Flight Plan Looks Dead

August 5, 2010 //
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Canned Dogs and NeoGaf Forums has reported that the makers of Shining Force Feather, as well as the Summon Night series, is “dead.” By this definition, it means the company’s main website is unreachable, the main doors shuttered, and nobody answered to calls anymore.

Having no access to Twitter (somewhat), I took this opportunity to immortalize the newspiece here so that people can refer to my website for details.

Links of Note:

1. zepy (05 August 2010). Canned Dogs » Blog Archive » Summon Night maker Flight Plan is dead?
2. duckroll (05 August 2010). Flight Plan most likely out of business.

Mary Jane Never Had to Put Up With Rape

July 17, 2010 //
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On the behest of Hinano, I decided to delve into the world of shoujo manga – those “for-girls-only” fare that guys avoid because it has tons of cuteness and klutzy characters, supposedly defining the target audiences’ character. And for that, I chose Ren-ai Shijou Shugi (レンアイ至上主義, Love’s Supreme Principle) by Kanan Minami. This was my first foray into shoujo world…

…and oh boy, did I chose the right one.

There is not a single chapter where I do not see the female protagonist getting her feel up by either her boyfriend or other guys-who-are-closet-rapists. Seriously, I did not know of shoujo smut, but if there is an in-your-face version of it, this manga fits the bill entirely.

My preconceived prejudice about shoujo manga is that they tend to make things classy by not explicitly shoving shots of the female anatomy. This one did so, but barely. There isn’t a crotch shot or boob-smothering act in many panels I’ve seen, (so far I’m up to Chapter 16, so I don’t know if further chapters takes smut to a whole new level), and the act of having sex was portrayed mildly, not seeing any sex organs anywhere (you hardcore hentai fanatics can go to Fa*k*.n*t and enjoy your dregs there). Personally speaking, real-life women would simply take offence at being touched at all places. Then again, the characters are all high-school students, so it’s possible they don’t have a maturity of an adult yet.

(Also, this topic is going touchy-feely – no pun intended – about something that’s barely legal, although the Non-existent Youth Bill news item was a novelty in itself.)

Also, I might agree with Hinano’s nitpick that the rapists (not the actual boyfriend, whom the girl actually doesn’t mind having sex with) were given a backstory, seemingly to justify their actions onto her. I, however, like to play the Devil’s advocate: the whole premise of the title is already smutty to begin with. Rather than having to put up with more art of Seri and Tamaki having sex together, might as well create a compelling case of why the rapists like to rape her.

In a way, it stayed true to the shoujo spirit instead of meandering to an Aki Sora fare. Actually, both titles are parallel to each other, just that one takes taboo to a higher level, and the other trying to paint a white face to a black-hearted figure.

I just feel dirty knowing that I read these two titles.

P.S.: Mary Jane’s Last Dance was the inspiration to the title. I don’t mind country music-inspired… music. And for your info, Mary Jane never did so, because she was implied to be in a freshly necrotic state.

Links of Note:

1. Hinano. (July 14, 2010). Manga Review: Renai Shijou Shugi« 見ないで! ひとり言
2. MyAnimeList. (July 17, 2010). Ren-ai Shijo Shugi – MyAnimeList.net

When Normalfags Have an Epiphany

July 16, 2010 //
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My nephew wanted to watch Monsters vs. Aliens, quite dated, but still enjoyable to watch. The scene comes to a part where the female protagonist suddenly “grew” into a 50-foot woman. While watching this (I was busy ironing my clothes at this time), my significant other commented a gem:

“If this were an anime, the skirt would have been shorter, and her boobs would have been larger.”

Madamme, a winner is you.

Mitsudomoe! Is…

July 13, 2010 //
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… Crazy.

… Over the top.

… Outrageous.

… Is… Is… Is…

BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Initially I had vowed not to touch on the Summer 2010 season shows, but it seems that the tainted hand of anime fandom presented me this staphylococcal contagion of a cesspool dressed in disguise of a cute (not pedo!) moé-filled show about three kids with attitude problems.*

I have no problems with the premise of the show (I have an eternal sense of newfaggotry to entertain myself fully with shows I know all other anime bloggers would have nitpicked were it not for their astute observations in tropes and such). To pull it off, watching Episode 1 without subtitles (even if some jokes are lost on me) still entertains me overall.

But I’m touching only on this. I’m still searching for a complete rundown on Bakemonogatari, since that’s my primary objective.

*I totally get zaitcev’s Gaijin Smash reference, though.  Heck, I was reading that black dude’s website while he was still hardcoding it with pure HTML! Yes, I am oldfag in certain quarters. Damn, Rico Suave, the eternal Narutofag kid with a penchance for feeling black guy’s… you get the rest**.

**Doesn’t help the fact that while I was in Japan, I (and my other fellows) came across this black dude who moonlights as a pimp, soliciting for prostitution in Shinjuku. I can not forget that mental image anymore.

Links of Note:

1. zaitcev (Author). (13 July 2010). Just ripe for anime.

2. Azrael. (13 July 2010). Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I am A Japanese School Teacher

Staphylococcus

Why Did I Cried On Angel Beats!?

July 6, 2010 //
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I knew myself to be a sore loser, but after the graduation ceremony episode (effectively the show’s finale), suddenly I found tears swelling up in my tear ducts. The last time I cried to an anime show was Air (which is, by most anime bloggers’ standards, a very confusing show). It’s a good thing I did not watch Kanon or Clannad (and its spinoff, After Story), or I think I will go down the drains and starts flooding downtown.

As I observed earlier, this show is part of the Angel Beats! media franchise, so the heart-tugging last episode was a reminder that there are more opportunities to explore this part of the parallel universe, as a “bait” to let users who are emotionally invested in the anime, to go and buy the manga, the DVDs, singles and the mascot band GirlsDeMo’s albums. Blatant, I must say.

The Return of bj0rn & The 6th Wave Of Anime Fans

June 11, 2010 //
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Good to see him back from the zombiefication that is National Service.

Previously I read Patrick W. Galbraith’s ‘The Otaku Encyclopedia’, which contains an entry on anime. He describes the different “waves” of international otaku/anime fans (albeit from an American perspective).

To paraphrase from his book, the first wave marks the era of Tatsunoko Productions and Astroboy; the second wave, the Gundam era and space opera shows; the third wave marks the diversification of anime shows and the rise of Miyazaki Hayao; the fourth wave marks the cyberpunk era of Akira and the dystopian depictions of the world; and the fifth wave starts from Evangelion’s rise to cultural prominence.

The number of active anime blogs out there are as diverse as the generational gaps they indirectly represent. Several “mature” bloggers, like digitalboy and ghostlightning, have been bloggging madly about the space opera genre. It may postulate a second-wave anime fan, but second and third waves’ timeline tend to overlap each other; remember that Urusei Yatsura was also a prominent show in the 1980s, and that the space science fiction expanded to include the affable Macross genre (ExecutiveOtaku of THAT Anime Blog loves this show, so we can say he also comes from the second-wave anime fan generation).

People like Kurogane’s Anime Blog are the fifth wave anime fans, because their main interests are from Evangelion timeline onwards. The greater number of anime blogs belong to the fifth wave, because by this time, advances of the Internet and the advent of peer-to-peer technologies have made immersion into the anime subculture easier.

The reason why I made this distinction is because I have been struggling to rationalize the so-called “dearth” of anime scene in terms of creativity. The courage to experiment and innovate has long dissipated with the economic crisis of 2008, and it does not help that by the start of 2007, the quality of shows are getting “less and less appealing” in my opinion. Probably I have missed the woods for the tree. It may make sense to say – if I have to hazard a guess – that Naruto, Bleach and One Piece are landmark shows that defined the new sixth wave of anime fans.

It was bj0rn’s remark that made me started this observation post.

Man, we sure did a lot of stuff together back then and it’s just so nostalgic thinking back. And you know what? I’m actually intending to go back to try and go back to those days again, and to start off, is by reopening my old blog, which I’ll probably get a new domain and all and start it anew.

I am not sure how to reconcile Singapore’s unseen, but implied, generation gap between the fifth and sixth wave of anime fans.

P.S. When AnimeNfo Radio keeps playing the OP for Lime-Coloured Exotic War Story, either I have trouble keeping a straight face, or I got mysteriously nostalgic, even though I am sure I have not damn saw the show back in 2006.

Links of Note:

1. bj0rn (June 11, 2010). The beginning of the 22nd year of my life and my newly found freedom.

Shit Hits The Fan (The Manga Scan Sites, That Is)

June 9, 2010 //
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Apparently, the bigwigs of Park Avenue, Chiyoda and San Francisco/Los Angeles have decided that enough is enough, and decided to do the anti-Spiral way by way of taking legal action against scanlation sites.

I think the problem now is whether there will be compliance from the scanlation sites. By looking at how the music industry has tried very hard against The Pirate Bay, I do not foresee an optimistic conclusion to this issue.

Part of the appeal of the so-called “scanlation aggregators” is that they made reading manga online easy. The ease-of-access was probably their Achilles’ heel, which is why major manga publishing companies are going straight at them. I won’t be surprised if they also target scanlation groups, too, since like fansubs, some scanlation groups also did series already licensed by English-speaking companies.

Unfortunately, the alternatives against scanlation aggregators or scanlation groups are not that far-reaching. That ringing digital rights management issue that so many rights owners are clamouring for, will just drive potential customers away from “going straight“. The speed and availability by English-speaking publishers are not damn fast, and they (the companies) don’t answer for three-quarters of the world who also speak English, but do not reside in Western blocs. It is also noted that it will going to be a very ugly struggle to re-educate a generation and ask them to pay for digital goods.

I guess the concept of “anmoku no ryokai” does not exists if it disturbs the distribution chain. Nobody disturbs the distribution chain, because only rich people can do distribution, not lay people.

Links of Note:

1. Reid, Calvin. (June 8, 2010). Publishers Weekly: Japanese, U.S. Manga Publishers Unite To Fight Scanlations.
2. Anime News Network (June 8, 2010). U.S., Japanese Publishers Unite Against Manga Scan Sites

And So Mystlord Finally Speaks

June 8, 2010 //
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The new guy from THAT Anime Blog has some pretty nice diatribes about John Meadar‘s execution of Angel Beats!. Nice touch.

The fact that the only other Key show I’ve watched thus far is Air, spoke volumes of how disjointed I am in relation to the rest of the anime scene. It does not even matter: let me save up some money so that I can buy either a Blu-Ray version of Kanon or Clannad (sad girls in snow BOOYEAH!) or just be a casual anime fan & buy the North American releases of the two shows.

This is why I chose to remain with the scene: even before I get to see the shows, people are already stark raving mad about them. It’s like seeing a delicious dessert coming onto the table, but you’re not going to get it: the starter is already in front of you.

P.S.: Looking at the hyperlink to that post, it occured to me that he is either still new to WordPress editing, or he’s trying to pull a Hediak Ando.

Links of Note:

1. Mystlord (June 8, 2010). Angel Beats 10 – The Formula Revealed!.

What’s This Evangelion Thing?

June 8, 2010 //
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As an introductory post into this new blog, let’s start with Evangelion.

Now, I don’t deny that I have watch neither the original TV series nor the concluding OVAs. Of which I am relieved: there has been so many controversies (Hideaki Anno being one of them) surrounding the franchise that it turned modern anime fans into a bludgeoning buffoon bereft of true intellectual capacity (the term “mindf***” perfectly describes this).

So when I had the chance to watch its recent movie reincarnations, one on a local TV network, and the other on cinemas, I was somewhat able to grasp at the nostalgic/hardcore fans’ fanfare and furore regarding the movie remakes.

Now I’m not sure whether to like or hate the series if it has pandered too much to the moéfags, but for a newcomer, my guess is it was necessary to include a third female element (mimicking how games now shipped with three opposing factions instead of two), a change of character developments (albeit minor, since Shinji is forever a perennial wimp), and more palatable elements of the franchise; of what, I don’t know.

Without knowledge of the back story materials, the movies were “…kinda meh, but, yeah.” I think this show is more suited for now-adults who have grown up watching Evangelion back when they were teenagers and on a brink of sanity. I kinda missed the boat.

If anything else, I secunded watching this to my future self once I get my hands on all media on Evangelion. *shudders*

Links of Note:

1. Miao, Jason. (June 7, 2010). evangelion 2.22 you can (not) advance.
2. wintermuted (May 28, 2010). Rebuild Revisited: “another version of the truth”.
3. digitalboy (May 31, 2010). Rebuild of Evangelion 2.22 – You Can [NOT] Understand… So Here’s A Diatribe On My Perception.
4. chaostangent (June 6, 2010). The last Evangelion 2.x post I’ll write.
5. lvlln (June 3, 2010). Evangelion 2.22 – A Love Letter to Fans.