Monthly Archive for May, 2006Page 2 of 2

Let’s Talking!

22 Comments |
May 12, 2006
| Miscellaneous

I know I’ve been conspicuously quiet about “Anime Blogs in Crisis ‘06″, and as much as I would have liked to have remained so, I keep seeing my name pop up in related discussions. So, I suppose I should say something - even if my initial reaction is to simply shrug my shoulders.

It’s easy for me to shrug my shoulders, though, because I already have an audience. And it’s an audience I didn’t have to work all that hard for. Right place, right time, all that jazz. And, it’s easy for me to shrug my shoulders, because, well… it’s just my nature. Obviously, I’m happy that so many people drop by here every day to read what I have to say, but, even if my audience were reduced to nothing but a few close friends and an army of spambots, I’d still be content. I guess you could say I’m a bit self-absorbed.

But, you know, I kind of like self-absorbed bloggers. The anime blogs I enjoy most are the ones where I come away thinking, “Man, I would love to sit down face to face with this person someday and shoot the shit until sunrise.” If I had some sort of hard-on for disembodied voices, I’d sit around reading press releases all day long. If I’m interested in what someone has to say, it’s because I’m interested in who they are. I like the sound of their voice. And, to me, that’s what blogging is all about: it gives interesting people the opportunity to share the sound of their voice with people like me.

So, when I read these “How to Win Friends and Influence People” posts on other blogs, complete with a laundry list of steps necessary to reach anime blog nirvana, it kind of pains me. Producing interesting content ain’t rocket science. If you have passion for something, and you have the will and desire to communicate that passion, you’re half way there. All the gimmicks and clever tricks in the world won’t substitute for passion. There’s a lot more to building an audience than just attracting eyeballs.

And that’s why Blogsuki isn’t the absolute marker of anime blog success. Do you think I read every single blog listed there? Of course not! I have minimal interest in half of them. But, if I stumbled upon some blog that spoke to me in some way, be it through Blogsuki, someone’s blogroll, a random link dropped into an e-mail, whatever… I’m going to keep coming back. How I got there was inconsequential. All that matters is that I did get there, and plan to return in the future.

I think the anime blog community is full of a lot of fascinating people with a lot of fascinating ideas floating around in their heads, and I don’t think those thoughts and ideas should play second fiddle to a bunch of pointless shit that doesn’t really matter.

If we’re gonna stay up all night talking, let’s talk anime.

Yuri and the Reptilian Brain

14 Comments |
May 10, 2006
| Otaku

In 1985’s, “Yuri: Power, Compulsion, and the Modern Anime Fan”, noted psychologist and author Dr. Seiji Satou suggested that, “Yuri is not only compelling at the conscious level, but also at the sub-conscious level.” He continues, “It is this sub-conscious response that likely holds the key to understanding Yuri and its effect on today’s anime fan.” Dr. Satou concludes, “The impact of Yuri on the Reptilian Brain is a matter deserving of further inquiry and research.”

Sadly, Dr. Satou died two years later in a tragic accident ["University professor mistaken for train groper, bludgeoned", Mainichi Shimbun, August 1987], leaving his research unattended and unfinished for over a decade. However, fueled by renewed interest in “otaku” culture in Japan, the Ochanomizu School of New Media has recently established a “Yuri Studies” program, founded on the basic principles and ideas contained within the late Dr. Satou’s work.

Today, the program’s first doctoral candidate (working anonymously, as to protect her identity as host of a popular children’s television program) has revealed her contribution to the field in the form of a short film: How the Reptilian Brain Views Strawberry Panic.

The details of her work are set to be published in July’s Journal of Otaku Science.

Your Least Favorite Show Rocks

48 Comments |
May 8, 2006
| Television

“Duh, Love Hina sucks SO MUCH.”

How many times have you heard that particular line (or something similar)? A lot, I would expect. That’s “conventional wisdom” for you. Get enough adherents of a niche subculture together in the same place, and you’ll eventually find most everyone agreeing on most everything. Or pretending to, at least.

The anime fan community is not immune to this, unfortunately. Once the community has settled on a general opinion of a show, character, or studio, that opinion is enshrined as “fact”, never to be challenged, lest ye be looking for a fight. Of course, anime fans do enjoy a good fight, so there’s always room and opportunity for disagreement. But, come the end of the day, the conventional wisdom always prevails. Ten years from now, some poor soul will wander into an online anime discussion forum to profess his undying for Love Hina, and it’ll be the same ol’ story…

“Duh, Love Hina sucks SO MUCH.”

If you ask me, though, there’s no place in anime fandom for conventional wisdom. It’s antithetical to the individuality and creativity that makes the medium so special. But, more importantly, when it comes to anime, conventional wisdom is often wrong.

Consider Amaenaideyo!!, an oft maligned and forgotten show from not long ago. And when I say “not long ago”, I mean “not long ago”: the second season (yes, there was a second season) wrapped up only a month or so back. Now, all things considered, Amaenaideyo!! has all the elements of a successful anime series: cute girls, lots of fanservice, um… lots of fanservice. OK, it’s not Evangelion, but neither was Tenchi. Still, conventional wisdom suggests Amaenaideyo!! should have been well received.

But, in reality, Amaenaideyo!! was anything but well received - at least among American fans.

Why? Not enough boobies? Not enough cute girls? Not enough exclamation marks in the title? Too many boobies? Too many cute girls? Too many exclamation marks? Hell if I know. All I do know is that, within an hour of the first episode airing, the show was on the anime community’s collective shitlist, and has remained there ever since. Conventional wisdom strikes again!

It’s a shame, too, because Amaenaideyo!! is actually quite good. And, no doubt, the show has its fans: those who ignored the conventional wisdom and gave it a try.

All five of them.

So, allow me to use my position as anime blog elder to proselytize on behalf of the church of Amaenaideyo!! Do you like cute girls? Do you like boobies? Do you wish to attain enlightenment? If you answered yes, you should really give Amaenaideyo!! a try.

It’s better than Love Hina, at least.

A Sentimental Journey

18 Comments |
May 5, 2006
| Miscellaneous

Rain, rain, go away. Actually, I like the rain, but the cold is annoying. It’s May, after all.

Bored out of my mind and stuck with nothing to do last night, I raided the ol’ DVD collection. As usual, I spent more time trying to decide what to watch than I did actually watching it, but eventually settled on Sentimental Journey. A few months back, I sat down to rewatch the show for the billionth time, but didn’t make it past Emiru’s episode (which I generally skip anyway). So, last night, I jumped ahead and finished off the last couple of episodes.

But this post isn’t about Sentimental Journey.

Ask me to list my three favorite titles of all time, and my response would be: Maison Ikkoku, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Patlabor. What one thing do these shows all have in common? Pretty simple, really: they’re old. And, if you take a look at some of my other favorites, more “old” titles pop up. Kodomo no Omocha, Battle Athletes, Marmalade Boy, You’re Under Arrest, Magic User’s Club…

Sure, it seems silly to label shows from the late 90s as “old”, but given that all the shows listed were produced before or around the time of the great “digital switch”, they’ll always be ghosts of anime past.

Cel vs. Digital debates are about as enjoyable as Sub vs. Dub debates (sorry folks, but I don’t think cel animation is poised for a triumphant comeback). But, I have to admit that I experience a heightened emotional response to older cel-based shows, at least compared to newer and slicker digital fare. Of course, it’s not like cel-based animation is inherently better than digital animation. Far from it, in fact. It’s amazing what studios are doing nowadays with the assistance of computers.

So, why the attachment to cel-based shows? Were they simply better shows all the way around? It seems a bit of a stretch, if you ask me.

Perhaps it’s nostalgia.

Actually, that’s probably it - nostalgia for those early days as a fan, when everything was worth watching because, dammit, it was anime!

. . .

Perhaps this isn’t such a great thing after all.

. . .

Ask me again in ten years.

This is What it Sounds Like…

7 Comments |
May 1, 2006
| Television

Oh. Now I get it.

After finishing the fourth episode of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, there was a brief moment where I sat, scratching my head, wondering what the hell the show was trying to do. Then, it dawned on me, and the show’s coolness level shot right through the roof, left the atmosphere, up into orbit.

Dammit, I’m gonna enjoy this.

The funny thing is, the narrative seemed so straight-forward in the first four episodes that I don’t feel particularly inclined to go back and search for things I might have missed the first time around. I keep trying to think of potential red herrings or unexplained events, but come up empty. I have a feeling, however, that, if I did go back and watch those first four episodes again, I’d come to discover the show was a lot more subtle than I give it credit for. I just need to find the time, I guess.

It’s worth noting, however, that, as super creepy as the show is at times, I don’t think I find it particularly scary. Rena’s initial “freak-out” definitely comes out of nowhere, but by the fifth or sixth instance, it’s more funny than it is chilling. What did surprise me, however, was Keichi’s increasingly bizarre behavior (perhaps raising some interesting questions about the roles of the “victims” in the story?). In fact, the scene I found most intense in the show’s first act is the one in which Keichi freaks out, slamming a door on Rena’s hand, ignoring her pleading cries of pain. That was pretty out there, if you ask me.