A weekly look into American otaku culture

My favorite “manga series only available in Japan without a chance in hell of making it over to America” is now going to be released in America. I am thrilled but still a little skeptical on this news.

Futari H is the centerpiece of Katsu Aki’s career. You might know this artist from his other releases in America, mainly Psychic Academy and the Escaflowne manga, but they just fail to compare to the success of Futari H. With 34 volumes of the manga out right now in Japan, H is still going strong in its monthly serialization in Young Animal magazine.

Futari H is the story about the sex life of a newlywed couple. They are both age 26 and still virgins when they become married, and so they must work together to figure out the surprisingly complicated procedure that is intercourse.

Unlike what many would call “hentai” manga, Futari H looks at sex through a very realistic view. It deals with the problems one will encounter in the act which often get overlooked in other adult comics. For example, the man struggles with premature ejaculation early on in the story. The book fills itself with tips and suggestions on how to improve one’s sex life while also listing statics such as the ratio of age in relations to frequency of intercourse.

Quite simply, this book teaches the reader the ins-and-outs (pun intended) of sex while still having a sweet, funny, and very erotic story. It is a quality title unlike any other manga out there, which is why it has become so popular in Japan and is a personal favorite of this blogger. So I am excited to know that this title will be making its way to America. But is America ready for it?

If you notice in the Amazon listing, Tokyopop is renaming the title “Manga Sutra”, which I think is a wise move on their part. The name Futari H is a play on the Japanese word for masturbation, which is why the title can never be translated into English. I’ve always said it can be translated as “sexurbation”, but that doesn’t sound good, does it? “Manga Sutra” is a great way of telling the audience that the comic is more of a guide to sex instead of just being pornography.

What isn’t going to be good, however, is the backlash that is going to come with releasing this title in the US. The reason why I said this story would never make it to America is because Americans cannot handle sex that well. While it would be okay to have an insanely violent comic imported to America, a sexual comic could only be released in some adult book store. I wonder if big-named bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble will refuse to carry the book since it is so explicitly about sex. If these books are not sold in the same location as other Tokyopop titles, then it is bound for failure.

Perhaps the price tag is some indication on how this title will be treated differently from others. Amazon lists the book at $19.99, about double the price of a normal Tokyopop title. Hopefully this will mean that each volume of the US release will be actually be comprised of two volumes of the Japanese release. This could be a very good plan to cut out a 34+ release schedule to only 17+ volumes. Or maybe the books will be bound in some kind of black hard-cover, adding to the illusion of it be being a “sexual bible” like the Karma Sutra.

However, the price increase could also be because Tokyopop is anticipating low sales of the title, and they need to increase the price for it to become profitable. Having a book not sold at Borders, being twice as expensive as a normal book, and knowing that there is at least a 30-volume commitment to the series will kill this release even before it hits the shelves.

I am very worried about this release. It could be revolutionary and show America how manga can actually be used to teach serious material. At a recent job interview, my interviewer was telling me how the best business education book he ever read was in manga format. Having a sex guide manga could be a huge success.

On the other hand, this could just be another great manga title that will just fall into obscurity because America just wasn’t ready for it. You can bet that I will be keeping an eye on what Tokyopop says and how it handles the release of this title through out the rest of the year.

Here’s hoping that they make the right choices.

ANN reports that Kodomo no Jikan, renamed Nymphet for its US release, was canceled due to outcries that it was too pedophiliac. The comic is a comedy about a elementary school girl who attempts to sexually seduce her school teacher. The humor comes from the fact that the teacher is normal and wants nothing to do with the girl’s advances.

He explains that the “primary reason for canceling Nymphet is due to [his] recent realization that later volumes in the series can not be considered appropriate for the US market by any reasonable standard.”
Link

Of course it’s not appropriate for the US market! Hell, we never have comedies that deal with kids doing adult things like having sex with their teachers… (-_-)

Some people in our country really need to pull that stick out of their ass…

UPDATE:Otakuismhas a good write up on the topic along with a sample page of the comedy that is “too hot for USA”.

Go Nintendo:

I guess Capcom decided that they love to make money. Capcom’s president has announced that the next installment of Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) is already in the works. There are no official details at this time, but I am sure we will learn a bit more in the coming months.
Link

For some reason, I found myself hooked on the Gyakuten series last year, and Gyakuten 2 will always go down as the first game I’ve finished in Japanese. I think that these games might be America’s gateway into the visual novel genre of video games. Volume 3 will be out in the US this September, and you can bet that the new vol. 4 will come out state-side 2008. Can’t wait to play ‘em! (^_^)

::sigh:: Harumi-chan…

I’ve made it very clear on this blog how much I think that anime bootleggers are the lowest scum of the universe. So you can imagine just how thrilled I am to see that my beloved Amazon.com is now selling Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: The Complete Bootlegged Boxset

This is the OFFICIAL Amazon.com selling this bootleg, not some third-party vendor.

Unbelievable. I hope that the media gets a hold of this and exposes the world to the problem with anime bootlegging.

UPDATE: It appears that the site has taken down the item for now.

Reuters recently reports on how the American film “Babel” is currently creating a stir in Japan. The film shows a series of events from around the world and how they are all connected in some way or another. One of the stories takes place in Japan, and examines the story of a deaf mute schoolgirl. The role provided an oscar nomination to the Japanese actress, and so her performance was heavily anticipated when the film was released last week in her native country.

But with in the first couple of days, there were 15 reported cases of nausea caused from watching the film. The scene in question involves the Japanese girl going to a dance club. The scene lasts for a minute and involves a light strobing effect to show the chaos with in the dance club. This scene has forced the film’s distributors to provide warnings on the movie’s website and on the film’s movie posters.

The film has been shown in over 40 different countries, and yet Japan is the only nation to have reported difficulty with watching the film.

Why is Japan the only country with this problem?

My guess is that the Japanese still fear the effects from the Pokémon Shock.

For those of you that don’t know, the Pokémon Shock is an event from ten years ago in which strobing effects from an episode of Pokémon caused hundreds of reported cases of nausea and epileptic seizures. Since the event, anime has been shown with a warning message advising the viewer to watch the show in a well-lit room. Animators have also ceased with using all forms of strobing effects in their shows.

Yet the recent uproar over “Babel” is a clear indication that the Japanese still fear the affects that modern visual media has over the human body. While they can no longer blame anime or video games, the dance club scene provided the perfect placebo for getting everyone sick to their stomach again. Given the fact that the film has never had any problems before, it is ridiculous to start saying that it has always been dangerous.

But as ridiculous as it is, I do recall having the same uneasy fear when I saw the dance club scene when the film came out in America last year. In fact, when I watch any pre-shock anime featuring strobing effect, I do wonder if it is possible to get a seizure from watching it. Looks like I still fear the shock as well. But that is a shame, because the strobe effect is probably one of the coolest things you will ever see on film. That’s why it was used in “Babel”.

The Pokémon Shock is something that killed a little bit of the creative potential in all of Japanese anime. I only hope that “Babel” doesn’t provide the catalyst for killing amazing visual effects in cinema as well.

Buzz was generating through out all off last week as a mysterious website popped onto the internets with promises of the popular anime series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, being licensed in the US. The website only claimed that “The World as we know it will end” that Friday. But for those looking around, one could find hidden messages to decrypt written in the website’s source code. The popular website AnimeOnDVD.com also played along with the highlight of the letters SOS written on their news posts. The hype was big, and many started to speculate who was behind the mystery.

Well, after my last round of final exams that Thursday night, I checked on the website after midnight to see if the announcement was made. I was on the east coast, but the announcement was going to be made midnight on the west coast. But as midnight struck through the different time-zones, the website’s source code updated with various messages. One of them was even a comedic dialog between Haruhi and the other members of the Brigade. Finally, then midnight came on the west coast, the website changed with this video:

At first I thought it was a joke. A bunch of fans got together to pull the biggest hoax in anime history. But as the video continued, it became clear that this was no joke. In fact, this was probably the most enjoyable marketing campaign I have ever seen.

Bandai’s idea behind the ASOS Brigade is to reach out to everyone who has already become fans of the series through watching the fansubs. They have created their own amateur-style home movies and are posting them on the internet. They have also created a Myspace page and encourage fans.

The movie is done “for fans by fans” style, and they really know their target audience. The movie interlaces Japanese and English dialog with a Korean-Americain, former Pink Ranger Patricia Ja Lee, playing the lead role, and two Japanese actresses playing her sidekicks. Lee even admits in the film that the Japanese actresses are only meant to appeal to the otaku fanboys. This is a very suitable attitude for the character she portrays, and is even more entertaining when we, the otaku-fanboy audience, realize how true it is.

But the video also dives into other aspects of the online anime community that we weren’t expecting from a company like Bandai. Internet catch-phrases like “O Rly?” and “No Wai!” are used through out the video, which are only used by visitors of such otaku-influenced websites like 4chan.org and ytmnd.com. Also, after fans complained over Lee’s choice to translate a word to “psychic” over the word “esper”, a new subtitled version of the video included the fan-prefered word written under the original recording.

And while this Myspace page (like most pages on that website) is a nightmare to look at, it is actually one of the greatest parts of this campaign. The profile is done through the point of view of the series’ narrator, Kyon. The blog that is featured on the site is very well written and entertaining.

Hello to everyone in the States. Haruhi has ordered me to make an American website for a new branch of our club she is forming, the Americans Spreading Excitement All Over the World with Haruhi Suzumiya (ASOS). My name is Kyon, and I am a sophmore at North High School, in Hyoga, Japan. Truth be told, Kyon is a nickname. I suppose that isn’t relevant. In any case, Haruhi Suzumiya, the president of our club has worked out a sponsorship with an American company. In exchange for mentioning the US release of the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVDs, we get supplies for our next student film. I heard it was a box of costumes and a few video tapes. I don’t want to think of what kind of costumes that Haruhi will make poor Asahina wear after the last time. In fact, I never really wanted to join this club in the first place. Well, that doesn’t concern the rest of you.

And in the latest blog post, Kyon makes references to very fansub-specific ideas:

Haruhi has been in a FIT since we didn’t post the subtitiled version of the video. Asahina grabbed the wrong torr…err…file. Haruhi has been sending me text messages to my cellphone nonstop since then. She just posted a rather angry message on the main http://asosbrigade.com website, so at least I have the link. […] I thought the raws were fine, but in any case…enjoy!

And that is where I feel the ASOS Brigade holds its defining characteristic. Many people feel that Haruhi will never sell well in the US because most of the fans have already seen the show through illegal methods. This campaign is an attempt to target the fansub community into actually supporting the series financially when the opportunity is available to them. The movie ends with special thanks to “All fansubs lovers who buy the official DVDs and who help support more creative works,” and specifically gives no thanks to “downloaders/bootlegers who never buy the official DVDs.” This is a very bold statement, but I completely understand where they are coming from.

I fully support Bandai in this campaign, and encourage you all to do the same. This is a fantastic series to get behind, and deserves all the praise and support it can receive. I have never had this much fun over a marketing campaign before, so mad props to all the folks behind it!

There seems to be quite a lot of buzz around the internet and news sites lately about a “boom” in otaku in Japan. When the Densha Otoko phenomenon hit Japan, it showed the nerds that it’s okay to be nerds. As more and more otakus started hitting the streets, many once hidden aspects of the otaku culture, like maid cafes, had started going mainstream. But while this boom has had a positive effect on allowing nerds to come out of their shells, I feel that it’s also bringing a lot of negativity that could very well put them back in them.

I admit to being an otaku. I have a pretty extensive collection of Japanese comics and anime. I have a very good knowledge on subject, and love to talk deeply about it. My laptop has a constant rotation of anime desktop wallpapers, and I wear a tiny Shinobu pin on the collor of my jacket. Hell, I even have an ex-girlfriend cosplaying on the back cover of an otaku documentary DVD.

But still, even though I am otaku, I really don’t believe that I am as antisocial as the common perception of otaku is. I feel that anime is my hobby and not my life. When I make new friends, I never talk about anime to them until they bring it up. And often they are quite surprised that I have so many of these damn books and never mentioned it to them before. That’s because I feel that there’s nothing worse then an enthusiast going on and on about something that you don’t care about. When I encounter an otaku who seems to only want to talk about anime, I always think, “Why doesn’t this guy get a life?” Even if I my body language is telling them, “I don’t really care,” they’re so lost in their own little world to notice. That kind of otaku annoys me, so I try my best not to become one like that.

Of course, many of you are probably saying, “what a hypocrite! All he does on this website is go on and on about anime! He’s the one that needs to get a life!” But you see, that’s beauty of the internet. I’m not forcing any of you guys to read this. If you don’t care about what I have to say, you would have stopped reading this a long time ago. Trust me, I’m not like this in real life. This is just my hobby. So I guess that I do hide that one aspect of myself in the real world.

But recently I have lost a friend who felt I was “too otaku” for him, which really confused me and upsets me. We were both taking Japanese together for about a year. Now he wasn’t that much of an anime fan, but he did see this website and really liked it. We even went into NYC one day for sushi, and I showed him around all the Japanese bookstores as I bought $60 worth of untranslated comics for myself. But I was never that good with speaking the language, and when he tried to hold a Japanese conversation with me, I could never understand him or respond. This got him really frustrated, and he started to talk down to me like he was better then me. Towards the end of the semester, he started making derogatory comments about white americans trying to learn the language only because they were otaku, and how much they sucked at it. While he never mentioned me directly, I knew he was talking about me. He honestly thought that I was learning the language for all the wrong reasons. However, I could never understand what exactly were his “right” reasons for learning the language. While we wasn’t an anime otaku like me, he was a J-pop otaku. But still, I was forced to have to ignore him for the rest of the semester.

Though the ironic thing is that he actually gave up on the language and is now n longer taking the classes. Meanwhile, this white otaku is still doing it to the bitter end. (^_^)

But this did leave me to wonder why was I working so hard to learn the language? Was it only because of anime? But reflecting on my life, I’ve realized that I’ve always loved Asian culture ever since I was a child. And since Japanese seemed to be the most useful to my Nintendo-raised mind, I’ve decided to primarily focus on that. I seem to remember that the first time I said I wanted to learn Japanese was back in middle school. That was many years before I was an anime fan. And while at the moment Japanese is the only asian language I’m studying, I also take some time to find out more about Chinese and Korean language and culture.

But still, my friend putting me down for being otaku did start to concern me, and when this “Otaku Boom” started to happen, there was also a lot of negative attention that came of it. A female manga artist, Mimei Sakamoto, recently lashed out on otaku’s and the recent moé craze.

“This fetish you call ‘moe’ is a pedophiliac fetish and is nothing more than perversion. It’s not really something you should be gushing over. In other countries, they’d call what you’re fantasizing over ‘child pornography’ and you’d all be arrested. I’m ashamed that these ‘otaku’ who are perpetual criminals have entered the mainstream and started an otaku boom.”

I have taken great offense to this as I am a huge fan of moé myself, and hate it when people perceive it as being for pedophiles. I’ve made it very clear a long time ago what separates moé from child porn, but other recent news have further driven this misconception into the public’s eye. She then also informs us:

“… recently I’ve seen all these dorky guys walking around in thick glasses and checkered shirts and it pains my heart to think that they may be hoping to meet some pretty girl who’s going to fall in love with them. Sorry guys, the chances of that happening are zero […] All the world is going around talking about maid cafes and stuff and making these so-called otaku look good. But people must realize that these guys are simply men incapable of recognizing reality and are incapable of being in a normal loving relationship.”

