expected. I suppose that is not a surprise, but this song is a fun little tune and it’s hard to screw it up like this. Nao’s a good match.
  8. Who doesn’t like Face of Fact? I don’t know, but if we assume Utatsuki as the de-facto KOTOKO clone from I’ve vocal-wise, then as expected this version of Face of Fact is not really that different than the original. I like it almost just as much, I guess (see Disclaimer #1).
  9. MAKO’s For our days is probably as close of a fit as it gets if it has to be a song from I’ve that she didn’t do. The cool thing is how this song just stands out so much from the other tracks genre-wise. Even with that said, the chorus part was executed kind of normally, which is way less interesting than the rest of the song. It’s too bad, because her Verge tracks were some of my favorites.
  10. I’m less disappointed with Collective than with Velocity of sound. Faylan tears it up pretty well, and this is one of the rare cases that I think I like the cover more than the original. But, yes, I’m still kind of disappointed, in that to do Collective the way she’s doing it, Faylan needs more, well, oomph. But I think she’s half-redeemed herself at least.
  11. Princess Brave surprises nobody. Momoi is solid, and she delivers basically what anyone expects of her and this song. Which is good, and probably better than the original for some, just different. I’m neither ways about this piece, but the fast rhythm do work better for me with that denpa voice. I guess this is KOTOKO’s bread and butter these days.
  12. Shachou has a good voice for Leaf Ticket. Man, she needs duet with KOTOKO again. But that said, it’s kind of amazing to hear her sing a song that, well, doesn’t suck. At least for some reason I am under the impression that Hiromi Sato’s solo works tend to… not impress. Maybe I am wrong, maybe it’s just the one CD of hers that I own that sucked, but it’s good to hear her sing something more interesting.
  13. In a lot of ways I still think Shimamiya is the best vocalist in I’ve. All the popular utahime have a good voice, but there’s some special quality about hers that I find always intriguing.  SHIFT -Sedai no Mukō- is a slow, wrap-up piece that tend to be Lia’s forte, and Eiko-nee does just as good of a job I think. It’s probably the piece where the differences between cover and original is the smallest, across both L and R.

The fact that I wrote a review on this probably tells you that I really enjoyed them. I think it is more an excuse to listen to some really classic I’ve hits, and even with the new covers they sound largely similar to their original incarnations. As a stand alone product, I’m not too excited about it; maybe if they had some real duets for the Tribal Link concerts, I would wish for a DVD or something. I probably don’t need any excuse to drown myself in Sapporo-based anison trance, but if you need it, you’ve got it here.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts

August 5, 2011

Loving Touch of Hardcore

By omo

This post is a nostalgia trip about 90s trance music.

It’s kind of sad, but when I read this the other day I was like, dayum, I know what that feels like exactly bro.

Truth is, the feeling is familiar because I’ve Sound is notable for not just Re-Subliminity; I first fell victim to their brand of trance way back when Verge was all the rage. What year was it? 2000? In Tribal Link-R, a similar replication of that familiar feeling happened via Velocity of Sound. I first listened to that all-too-familiar track on that same morning as the tweet. I guess I like right first then left? Looking back, it was included on Out Flow, which was a few years after that track was first released.

Actually, I probably started to listen to I’ve sound produced crap even before Verge. I mean before there was a Type-Moon, Key’s crap was all over the place. That’s when Megatokyo actually had real relevance with the scene. (I mean imagine some OEL thing back in ’05 that was about magic circles, reality marble countertops with genre blenders that fucked not just fruit, but actual people? It would be more like, say, Scott Pilgrim, I suppose.) That was when I actually thought Key’s character designs were okay! (Well, they still are. Just like how Takeuchi’s are. Heh.) And there was the other eroge out there, some more memorable than others, which fronted I’ve Girls on their covers, in a way.

With this little piece of acknowledgment I think it really doesn’t surprise anyone that KOTOKO would now parted what used to be, so they say, “HYPE.” When KOTOKO launched her solo stuff with Geneon back in 2004 it was something of a “well about time” kind of thing. Seeing her actually perform Suppuration -core- and Re-sublimity at AX was like WOAH HOT DAMN. But it wasn’t even my first exposure, having already seen it on DVD a few times; I knew the trick she did on stage, but it was still awesome seeing it done right in my face (gogo front row seats). Luck would have it that I got to see it again in Toronto the next year (just sans the live band). But man, that is the defining moment for me for KOTOKO.

But not much has happened apart from it. She graces your usual OP/ED and what not, but I never really followed the scenes behind it. Fuctory Record’s half-assed attempts at oversea marketing didn’t go very far either. MELL and others who somewhat followed the same track didn’t get any further than KOTOKO. Eiko-neesan went on break to deal with her illness. Lia is doing her indie stuff. I guess people still care about Kawada, but anyone cared about Utatsuki? Less than LSP I guess. It’s not an easy time over at the I’ve brand. It’s gotten to the point that I sort of fell off the bandwagon at some point after Out Flow. The Short Circuit releases were neat, but it’s not really trance! I guess that didn’t matter for most, but it does somewhat for me. Their 2005 concert marks a certain turning point I think.

Stuff picked up a little more when I got a sniff of the Front Line Covers. That kept me going until now. Maybe it’s finally time to go back to Extract. Or in KOTOKO’s case, do something even more wonderful.

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

August 2, 2011

Otakon 2011 Wrap

By omo

I always want to keep my post-con posts brief, but it rarely happens. Let’s see how it goes this time.

Makoto Shinkai

He’s pretty cool. He does have an art/animator background when he first worked on video games before making the switch to independent anime production. I always forget this. The other thing that was a big realization for me was how much of his films are based on his real life experience. I mean this is something most people knew about him, but it is much more, lacking a better term, low level. Like in 5cm all the little ideas thrown in there are based on something he experienced in some way.

As a person, well, he’s pretty amiable I guess. He’s also young/nerdy enough to get all your references. Or should I say, bro enough? I mean, as I said earlier, he knows what To Heart is.

I’m not going to go through all the Q&A here, and I’m not even ready to do that…got to get through some transcription crap first. But in general people asked the same set of 10 questions for him, and he gave the same 10 answers. A lot of the time the question’s nuances gets dropped and he’s actually pretty good at dodging. He also has some kinda-bro moments, to contrast with another young animator who is probably better spoken (and even more bro), when being asked about those “state of the industry” questions. And there are the Hoshi o Ou Kodomo questions, which are mostly pretty good actually.

I only asked him 2 questions, once at a press panel and the other during his public panel. The latter one is a spoiler for Hoshi o Ou Kodomo, so I’m going to save that for later.

Hoshi o Ou Kodomo: Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below

This is the one premiere that I wanted to see. No offense to the new FMA film, I would have done you if I finished FMA:B (just a bit over half way through). Yes you are stand-alone. No I don’t want to wait in line.

Anyway, back to Hoshi o Ou Kodomo. The reviews for this film was varying and I get the vibe of the film even before heading to Otakon. But what I didn’t know is how it truly measures to Shinkai’s previous works. We all know that Hoshi no Koe, Kumo no Mukou, and 5cm/s, all have this same thematic thread going on. It turns out so does Hoshi no Ou Kodomo! This is something nobody really talked about. And I now see why.

In a lot of ways the same themes that I love from his previous work play in full in Hoshi. The problem is more in that the narrative impetus is still mired in a way that I found as a flaw to Kumo no Mukou. Except in Hoshi, he doesn’t even really try to create that overall build up of tension that actually made Kumo no Mukou passably engaging to watch.

I think Hoshi o Ou Kodomo is engaging in a different way: it is much better constructed as a movie based on a series of interrelated themes. However, there are probably too many thematic threads spreading throughout the movie. It can be a heavy thing to digest, and Shinkai did say he wanted to make something worth watching multiple times.

As for the Ghibli-isms, it is very well warranted. I don’t think the similarities are superficial either, but it’s probably not in the way you think they are similar. Basically, recall the start to Mononoke Hime; the purpose of Ashitaka’s trip: to observe and find a way to preserve something. In that very same sense, the plot device to Hoshi o Ou Kodomo is some kind of self-searching journey between two unlikely companions, each carrying the same philosophical conflicts as symbolized by their characters: San is the teacher, Ashitaka is Asuna, Eboshi is Shin. Or like I said elsewhere, Ikamusume and Jerid go on a self-searching journey to the center of Earth.

The characters’ introspective qualities aren’t something that can easily be externalized. In fact, other than Asuna, you don’t really see any of it until the climax of the film. In that sense, this film just had to carry the audience to that point in order to realize its message. To do so, all Hoshi o Ou Kodomo had to work with was some action scenes, its Ghibli-esque looks, and Shinkai’s trademark background porn. The fact that he was able to put his clouds on the ground is already impressive and an unfair trick, LOL. I was hoping he would play with the visuals in greater leaps when creating the underground world, as it is a bit plain. But it looks pretty for sure.

What do I think of it? I think Hoshi o Ou Kodomo is a great answer to the question posed in 5cm/s. As a film, it is pretty but despite trying I don’t think Shinkai has created something for the general public. It just isn’t that entertaining for people who don’t slurp up thematic circle-jerking in the blockbuster film format (ie., most people). The whole theme of separation between life and death and the externalization of a need to shrug off loneliness are things that just don’t communicate well to children I think. It takes a person who’s experienced them to some degree to really appreciate those ideas, and thankfully children are usually not such people. The other whammy is that these themes are just dense! To really explore them in the work makes the film drag and kind of not as focused as it could have been.

In other words, great if you like thoughtful films, not so great if you just want to have a good time.

Bandai’s K-ON! Live Event

I went to the play-acting concert performed by the four dub voice actresses of K-ON US release. It’s actually kind of fun and sort of modeled after the Japanese show. It’s largely MC, and some theatrics of a real band. Azusa was played by this cosplay-musician. But it doesn’t really matter; nobody actually played their instruments. At least they didn’t lip sync AFAIK.

Alexd got spotlighted to sing the ending to Kagayake Girls! For the unfamiliar, that is saying this line really fast and repeated:

“Shiny Shining Shiniest, Girls Be Ambitious Shine Shine Shine”

Vee held a mic to his face. It was LOLS. Also, we were the only two penlight holders in the crowd. Just as well.

Figure Collecting Panel

Due to various other tasks I arrived at the panel late. It was a pure Q&A kind of fare and VManOfMana just want to chat with the crowd, with Andy and Super Rats. They were swamped with curious talkers afterward the panel so I just grabbed a free figure from the free figure guy (he was there last year too?) and took off.

I couldn’t hear very well half the time because the questions don’t get parroted back to the crowd so a lot of people can’t hear what’s being asked. The Q&A is pretty simple otherwise, as the guys addressed the questions by topic. What is kind of disappointing is the lack of figures actually at the panel on display. On the other hand I think that iPad works well to quickly pull up pictures of a figure being talked abot.

The Ladies’ Choice to Hentai Panel

Why was I there? Because, also, I know the panel organizer. It’s probably the first time I sat through an entire 18+ panel actually about anime porn. I hope it will be the last.

The panel itself is pretty entertaining; the issue is more that I already have a good idea what they were going to talk about, since I also helped them with some of the materials. What I didn’t know is what they were actually going to say for each of the clips they screened. Personally, I was pretty tired by then: 12:30am on Saturday? If it was Friday I might have been okay, but I really wanted to just pass out then. And I suppose in a room full of people watching porn is something I’ve experienced in other contexts (I have an Otakon story for you about this!) so I was pretty okay just sitting and chilling for an hour.

It’s all fun and games. If anything my only complaint is that there was this tendency to joke about real life. The very last commenter from the crowd that night brought this point up very well–I mean, this is ero anime. What are we suppose to do with it again?

Atsuhiro Iwakami Producer Panel

IwakamiP is pretty neat, he has “the right attitude” regarding some of this stuff. Unfortunately his panel was way too short and nobody really asked any good questions that is fit for a producer. Maybe except Wah’s Shinbo dig and the state of the industry question. It’s on bayoab should you care to look.

If you also read bayoab’s log on the Aniplex panel, they deferred the answers to some licensing questions to Iwakami’s panel. I’m not sure what is suppose to happen there. Iwakami did say explicitly that he will take license requests. And somehow there wasn’t any at his panel. What’s up with that?

