Omonomono

February 2, 2017

Anti-Immigration Is Anti-Eventer

By omo

In the USA, immigration is in the mind. The new President’s administration has all sorts of issues, but this one is a major killer as it affects, and very personally affects, not just those of us who travel overseas to events. I cannot count the number of students studying in the USA who came from abroad, and I love how they culturally enrich this country. More importantly, they make up a good number of the con population who travel for guests, so they are also my siblings-in-arms. It’s these people that make up the largest affected population segment, I think, which the changes to the US visa system affect.

Beyond that, the Trump Administration has hollowed out a lot of top positions in the DHS hierarchy and that will have a slowdown effect in terms of processing of visas and the like, as the new administration sort things out. This means if the Daisuki guys want to run that lovely Anison Matsuri this summer, they better get a jump on the roster so the paperwork can begin, if it hasn’t already started. Anyways it’s hard to speculate the impact on the rank and file process for applying for various vias at this time, let alone for another few months. I have to wonder how this impacts other cons?

When I landed in JFK terminal 7 this past Monday morning, it was below freezing. A handful of worried-looking people were at the international arrivals exit and there was a sign (in English) telling people where to find a lawyer. The newspaper-headlining protest crowds were absent, but it was also Monday morning, and not the weekends anymore. Still, it’s the kind of thing that may dissuade some folks from traveling to USA, even if it’s for an offer to come attend a con, just saying.

I think this sort of governance is so bad that it even hurts those anime-girl-headed turds that harass people on twitter, even if indirectly. It’s unbecoming and unfortunate.

2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Popular Culture, The Law

January 25, 2017

Demichangs

By omo

I guess I don’t read too many anime blogs these days but I’m glad someone blogged about Demi-chan’s disability discourse. It’s an easy one to make as people like myself (as in most people educated about literary analysis on some level) would see fantastical characters as some parallel, real-world analogy. He makes the same point I make–it’s easy to take that comparison to the extreme (which is, anything outside the lit mechanism we’re using) and it’s kind of ableist to make these sort of claims. To that end I think it’s much better to just say what the mechanism is–by creating these fantasy characters with unusual daily challenges it lets us appreciate people who are different from us, that the real-life-parallels in some casesÂ may have challenges we’re unaware of or unable to appreciate. It’s racist (as a joke–I guess)? If you think of Demi-chan as a work to express some thematic concerns to the Japanese manga-reading audience then the cultural context would be a lot more black and white for that very homogeneous society (speaking as an American living in a ideologically and racially diverse metropolitan area) known as Japan.

Would we have this discussion if they were X-mens? Let’s not even mention the rarest character of them all–the mid-30s adult harem lead–but that a daily-life take forces the analysis from, say, plain racism, to ableism? That’s a nice trick, one that might make Miyazaki proud.

I do want to talk a bit about the succubus character and the trials she puts up with in order to not let her special powers bother the human people around her. It’s just so charming. It’s a kind of gap moe. It’s a kind of seeing something genuinely new and unusual with familiar material. It’s kind of what Monmusu was missing for me (even if I don’t quite expect that from anything). This is kind of why I watch anime at all, because I can’t imagine anybody in the west would make a story like this in a multimedia format.

OK, back to packing for P-meeting. Hopefully I’ll be able to write up that prompto.

Leave a comment | posted in Demi-chan wa Kataritai

January 15, 2017

The Yakkai Eventer, or Why It’s Complicated

By omo

Here’s my take. It’s probably just tackling a portion of the larger debate about being yakkai, nonetheless we should start somewhere. These are more philosophical and principles about calls and the like, and not so much guidelines or about specific things…

In a nutshell, it’s about cultural differences and personal opinions on unsettled parts of newly developing culture. TL;DR is that do what you want, just don’t make trouble (which usually means do what the locals do).

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

January 13, 2017

Year in Review 2016: N-listing

By omo

I’m putting this out first because the other post can stand by itself, introspection or not. Hey, it’s not March yet.

2 comments | posted in 91 Days, Bakemonogatari, Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Erased, Fate, Flying Witch, GATE, Girls und Panzer, Gundam, Haifuri, Haruchika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun suru, Hibike! Euphonium, High School Fleet, Idol Memories, Idolmaster, Introspectives, K-ON, Keijo!!!!!!!!, Kimi no Na wa, Love Live, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, Mahou Shoujo? Nariaâ˜†Girls, Mob Psycho 100, Modern Visual Culture, New Game, Occultic;9, One Punch Man, Osomatsu-san, Saki, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop, Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume, Shokugeki no Soma, Showa Genroku Rakugo, Sword Art Online, Wake Up Girls!, Yuri on Ice

January 9, 2017

Taiyoucon 2017: Wrap

By omo

Last year I didn’t hit a proper anime con in the States until Anime Boston over Easter, but this year I started off with Taiyoucon on the very first weekend of 2017. Taiyoucon is a little anime convention out in Phoenix, Arizona, boasting about 3000 warm bodies in its 2016 iteration. The 2017 version is its 7th ever and 3rd at the Mesa Convention Center, which is this little sleepy mess of ballroom and conference halls in the same complex as the nearby Marriott.

How do I explain this con? It’s one of the smallest con I have attended–about the same size as the first Animazement I attended in 2005 (~2700 warm bodies). The complex is broken up by curvy walkways and walls, so it was kind of hard to get a crowd shot. I didn’t go into the dealer’s room and that might be the single largest open area at the con. There were some large outdoor areas for gatherings but none of them were in a central area so most people didn’t stick to any one of them for lounging or cosplay shoots. The event setup is pretty cozy, as I can go from my hotel room on the 11th floor to anywhere in the con in less than 3 minutes basically. There weren’t that many people and the venue is all pretty small-like.

Not unlike the 2005 Animazement convention, Taiyoucon drew me there partly because it featured Kanda Akemi and Sanpei Yuko as guests this year, along with Lotus Juice, Hirata Shihoko, and Teddyloid. Did I ever mention how small Shihoko is?

Anyways, my goal at the con was just to pester the two seiyuu guests as much as possible by attending all their events, and to hang out with both con friends and some local friends who recently moved out there, plus getting a first person view of the AZ Ps working that con. It was pretty chill and laid back, more so because there aren’t that many people there and when we weren’t getting autographs or attending the seiyuu panels, we were either eating, lounging in the live viewing panels, or at a concert or a party of some sort.

The entertainment for Saturday at Taiyoucon is either the cosplay lounge (this year they have a monster girl theme) or at the VIP party with Teddyloid (invariably also including LJ and Shihoko). It was a good time at the VIP party but we didn’t do that much. I was there more for goofy photo OPs and listening to some Panty & Stocking musics, and trying the themed alcoholic drinks.

The drinks were not expensive but watered down like how the actual Characro IM@S cafe drinks were. And there was also this…

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts