A weekly look into American otaku culture

Wow, what an exhausting first day of convention going. Not really much along of the lines of big news… I guess that they’re saving that for tomorrow. But here’s what I got to say.

This year the convention is held at the Hynes Convention Center, a much larger venue then the hotel last year. It might have much more attendees this year then the last, but there was plenty of walking room and panel space to go around. The only thing that was a down-grade from last year was the video game room, which was so hot and crowded that

Registration was a breeze and very well organized. I walked in and out with a pretty badge and a bag of goodies in no time at all. This year’s convention had a theme to it: the Boston Red Sox. That badge portrays the two mascots of the convention in front of a baseball scoreboard. Our first stop was to the opening ceremonies, which started off with a cosplaying convention mascot dancing to a song from a local Irish band about the Red Sox. Then they introduced the web comic guests. One of them was dealing with a family emergency, and so his wife delivered a tear-filled apology for his lack of attendance. A pretty depressing thing for an anime convention… but then the mood was quickly changed with some great voice actors speeches. Then they introduced the Japanese guests including the creator of Chrono Crusade, and J-pop star Yoko Ishida. Ms. Ishida surprised by singing her OP to Ai Yori Aoshi, and she was really good. It was a new experience for me hearing J-pop live, and I really enjoyed it. She’s doing a full concert tomorrow, which I unfortunately will not be attending… oh well, at least I got to hear one song.

I went to a couple of voice actor panels, but while they might be a little assuming, I just wasn’t too impressed by it. So I took my girlfriend around to check out the rest of the place. God, was she gorgeous dressed up as Chun Li! And a lot of people took notice to her too. One person would stop her to ask for a photo, and as she posed about 3-5 other people would whip out their cameras to take a shot too. Some people even took many photos of her. She looked so pretty and I could tell she was having a blast getting all this attention. So we’re going to go around some more tomorrow and hopefully make a lot more fanboys drool over her. I’m such a lucky bastard!

After that I attended the Media Blasters panel which nothing was announced. I asked them a question about why they never picked up the Battle Royale movie, and they told me that the movie came out right around the Columbine shootings, therefore the Japanese company was advice not to sell it to the US. However, the guy did hint that Media Blasters themselves might be doing an American version of the film, which is actually something I’ve been hoping someone would do for a while now.

Next came making manga with Tokyopop, where they pretty much just talked about recruiting American manga artist. I normally don’t care much for American manga, the process that these artist have to go through was something I never thought about before. I did gain a lot more respect for them. One interesting note was that Tokyopop hated the idea of censoring manga, and were very disappointed in the actions of other companies.

Synch point canceled on us, but I did ask the guy about their secret FLCL project. He said that there was no word on it at this time, but there were a lot of rumors going around on the internet. Oops..

The rest of the night was spend watching previews of the latest dubs from ADV and FUNimation’s Kodacha. I tell you, there’s a reason for the “Fun” in FUNimation. They handed out pixie sticks and toy hammers again this year, and so we were all having a blast playing around and hitting things.

But that’s enough for one day. Time to get some sleep for a large day of announcements tomorrow.

So today I’m taking my club up to the Anime Boston 2005 convention. This will be my third convention, but a first for many members of my club. If you’ve never been to one of these things before, I tell you, it’s really fun. There are so many things I want to see and do while I’m there, but unfortunately three days is just not enough time to do them!

Things are going to be very different this year as now I have this website that I’m really trying to push and promote. I’ve made these cute little flyers to pass out and leave for people to take. I also plan on meeting with the reps from all the big companies to see if they want to support this site with the idea of that it’s promoting their latest products. I am probably taking a big risk by approaching them with such a request, and I might even get turned down by one company after the other. But there’s one thing I learned when I started my own anime club, and that is that the people in the US anime industry are some of the friendliest folks you’ll ever meet. They really care about entertaining and satisfying the fans because they’re really big anime fans themselves In fact, the rep from Bandai, Jerry Chu, got his job from being the president of his college’s anime club! So because of this, I have a great respect for the industry and want to make a contribution to it. So wish me luck as I try to mingle with everyone there.

I’m also going to try to update this site with daily or maybe bi-daily reports right there on the spot. I’m collaborating with my club member and blogging protégé Alex to allow me to do so, but I’m not quite sure how well it’s going to work. Since Boston is the home of Anime On DVD.com, rest assure that they will break the latest news on that site before I do. But still, I believe that my site will provide that news from a completely different prospective from them, and probably talk about all the things that went on after the “big guys” left to update their sites. Pictures? Maybe…. but I think we’ll probably have to wait until Monday to see them.

So if you’re going to the convention this year, be on the lookout for me at all the industry panels. I’m the big, scary guy with a mega-cute Chun Li cosplaying girlfriend. (^_^)

Source: Read Me! GIRLS!
Thanks to Matt for the link! ^_^

Okay, so I’ve mocked this whole thing before when it was first announced, but truth be told… I’m kinda looking forward to this…

(>_<)!

Yes… I actually think that this odd show will turn out very good. While I can’t say that I’m a fan of the Powerpuff Girls, whenever I do catch it I think it’s pretty funny. That’s the one thing American cartoons got going for them, they’re very well written when it comes to comedy. So if they have American humor with kawaii Japanese animation… I think we have ourselves a great show to look forward to.

So of course, you’re a typical anime loser who comes home to his dorm room to discover an incredibly attractive girl in her underwear standing right there in your bedroom. After the confusion settles down, she tells you that she is your wife and she greets you like any other housewife would. “You must be tired. Do you want to take your bath now, or would you like to eat first, or… or do you want to…?” Well, all this is a little too much for you, so you run away straight into the large bosom of the high school blond bombshell. She pushes you to the ground and then starts to take your clothes off, mentions something about “doing it” with you. So then your “wife” uses her magical powers to blast the vixen away. As you run away outside, you encounter a third girl. This time is a samurai chick that hates your guts and even points her sword at you. Apparently she’s going to be your wife too.

But that’s just another day for the average anime guy.

…

Lucky bastards…

First of all, I need to punch whoever was the second one to come up with the name Maburaho or Mahoraba, because the two look and sound so much alike that it’s going to cause a lot of confusion for me. But enough about that, let’s get to the review.

This series takes all the conventions that are associated with a harem anime series and adds a magical element to it. This would be pretty original if it wasn’t for the fact that they did the same thing back in the 80’s with Kimagure Orange Road, or more recently with Aki Katsu’s Psychic Academy. But that might not be bad thing. Being unoriginal doesn’t get you points from an intelligent point of view, but they sure can be fun to watch. And that’s exactly what this title is - Fun.

The character designs are very cute and sexy, and the fan severice is very good. I’m such a sucker for harem anime, mainly because you have a choice of female characters to like the most. There’s always the sweet one (Yuma), the sexy one (Kuriko), or the tough one (Rin). I personally like the sweet one in all these series, so I’m rooting for the guy to hook up with his childhood friend in this one.

The voice acting got a little on my nerves, though. Jessica Boone sounds very amateurish with her lead voice as Yuma. She’s trying to be cute and it isn’t really working. And then Tiffany Grant does a great job with the sexy Kuriko character… but it’s too much like her Asuka voice from Evangelion. I can’t help but thinking it’s Asuka I’m listening to.

But if you’re in the mood for a fun and mindless harem anime, Maburaho is just the thing for you. It’s no Ai Yori Aoshi or Love Hina, but I still found myself entertained by it.