What did happen was screening of a HD Fate Zero trailer, and an explicit nod that it will be simulcasted. In fact he raised this point during the Q&A about how Osaka was the first region getting Madoka OTA on Thursday nights; Tokyo region didn’t get it the day after. If you recall, this means a lot of westerners were watching the fansub of the thing even before people living in Tokyo could see it. He is aware of this and want to, using bayoab’s words, guide a healthy relationship between content producers and fans. Because it can be kind of messed up.

After taking 6 or 7 questions, Iwakami turns around and polled the panel attendees as to what anime they’ve seen. It’s pretty amusing to see how 80%+ of people already saw Madoka, and at least a third saw Rakkyo and OreImo, etc.

For giveaways, they raffled away volumes 1-4 of Madoka on Blu, a couple T-shirts and a plushie of QB, and that Takeuchi sketch of Fate Zero Saber. You can see the picture here. And for reference, you can see the companion sketch to that here, as it was donated for auction. It’s kind of too bad we spent all this time drawing raffle tickets, because the panel really could use more time doing Q&A.

And there’s this sad yet hilarious anecdote about Hisui that I could tell, but it’s something you had to be there to witness. Saber is truly his waifu.

Bandai After Dark

I guess this is the proper Bandai industry panel? Before that panel, on the schedule there was a Sunrise industry panel too, in the same room. Not sure what the previous panel was all about, but you can read Digitalboy’s write-up for some clips. Or you can go back to bayoab.

Besides the cool bean licenses, I thought this year they did a good job. Not as great as last year’s, but still pretty good. Things kind of ran long though; we had Hiro Yura playing a track from Disappearence again; he set up a table for some post-panel sales too.  The loot this year is pretty cool, except as usual it was things you could have gotten as freebies if you bought certain things. Yea, maybe I should have bought those Haruhi character singles from RS?

The big personal note here is that I managed to get a copy of Shackles of Night single from Hiro after telling him how I didn’t get it last year, despite having paid for it. Baller dude!

Actually another cool note is how Johnny Bosh dropped by the panel and killed a lot of time trying to play something on Taka’s ukulele. Vee also sang along. It was kind of odd, and that act ate up a lot of time.

I think the best troll happened at this panel too, when Napton said some lucky winner was sitting on a chair with a gift certificate taped underneath it. Everyone then proceeded to reach around and tear off…some consumer safety sticker. Nice! If you remember last year’s Bandai After Dark, there were like a bunch of prizes given away this way. So he got us good. This year, tho, because of time and room-clearing reasons, they couldn’t do it.

Miku Live in LA: “MIKUNOPOLIS” Behind the Scenes

Like I said earlier, it’s 90% of coverage of things that happened at AX. Which is great if you couldn’t make it this year or can’t make it to all the vocaloid events (which is probably almost everyone). I’ll just talk about the notable and interesting bits.

They showed clips from Fox News coverage of the event. A couple of the Toyota commercials as well. Yeah, those Anons drew a loud reaction.

There was a slide during the presentation which contains the cover of the deck for the pitch of the Miku Live in USA Tour plan. Mr. ASCII Media Works EIC-san (who ran the panel) specifically told us to note that originally it wasn’t targeting LA or AX as the only event where Miku can appear. Which is probably good, as far as false hopes go. But who knows?

They also reported what sold and what didn’t at Mikunopolis booth. Basically everything sold out except coasters and phone charms. Not that surprises anyone.

The interesting thing for Otakon is that a new line of Miku merch is being pushed out. You can buy it now–Vocaloid tees: Miku, Len/Ren, Luka and Kaito. I bought the Len/Ren and Miku ones. More importantly they are not $40 like the Cospa ones. They’re not even $25; probably can be had for $15-20. The back of the shirt prints that they are Crypton produced. Which makes me wonder what was the big deal with those Viz license announcements…

At the end of the panel, Fukuoka-san did brisk business and sold some Wowaka CDs and that PV DVD that they were hawking. He put together a nice deck!

Chemistry Concert

Not my kind of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were selling penlights at their table. White ones, pretty powerful. Has a lot of modding potential… Not that I am going to.

As for their act, I think they are very good. It also feels like AAA back a few years ago–a lot of fanfare, but not a lot of relevance. Except Chemistry is actually kind of relevant, having done songs for a few popular shows. I’m only really familiar with that one FMA song and their Gundam UC contribution. The R&B duo are pretty pro.

Kylee Concert

I was late, and as a result I missed probably a good 3-4 songs. The show was barely 40 minutes long. It was still fun, even if I missed all the songs that I know except the one Heroman theme. She has a real band, and it worked out well besides that nobody was really moving. She seem like a well-groomed girl. She needed someone to open I think. Kind of ironic that I missed out on her doing Vacancy. Com’on! You only have so many songs.

Rave with DJ Saolilith

So while I lament not being able to hit up DJ Saolilith’s panel, I did get to see her set at the rave. I’m not sure if this is the second or third year that the con rave is located in Hall D, which is all the real musical guests play at (sans Hiro Yura &c). I got in just in time for Saolilith’s act, because somehow the queue didn’t empty out or something.

It’s the second time I’ve been to Otakon’s rave proper, ever. The first time was like… 1999? Maybe even earlier? Back then, the rave room didn’t smell like a giant funk pit; the AC works if you didn’t stand in the crowd. Friday night at 11:45, I was feeing a little tired but the hyper environment kept my spirits up.

I don’t think I can regirgitate Saori’s setlist here, but let’s just say when K-ON ED2 came on, I was already sold. Then there was the Nico kumikyouku stuff. And Love.EXE. And it really helps when I can recognize all but like, 3 tracks she spinned. Good times.

The first third of the songs I was standing towards the back of the hall, just to take in what’s going on. A breakdancing circle appeared soon enough and one of the people I came with peeled off to do that. Another couldn’t tolerate the environs anymore and headed out to a panel. Link and I eventually braved the front lines. Which is easy to do, since it’s a rave, not a concert; people aren’t packed up front.

At some point during the rave Saolilith pulled out a water gun on us. I think that was not necessary, but I got sprayed. I think the crowd was maybe 6-7 bodies deep only anyways, I was about 2 bodies away from the stage. For the encore (she did 1 song) she jumped down and did a little thing. I couldn’t see because she jumped into the denser side of the stage, which is opposite to where I was.

At least it wasn’t weird to wave my penlight around! That is one thing the con dance has right.

Eats

I ate the same thing Friday as I did Sunday: Cafe 100 for Breakfast, dinner at Sliders. Lunch was optionally something from Jimmy Johns, and like most other customers there I think they passed the Otakon test with flying colors. I’m inclined to dock them points for providing not-as-fresh-as-it-can-be bread (I see them hauling out of boxes en masse), but something had to give. It was good, but Potbelly’s is better, albeit more expensive, slower, and farther away. That is fine for the slower pace, Sunday PM last-meal, which is what we had. I picked up some coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts on Sunday to keep me awake throughout the day, but that’s about it.

Thursday routine was very routine: Pickles, Tir na Nog, Pickles. Food-wise, Pickles is actually the place to go on Thursday, simply because their happy hour is great stuff. Wings or nacho or pizza, it’s all pretty decent. Pitchers of beer made short work of all that. I got the Shephard’s Pie again. I also had a slice of Sicilian pepperoni pie at that Italian place inside the BoA skywalk area, it was good for what it was.

I’m not used to this cheap beer thing, but it was kind of nice being able to stumble into Bandai After Dark after having 4 drinks. For the same amount of money I probably could only pay for one by NYC standards.

Pickle’s fried pickles are still good.

Sliders dinner fare is relatively limited; it is really just a bar. But it was pretty delicious when I got the food there. Maybe I was just hungry at the time. Day 1 I had the chili dog set. Day 2 I had the Chesapeake chicken wrap. Both days we split the nachos. Their chili is pretty good.

Miscellaneous

Wah did two Omokage Lucky Hole songs; I missed the first one because it took place during a press event. The second time I followed up with STRAIGHT JET. HORRIBLY done STRAIGHT JET I might add. Wah’s performance is quite commendable though.

Yeah, that ice cold water really is only a dollar. I’ve only bought it from the dude once, a couple years ago. Inflation-free memes are the win.

What isn’t are tolls, parking and cost of fuel. Sigh.

Baltiport is a total jinx. Lance also needs to update the home page!