In which Sakamoto demonstrates that she has the same ignorant view that the general public has about nerds ability to love. Based on my experience, I feel that otakus probably make incredible lovers. Otakus are passionate and very romantic. If the a girl is like a princess to an otaku, then he will use that creative imagination of his to make her feel like one. But since everyone’s opinion on us is so shot to begin with, girls just don’t give us a chance. This makes the nerd’s self confidence so low that they can’t even try, so they crawl into their shy shell.

And that’s probably why Densha really sparked something big for the otaku culture. It did tell the world the truth about how if you break through the otaku’s shy shell, there is actually a sweet and sensitive lover there for any girl. And this message and mainstream attention allowed the nerds to gain some of that self-confidents again, and we no longer felt quite the need to hide our nerdiness as much as before. This is real progress, and I think it’s a wonderful thing. But if the backlash like Sakamoto’s comments continue, nerds will have to go back into hiding.

But so far that’s been Japanese otaku, what about the Americain ones? I guess with in our country, it’s really too new of an idea for the gerneral public to have an opinion on it. In fact, the media seems a little fascinated with the idea, so it’s actually a positive thing from our point of view. In fact, the only people I honestly see hating on the otaku are those that are otaku themselves. This would include my friend from Japanese class, the numerous posters on 4chan and other internet message boards, and myself from the comments I made earlier about the people who annoy me.

But to me, it’s really looked down upon in Japan. A recent video from Japan about American anime fans shows a very negative view as they make fun of us trying to learn their culture and language. I recall reading an article from a Japanese man on how he has to laugh to himself every time he seen an American otaku on the train in Japan. This man feels that this is the common perception of us in that country. In fact, I’ve probably only met two Japanese people in my whole life that actually took my hobby seriously.

This greatly concerns me because I am planning on becoming an ESL teacher in Japan a year from now. For just being an American, I’m already going have to face the racis- er, I mean nationalism - from the Japanese people for being a 外人 (gaijin, “outsider”). But I’ve also come to understand that an ESL teacher is a pretty prestigious position to have. I don’t want the fact that I am an otaku to take that away. After two very intense years of studying a foreign language, I don’t want to have the kind of disrespect towards me that was shown to the other otakus in that video who also honestly tried to learn the language.

So in conclusion, it’s hard out here for an otaku. While the recent boom of otaku culture has been good in allowing us to come out of our shells, it also has been showing a lot of negativity towards the culture. The public still will not take us seriously, and the problem is even worse for American otakus.

Personally, it’s gotten so bad that I am going to have to hide my otaku-ness even more then I do now. I’ve already lost one friend because of it, and I don’t even want to think about how it will affect my stay in Japan. If I don’t drop it, I don’t think I’ll ever be taken seriously.

How messed up is that? (-_-)

Three months ago, I wrote an editorial on the story of a man being convicted of possessing anime child pornography. This was the result of the PROTECT act of 2003, which classifies fictional visual representations of children having sex to be illegal. I feel that this law is ludicrous on the grounds of no crime is ever truly committed in the world of fantasy that is anime and manga. Do you arrest a person for assisting with a murder if they watch a horror film? Of course not. If the characters don’t exist in real life, then there are no real victims. You simply can’t lock someone away for watching anime!

But sadly, they just did, and as ANN reports today, it’s for 20 years. Now, the guy was also sentenced for having actual child porn (you know, the kind with non-animated children) on his computer, and so it is justified that he face whatever punishment is coming to him. But they made it very clear that the anime was one of the reasons for his sentence. The US department of Justice even proudly declared in it’s press release that his “… conviction for receiving cartoons is the first conviction under the statute that was not based on actual photographs of children.” Convicted for non-real photos… why aren’t they seeing their own hypocrisy?!?

This is a sad day not only for anime fans, but for anyone who likes fictional works of art. Fiction exists because it’s not restricted by the laws of State or science. I don’t support child pornographic anime, but I can’t believe that someone can be arrested and sent to jail for it! Doesn’t it scare you? What is that saying to the world about America’s idea of freedom? How can we look down on a war over political cartoons in the Middle East when we just sent a guy to jail over fake kiddy porn?

This is not good… this is not good at all…

The name, “Geneon” has always left a sour taste in my mouth. Beside for the fact that you can never say it correctly (it’s “Jen-neon”, not “Gay-neon”), I’ve also had many issues with dealing with them personally. When I ran an anime club, I had good relations with every one of the major US companies. That is, everyone but Geneon. Not only were they impossible to get in contact with, but they would never return your phone calls or emails. Even when I talked to a Geneon rep at Anime Boston last year, I got the guy’s business card, and even he didn’t return my emails! So when the members of my club asked why we couldn’t screen series from Geneon, I had to tell them, “Because Geneon sucks.”

But no matter how bad their costumer service is, there’s one thing that I must give them credit for-

They sure as hell know how to chose a series! (^_^)

A Geneon rep recently posted on the Internet some hints regarding their yet-to-be-announced licenses. Among these “difficult hints” were the name of the magazine both series were published in, and the names of the manga-ka for each series. Needless to say, these hints made it very clear that the series were “Ichigo Mashimaro” and “Kamichu!” which just so happen to be the two best series to have come out in the past year.

I’ve written a detailed review of Kamichu! over the summer, and my opinion of the show has not changed one bit. In a world where the many deities of the Shinto religion cohabitate with humans, a cute middle school girl wakes up one day to discover that she has become a goddess herself. Unsure of what kind of powers she actually possess, she relies on the help of her friends and other gods to discover her true potential.

This series is filled with the same kind of magic and excitement that comes with a Miyazaki film, and the lovable heroine made this series a must watch for anyone looking for deeper meaning in anime. It was lost in fansubs due to many episodes being released only on DVD, so that makes it especially great that it was picked up by Geneon. You can bet this blogger will be counting down the days until this gem is released to the American audience.

The 2nd series announced, “Ichigo Mashimaro” was something I’ve started getting into a couple of weeks ago. This is a fantastic comedy about the lives of 5 “cuter then words” girls. This show does not really have a plot… think of it as a Japanese schoolgirl version of “Seinfeld”. You stick the girls together in a room, and comedic genius ensues. There are times when I thought, “this show is so Japanese, but also very American at the same time.” Which leaves me to wonder if this show was made with the American audience in mind. When the show was originally aired in Japan, Geneon USA was listed in the shows credits, which lead many to believe that Geneon already had dibs on this show. But given this unique style of comedy, I’m going to look further into what other kind of involvement did the US branch have in the making of this series.

And by the way, if anyone else has ever come up with the “Seinfeld” analogy before me, please let me know.

So there’s been a lot of buzz around work this week over this show called, “The Book of Daniel” that premiered Friday night on NBC. You see, it’s a show about a priest addicted to painkillers with an alcoholic wife, gay son, and drug-dealing daughter. As if that isn’t enough, this priest would also have personal conversations with the man himself, Jesus. Before this show even aired, some conservative group went ape-shit over it. They had set out an email campaign attempting to kill the show. One of the targets of this crusade was a chairperson of the corporation I work for. I’m not sure if we sponsor the show or not, but my IT department had to go through the hassle of filtering out every single one of the 50,000 emails we received. (-_-)

So, being the left-wing liberal I am, I did what any decent Christen would. I TiVo’ed that shit and enjoyed watching it. It’s actually is a very good show, and I recommend it to anyone. It’s not anti-religious, it just shows that real life has its major hardships that everyone must endure. And at the same time, is also doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s those ignorant people sending those angry emails that are given the religion a bad name, not this show!

But enough of my ranting on such a subject on this blog. Here’s the real reason why you anime fans will find this show interesting.

Why exactly was the daughter selling dope? Well, it turns out that she needs the money to buy computer equipment. She creates her own Japanese-styled web comics.

“Whoa, you do manga?!?”

“Manga? What is that? Some kind of marijuana?”

But not only does she do manga, her comic is a yaoi story based on her gay brother!

This is unbelievable! A prime-time show on NBC that uses anime, manga, and of all things yaoi as a plot device. What are everyone’s thoughts on this? When did anime become so big that they even talk about yaoi now?