If you like what you see, please support this series by buying Maburaho at Deep Discount DVD or your local retail store. On sale NOW!
Maburaho © MABURAHO Seiakujinkai

So I think I’m just going to have a little section devoted to initial impressions of the newest fansubs out there. Shows that I don’t particularly want to commit to reviewing on a regular schedule. So today I finally got to see another title on my “to watch this season” list, and I actually enjoyed it. If you want screens and what not, check out my man Jeff’s coverage of the series. As for me, here are my impressions of Gokujou Seitokai.

There was one word that kept on racing through my mind as I was watching this- “Azumanga… Azumanga… Azumanga…” There’s just so much. The animation, the style, the humor, it all screams “AZUMANGA!!!” However, it falls short of being as good as that series. Why?

The puppet.

The puppet is the most butt-ugly thing I’ve ever seen in anime, and I’ve seen a lot of ugly things. Jim Henson must of waked up one morning with a nasty hang-over, looked at his design sketches from the night before, and go, “What the hell was I thinking?” as he threw it away. Then somehow these Japanese guys found it and said, “Wouldn’t this be a great character in an anime?” And it wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that the series revolves about the damn thing. Eww…

But now that I’ve vented about my disgust for the puppet, let me get to the positive things about this show, cause it really is good. The humor is just wacky enough to translate well with the American audience. It was very weird at first, but I found myself laughing hysterically at the antics of the main girl and her puppet counterpart. All the voices and character designs (of the human characters, at least) are extremely cute and really stand out. I found myself very happy while watching this because of that.

But it’s not something for everyone, as noted by the fact that my girlfriend turned it off after the first 10 minutes. I guess you really have to be in the right mood for something as wacky as this. But it was still a good series that I plan to continue watching.

Source: ANN

Derived from the verb “a plant sprouting, ” moe is an expression of adoration for innocent girls who are “as fresh as a flower bud”; can also be used to describe excitement towards an object or character.

Unmarried males in their 30s account for the majority of the moe market.

***

This news really took me by surprise. Moé seems to be the newest vocabulary term used around these parts these day. In fact, I used it for the first time last night when I was reviewing He is My Master. I always find it hard to find the right words for my favorite style of anime. I throw around the words like “kawaii,” and “bishoujo,” because they all say the same thing: cute! I love cute things, especially those l’il anime girls with the big glossy eyes. But for some reason recently that love’s been a lot stronger for me then it was before. Why?

Well I guess my theory is that I’m at a stage in my life when getting married and starting a family seem to be just over the horizon. In a way, it’s very scary, but I’m also excited about the idea of parenthood. Since I grew up with just a brother, I never really interacted with any girls for most of my life. The idea of raising a sweet little girl of my sounds so appealing to me because it’s something I never had before.

There was a shoujo series that came out recently called Aishiteruze Baby that really hit a nerve with me. It was the story about a high school boy that is forced to take care of his little female cousin. But since her mother has abandoned the girl, she relies completely on the older boy to take care of her. This forms a father-daughter relationship between the boy and the girl, and the boy experiences so much love and happiness from her. It’s so sweet and innocent that it just made me tear up and wish I had that.

So then why the sudden attraction to Moé? Is it a sign of pedophilia?

Hell no, I say it’s the longing for fatherhood. That the last statistic in that article proves it. “Unmarried males in their 30s account for the majority of the moe market.” When you’re a Japanese salary man working for over decade in an exhausting job, what do you have to show for it? What’s the purpose in your life? Well, if you’re not married and don’t have a family… I don’t really think you have much going for you. So yeah, they’re seeing that window of fatherhood slowly closing on them, and it makes them long for it more. So that’s why they turn to Moé comics, anime, and games. And if you look at these things, there’s hardly any mention of anything sexual. All these men really want is an innocent little girl of their own to take care of.

Now I’m sure that many will look at this article and think that it’s a revolution of pedophilic perverts. But I say don’t be so quick to form that conclusion. To me, Moé is just another natural and healthy form of escapism.

My second and last preview of Fumoffu.

Part1:

Part 2:

Wow, what a beautiful-looking series. I actually had to stop it and check the internet to make sure this wasn’t an OVA. The art quality looks top notch, particularly during sunsets and the opening of the second part.

The plots of these two episodes are pointless but very entertaining. A lot of the humor this time comes from repetition and awkward pauses. These techniques are often found in mature American cartoons but almost never in Japanese anime. So it’s a refreshing change that should go over well with the US audience.

What doesn’t go well for the US audience would be the opening to the second part. In it, Sousuke is attempting to translate classic Japanese literature. It’s a joke that even the most hard-core American anime fan would have a little trouble getting. It’s a difficult job to handle, and ADV did do a decent job, but this will probably go well over the heads of many Americans.

So all in all a very entertaining series. Make sure to check it out when it arrives on US store shelves next month. ^_^

Please support this series by buying Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu at ADV films or any retail store. On sale 5/10/2005
Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU © Gato Shoji • Shikitoji/Jindai High School Student Committee

So it’s only four more days before I take the 13 members of my club to Anime Boston. This will be my second year attending the convention, but I guess it’s a different experience when you make it a school-sponsored trip. Add on to the fact that I’ve got a lot of papers due soon, and I’m one stressed out Scotty.

But I do have one thing to look forward to when I come up to Boston. This is my girlfriend’s first time cosplaying, and she decided to be Chun Li from the Street Fighter video games. That choice right there spells out H-O-T. But also my girlfriend is a short and cute half-Chinese sweetie, so she’d look adorable in any costume. So put a kawaii girl in a sexy costume, and you got every fanboy’s dream come true.

So this weekend she finally tried on her costume for me, and oh my god, I was in heaven! I’m still smiling even now when I think about it. She’s going to turn a lot of heads at the convention, and I bet she’s going to get a lot of photo requests. I love my baby so much, and I can’t wait to show the world just how lovely she can be. So be on the lookout soon for pictures of the cutest cosplayer out there. And sorry fellas, SHE’S ALL MINE!!! (^_^)

I also finally posted my review of I’’s. Given all the controversy between this series and my site, I actually ended up loving it. And the comments I’ve been getting seem to be saying the same thing. Everyone should check it out.

Satoshi left a comment on Mathew’s blog about the latest Ichigo episode that was so funny I had to share it:

Interestingly, this looks like the first anime in a while where the childhood friend *isn’t* the prime candidate. Do strawberry undergarments override even this most holiest of anime traditions?

Lmao, great observation!

And finally, congratulations on abq and his sudden popularity. It seems that his website’s been making it’s way around the community in the last week, and many people are praising him as much as I was last week. You’ve got one awesome site, so keep up the great wok.

Well, I finally got a chance to watch He is My Master. For those of you who have been following my blog, you’ll know that I’ve been bitching about how no one’s been fansubbing it. Well, three weeks later, someone finally did. So now I finally get to see the latest work from my homies over there at Gainax. I liked it, but I still have some very mixed feelings that need to be worked on.

Good: The character designs are the cutest I’ve seen since Koge Donbo. It takes Moe, adds in a little bit of Lolicon, and increases the Kawaii-ness 10 times over. I absolutely love it! Something this cute should be considered a safety hazard since it can rip my heart right out instantly.

Bad: besides the for Moe cuteness they randomly mix in cartoony cuteness. Particularly with the alligator… it reminded me of the American children’s cartoons from the 70’s, and not the cool ones like School House Rock. Sure, it’s a little funny, but I can’t really say I like it so much.

Good: The fanservice is very pleasing, and not just visually. Sure, the whole cosplay thing is appealing, but the reason why there are so many “maid” series out there is because men love to be served by women. Of course, tell a girl in reality to do all the housework, and you’ll get a big slap on the face, and rightfully so! But anime is an outlet for us to escape into fantasy and enjoy such pleasures, which is very good and healthy. So this series does a great job in “serving” the fans in that respect.

Bad: The male protagonist (or in this case, antagonist) is an asshole. He’s a perverted and manipulating son-of-a-bitch that I just absolutely hate. Sure, it’s a break from the anime convention of having a nice guy as the master. But in this case, change is not good! >:o

So again, very mixed feelings on this show, but I think the goods outdo the bads. I’ve decided not to pick this one up for blogging since there’s enough blogs already out there covering it. But I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. ^_^

They say that the average teenage boy thinks about sex every 7 minutes.

Now you would think that this fact would me more true for some boys then it would for others. If you recall your adolescent and teenage years, you will remember that there were some real perverts and horn-balls back then. You know, the boys that would bring porno magazines to school or spend most of the time talking to others about how hot the girls are around them.

But then at the complete opposite of the spectrum comes the guys like me. Hopeless romantics that spend all daydreaming about finding that perfect girl to call their own. Someone to go out on dates with. Someone to give gifts too. Someone to just simply love. Surely these guys are not at all like the perverts. They’re not thinking all those nasty things, right?

Well, as the hero of our story puts it, “Guys who aren’t interested in naked girls only exist in fairytales!” It’s just a fact of life that from the perverts to the sweethearts, sex is on the mind of every teenaged boy. And this is the idea and inspiration behind Masakazu Katsura’s latest US release, I’’s.

I’’s (pronounced “eyes”) is the story of Ichitaka Seto, a typical high school student and overall a very sweet guy. He has a crush on his fellow classmate Iori Yoshizuki. He experienced a harsh rejection from another girl very early in his adolescence, and so now he’s too shy to show his feelings for her. But as luck would have it, the two of them were chosen to pair up to run a class presentation together. And so she cutely calls the group “I’s” since both of their names both being with the letter I.

But the situation has changed very quickly for “I’s” as Iori was recently featured in a magazine doing a swimsuit photo shoot. The magazine starts circulating among the boys in the class, and they all go crazy for the sexy girl. But of course in every high school, you got a bunch of boys that are complete perverts and have no shame at all when it comes to sex. They end up harassing the poor girl by shouting such things as “Show us what you got!” and chanting, “Strip! Strip! Strip!” to her. Ichitaka sees this and is disgusted at the other boy’s behavior, so he does what he can to protect the girl he cares about.

And this is where the drama and conflicts in the story come in. As disgusted as he is with the perverts, he can’t help but to agree with them to some level. He saw the magazine himself and has been thinking his own little sexual fantasies about Iori ever since. He can’t help himself from staring at her butt as a sudden gust of wind shows her panties to him. So in his head he’s battling with the question, “Just what makes me better then those low-life perverts?”

But Ichitaka is truly a nice guy inside. As he watches Iori acting in her drama club, he’s blown away and wonders, “How could I think those nasty thoughts about her?” He really does care about Iori’s feelings over his own self interest, but it’s just human nature to get carried away sometimes with sex. He doesn’t want to be a pervert, so he does feel guilty when he loses control. As the reader you understand his true intentions, and you cheer him on as he finds is way to showing the girl how he truly feels. It’s this kind of story that paved the way for other great shounen romances in recent years like Love Hina and Ichigo 100%.

But manga is made up of story and art, and this title shines in both. One of the things that makes Katsura so great in my mind is the way he shows the beauty of the female body. His girls are not your typical exaggerated anime babes. They often have petite figures with realistic waste and breast sizes. His proportions are dead on, and his details and shading are incredible. His nudes look as if he had sketched real female models. He proves just how much manga is an art form. In particular, the cover art is amazing. It shows Iori but drawn to look like a photo-realistic Japanese girl. Now while the rest of the comic is not done in this style, is still look very nice.

So not only I did enjoy this series, but so far it’s one of my favorites. And judging by the fact that it lasts for 15 volumes, I’m sure that the quality will not go down for a while. This is the series that the American Love Hina fans have been waiting for. I’’s is a great story of teenage love, sex, and comedy.