Guide book app is definitely a keeper. All cons should use it if they could. It’s actually not the most intutitive thing. For example, it was hard to set alarms manually–and there are plenty of times that you wish you could do it from your “to do” list. Or manually add to the schedule or something. How else are you suppose to keep track of booth events? Also, 1 hour is not enough for alarm. Some events need 2hr or more! There also needs a better way to slim out the main schedule, although I suppose manually scrolling up and down is not a major issue as long as there are not 100s of events to go through (Otakon got close to that). The ability to cross-reference dealer room locations is quite handy, and on that front it beats the pocket scheduler. For quick references, tho, not as fast.

Directors Panel

Just read SDS’s write-up.

Loot-related

I was in the dealer’s room for a net total of maybe an hour and a half. A third of that was waiting to get an autograph from Shinkai and chatting with people. A third of that was buying things from Bandai’s booth, the Otakon loots (Madoka charity poster and con shirt. I’ve gotten one every year, why stop now?), and checking out Kinokuniya. The last third was to buy those Vocaloid shirts.

At Kylee’s and DJ Saolilith’s autograph sessions, they were selling CDs. I got one from each of them, but they didn’t have the goods at the time. I gave them my address. I think the same company may be doing this stuff? I forget if Chemistry had their share of missing CDs. Yura didn’t.

Those CDs weren’t cheap, but considering the very weak dollar versus yen, it was okay. Kind of like how AAA distro was selling figures on Sunday; that Gift Saber Lily for $140? Are you for real? Bandai was selling some Lantis CDs that came with promo posters. I bit on one. Price was fair, all given.

Conclusion

I’d hit it again.

Every year there is something different or special about Otakon from my POV, and this year is no exception. Makes me wonder what next year has in store! Even if what is “different” or “special” can be positive and negative things. Like, I was talking to some folks after the con over IRC and I learned a few things about the charity auction results. Kind of neat, like how those wrist bands and badge add-ons totaled up a good third of the proceeds. Kind of not so neet of seeing that Saber sketch fall below a grand. Or Watsuki’s Sanosuke for about $300-400. Some futae no kiwami is called for somewhere.

Still, a good time. Big shoutout to all the brothers and sisters out there for making things work the way they do. Even more appreciative of staffers as I get older, and the same faces I see at cons, fans or industry alike. And of course, the special visitors domestic or abroad.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Hoshi o Ou Kodomo, K-ON

July 31, 2011

Otakon 2011 Days 2 and 3: Shikai Con Baltiport 2.0 Ver.

By omo

I got a big kick out of those Baltiport badges. I probably could have begged Bandai’s Napton for one, but that joke is kind of a drag once I actually escape from Baltimore, which is… an effort to say the least.

[07/31 19:19] <omo> wee back
[07/31 19:19] <omo> to baltimore: 2.5hr, from balitmore: 4hr

And I had the foresight of the latest Google Maps app on Android PLUS local travel know-how to avoid some of the traffic. Sigh.

Day 2 is where most of the action is. Part of my own mismanagement caused me to miss out a potential epic chance for LULS when I knew LOAE was translating for DJ Saolilith. That would’ve been epic, and I could’ve made it to their panel if I ditched Hoshi o Ou Kodomo right when it ended. Or if Shinkai-kantoku didn’t take like 15 questions for the Q&A (and he wasn’t even supposed to?)

Comix Wave was pretty awesome at the con and they gave away some amount of swag for basically all of Shinkai’s events. During his proper Q&A they were giving away film strips from Kumo no Mukou. Film strips! And the nice producer-san there even helped screened the strips that they had so people walked away with strips that had character art in them.

Aniplex’s Iwakami (henceforth IwakamiP) gave away that Saber sketch at his panel, which led to some awesome-funny outbursts from this man. You had to be there. They also raffled away volumes 1-4 of Madoka BD, and a couple Cospa shirts or something. That’s, of course, on top of the charity posters that Aniplex helped produced. It’s too bad that IwakamiP was only here for 2 days, and left Sunday AM, because he had relatively a lot to say.

I also went through major-fail when I forgot about the Jtor meet-up. Part of what is fail about it is I was actually at the K-ON dub voice actresses live event at the time, which is something I could have totally skipped out for. FAIIILLLL. Just means if I see those guys next time I will have to buy drinks.

Tho the dub concert was actually okay. For a con concert that is premised on the notion of roleplay cosplay karaoke, it could have been a lot worse. I mean Kylee’s concert wasn’t a whole lot better, and that was a real, proper live.

Chemistry is pretty nice, but the crowd was, well, lamers. In retrospect the rave crowd was the best that I saw this year, for a live crowd. Then again, Otakon isn’t Wotakon. Still, Chemistry is too little too late and not even my kind of thing.

I didn’t get to spread the love of Tanto Cuore, except telling super rats about it while waiting for the directors panel. SDS dropped the best (broest?) question there. Link’s left-field question about Murata-kantoku’s favorite To Heart character is pretty good too, but it could have been even better if he followed up on Shinkai-kantoku, since he was chuckling like a nerd. There was also a cute question about their top recommended anime (of not their own) from probably Evan of Anigamers, IIRC.

Shinkai is a nerd, by the way. How did this nerd get so much tail is apparently the stories about their distances beyond the cloud down below the falling cherry blossom as trees grew money at 5cm/s. Or some such. He even likes Five Guys. Director Shinkai Makoto is surely an exemplary man.

I actually recorded the Sunday AM Otakon ritual panel for directors this year. But to save you the effort of hearing my kibitzing I’ll just paraphrase it here. And no, no promises about putting it up (I still owe you guys some Tutuuruus anyways), since I might never get around to it.

SDS:  So earlier, director Ishiguro was saying he doesn’t understand digital animation, and directors Murata and Shinkai work in digital animation. Can the two younger directors give some pointers to director Ishiguro?

Toshi: … uhh

SDS: Okay let me rephrase that, is there anything you can share about working between digital animation and analog animation?

Toshi and LOAE explain it to the directors. Murata and Shinkai chuckle nervously and Ishiguro just smirks.

Ishiguro: Yeah, since my last work I realize I need to learn more about digital animation. You must give me some pointers.

A long 10 seconds passed and the conversation between them started. Eventually some interesting information did actually come out. I forget who said what exactly but Shinkai was saying how he found it difficult to talk with people who worked on analog animation in expressing distances in pixels versus millimeters (eg., this object moves x pixels per frame versus this object moves y mm per frame). Ishiguro chimes in about how during Yamato, the ship would always move 1mm per 3 frames, because that’s the lowest speed setting on the machine. And then Shinkai explains it to him how it was hard to communicate how x mm doesn’t translate into pixel due to the scanning process, and it is difficult to convert between the two technical shorthands.

Hrm, that was kind of technical wasn’t it. To be fair, that was Ishiguro’s second time at this American panel nonsense. And to put it into perspective, Makoto Shikai is born in 1973. Kazuya Murata is born in 1964. Noboru Ishiguro… 1938. Calling him “dai-senpai” is politely undershooting here.

Evan’s question is a simpler sample of what went on. With Ishiguro on the panel you’re kind of stuck, especially given the three of them aren’t really that familiar with each other as far as I can tell. Each of them gave something simple and sure-fire. Ishiguro didn’t really namedrop anything “commercial” but rather a lot of animation he saw in the 70s and a lot of foreign stuff. Murata named Future Boy Conan. Shinkai talked about how he’s slowly working through the Legend of Galatic Heroes during dinners at home.

OK! Yeah, there are a lot more I can talk about just about Shinkai alone, but let’s save it for later.

Bandai After Dark had a soft pitch this year for prizes. The one embarrassing thing you had to do was live karaoke to Fuwa Fuwa Time, with romanji lyrics posted on the screen. I should’ve jumped at it. Winner got one of those dealer room banners with VA autographs. They also upped the general give-away: people got those Gurren Lagann straw bags, with random junk inside (set of GITS figures, yet still another Lucky Star seifuku t-shirt, and some random manga or CD). I didn’t think everyone got one of those, so the consolation prizes were just more GITS figures.

I sort of wish I had more time in the dealer’s room, but I already spent a ton of money there… Picking up a CD here, a penlight there (Chemistry was selling some pretty nice white ones), plus some t-shirts. MangaGamer’s got really slim picking at Otakon, it’s just sad to compare it to what they have at AX.

Okay, enough for now…I need the sleep. And while I’m at that, someone let me know what MangaGamer gave away at their panel? LOL.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom