Reisen Goes to School by Bus

Eroge Bus Episode 7 - Katawa Shoujo

2012-01-27T21:29:00.001-05:00

This month, I review and discuss Katawa Shoujo with Krizzlybear from Baka Laureate!

00:00 Intro - Skydive - Freefall

02:07 Opening Words

03:44 Break - TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT.mov

04:39 News:

Dec 29th: Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse Anime Designs Revealed

Dec 30th: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Film's Character Photos Posted

Dec 31th: End of the Year status updates for JAST USA and MangaGamer

Jan 1st: The Release of Katawa Shoujo

Jan 9th: Higurashi's Ryukishi07 to Launch New Series This Year

Jan 10th: Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story's PSP Videos Streamed
also: Tokimeki Girl's Side Premium 3rd Story's Promo Video Posted

Jan 14th: MangaGamer Hints at Two New Possible Games

Jan 15th: Amaterasu Translations releases English patch for Liar-Soft's Forest

Jan 17th: TOPCAT Suspends Work on Their New Game

Jan 17th: JAST USA Looks Into Licensing Steins;Gate Game

Jan 20th: Steins;Gate's 'Satellite' Returns to Akihabara in Tokyo

Jan 25th: Aaeru's Controversial Post: Don't Sell Your Fan Translation
Update: Fuwanovel won't have pirated games after all.

13:27 Break - Parity Jam

15:46 Katawa Shoujo Review (Spoiler Free)

38:38 Katawa Shoujo Discussion (SPOILERS!!!)

90:49 Break - Hanako.mp3

91:39 Upcoming Games:

Bunny Black 2 by Soft House Chara:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=721723
http://vndb.org/v8192

Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! S by Minato-soft:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=701555
http://vndb.org/v6245

Gaku ☆ Ou -The Royal Seven Stars- by Lump of Sugar:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=718586
http://vndb.org/v7772

Dousei Lover Able by SMEE:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=718733
http://vndb.org/v7774

Oshirikko Venus by Apricot Cherry:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=723494
http://vndb.org/v8089

Wanna. SpartanSex Spermax!!! by Guilty EX:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=722148
http://vndb.org/v9326

Sutadoru! by Abelia:
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=710941
http://vndb.org/v8183

97:38 Ending - School Days - Kanashimi no mokou e

Eroge Bus Episode 6

2011-12-29T20:09:00.003-05:00

This month, Hisui from Reverse Thieves returns to discuss what's the big deal with Type-Moon and their franchises.

Direct Download
Subscribe with iTunes

Show Notes:

00:00 Intro - Skydive - Freefall

Secret Santa Review: Xam'd: Lost Memories

2011-12-20T19:42:00.001-05:00

This is the second edition of the secret Santa review brought to you thanks to the efforts of the Reverse Thieves. Enjoy this review of Xam'd: Lost Memories by studio BONES.

What the hell is this thing?!

At the height of the anime bubble in 2008, there were many anime titles getting produced. Many of these titles were visibly trying to cater to a Western audience. Xam'd: Lost Memories is one of these titles. Unfortunately, due to the bubble and the massive quantity of different shows released at that time, this impressive sci-fi show has flown under my radar. So when Sentai Filmworks licensed this series earlier this year, I was sort of confused as to what this show is and why was it licensed. I now know as to why it was licensed: It's effing awesome!

So I dove straight into this series knowing nothing about it. The first thing I noticed just how pretty it was in high definition. The characters that were first introduced seemed somewhat bland and didn't really grab me at first. Of course the first episode spent a lot of time introducing all the characters and sort of show what their relationships were. Furthermore, the show did not wait to start weaving a story and right away the audience are thrust into a conflict. It appears that there are factions who are still fighting a war but it's not clear as to who is who and what their intentions are. And of course the main character ends up being mixed up with all the fighting.

Details. Details everywhere.

As I stated before, this animated series looks gorgeous in high definition. There are many painted environments as the series goes from place to place such as villages and towns. All the machinery is well detailed as well as attention is given to all the various rifles that are used throughout the series. The animation in the opening is fairly consistent with the animation in the series. As you can see the animation is smooth and there is a lot of action. The show has a lot of that and in addition there are quite spectacular animations of destruction. Overall this series is quite a visual feast.

Check out this opening.

As you probably have noticed, the openings and closings are entirely in English which is quite rare. The regular soundtrack does a good job setting the mood but doesn't really stand out and is fairly average in that respect. The Japanese voice cast was very competent at acting out all the characters and conveying their emotions. Unfortunately I did not try watching with the English dub, but from looking at the names of the cast they appear to be standard Sentai Filmworks talent.

So the series is mainly about a boy, Akiyuki Takehara, who gets caught up in an explosion that grants him powers that change him into a biological weapon much like The Hulk. However, he does not initially know how to fully control this power or what the actual purpose of it is. An enigmatic girl named Nakiami from a free lance postal air-ship flies over, and not only helps Akiyuki from being consumed by his new power, but also adopts him until he gains control. The first half of the series basically is his journey to master these new powers. Now there is a lot more going on than Akiyuki's journey and this makes the first half a bit hard to watch and impossible to marathon. Now the second part of the series is a bit easier to swallow since most facts were already presented to the viewer or are once again shown for clarity. Despite the initial confusion, the series did pull me in and I wanted to see more and more of the story. In short, the story is very dense which is somewhat hard to swallow for many people, but it is rewarding to keep watching as things become more clarified along the way.

Can you recognize the gun on the left?

Putting all this together it should be no surprise that Xam'D: Lost Memories is a must watch series. I would recommend this to anyone. If I were to give this series a number score, it would be an 89/100. Although a word of warning, this series should not be marathoned and I do recommend watching it twice as the second time around, the series is more enjoyable when everything makes sense.

Eroge Bus Episode 5

2011-11-24T11:28:00.001-05:00

New York Comic Con 2011

2011-11-04T11:09:00.000-04:00

In the middle of October, I came back to the city to partake in the massive gathering that is the New York Comic Con. This was the fifth installment of the convention and it has grown considerably to the attendance of over 100,000 people. Once again, ReedPop reserved the entirety of the Javits Convention Center for the convention but this time, they had access the areas that were under construction in the previous year. Similarly, the New York Anime Festival had its own place on the convention center with a larger space but utilized completely different. What was new this year was that New York Comic Con expanded to a 4 day convention allowing people who purchased VIP, or 4-Day passes access to the showroom on Thursday. Overall, the convention was still a lot of fun, but still suffers from many problems.

The presence of the crane reminds everyone that JCC is still under construction.

I came in on Friday expecting smaller crowds due to Friday being a school and work day. However, I was quick to realize that those circumstances didn't stop the hordes of people that filled the convention center. Already I was in game-mode where I scheme in any way possible to avoid crowds or lines. With few exceptions, the layout of the convention was almost completely different than last year. Even the way the showroom was organized was changed drastically. The maps provided by the various guides were fairly inadequate as they didn't show how the con was connected nor did it show where the panel rooms were located. So therefore it was a good idea to walk through the whole convention center multiple times to see where everything was so that one doesn't get lost and I did just that.

Friday's showroom. Fairly crowded.

The giant showroom is one of the few things this convention got right. The new layout seemed fairly random, but there was a good reason for that. Last year, the layout of the booths was neatly organized, placing comic shops together, anime shops together, etc. There was a big problem with this layout. There was massive crowding in the more popular sections and the sections few people cared for were nearly empty. Thus, the more random layout spread the crowding out. I was actually able to walk through most of the showroom on Saturday without any issues. As usual, the showroom provided with a ton of variety. There were booths where you can shop. There were booths that let you play games before they were released. They were booths that were showcasing various crafts. Also, in the corner section there was the usual artist alley. That said, the industry presence was fantastic. The New York Anime Ghetto was moved from the basement to the attic occupying a larger space. This space was used largely for the artist alley and a stage with cafeteria like seating. This I thought was very good for taking a break from all the hustle and bustle. NYCC also had a new floor where an enlarged table top gaming room was present. Also, on the same floor they put in a kids area and an area for autographs. With such a big convention, many distributors and publishers used this as an opportunity to announce new products or ventures. But was lining up for all these industry panels really worth it? With most panels and announcements also posted simultaneously online, I honestly think that seeing this announcements in person is of very added value.

Makoto Shinkai's Q&A panel with Roland Kelts

So it would be an understatement to say that the convention center was crowded on Saturday. Most places inside were packed wall-to-wall with people. Although I am fairly experienced in avoiding crowds, on Saturday, this was an impossible task. On top of that, there was quite a bit of confusion as to how people are supposed to line up for panels and events. Line up places were poorly marked and the staff were too overwhelmed to properly control the crowds. At times the lines simply turned into mobs who rushed the entrances of rooms. Even though the presence of the industry allowed for some great sneak peaks and announcements, it completely stifled any fan presence. Fan presence was almost non existent at this convention even on the anime side where fan presence dominates most anime conventions. On Sunday, the con funk was out of control. You can smell it everywhere. During most conventions, con funk is either isolated to a certain big room or neutralized by the staff. However, at NYCC, the con funk was completely out of control and the staff took no steps in making sure the con is funk free. Of course, the last issue is the remoteness of the Javits Convention Center. Hopefully in the future, the subway extension will make this a non-issue, but as things stand, you have to walk for quite a bit in either reach the convention center or leave to get decent food at a decent price. However, what will still attract me to attend New York Comic Con in the future years is the great guests that ReedPop can afford to bring to the show. If Makoto Shinkai and the screenings of his movies were missing this year, I don't think I would have attended.

The NYAF stage with chairs and tables.

As things stand, NYCC is growing faster than ReedPop can manage. The crowds are reaching San Diego Comic Con levels but at the same time, and with that the industry presence is at such a high level such that it is slowly pushing all of fandom out of the convention. New York Anime Fest continues to simply becoming an anime track at NYCC which is unfortunate because it basically means that NYAF practically dead. But not all is gloom and doom. Although I still see this convention becoming a massive trade show for geeks, there is still a lot of room for improvement. There is still a lot of space on the convention center that is either not properly utilized or not utilized at all. This space can be used to further expand the convention to include perhaps rooms for fan panels and such.

Eroge Bus Episode 4

2011-10-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

This month @GNitro of The Otaku Gamer returns to discuss the history of Eroge in Japan and the many localizations into English.

Direct Link

Show notes:
00:00 Intro - Skydive - Freefall
02:10 Opening words
19:13 Break - White Album - Anime OP
20:55 News:

SEP 29: Mangagamer releases Go Go Nippon

http://mangagamer.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/go-go-nippon/
side note: Reportedly sales have gone well. Game might be expanded through DLC.
side note: Bamboo held a 3rd live chat session

SEP 30: Translation Patch for YUNO
http://tlwiki.org/index.php?title=YU-NO

SEP 30: ToHeart 2 game gets anime series
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-09-30/toheart2-dungeon-travellers-rpg-gets-video-anime-series

OCT 2: While Album 2 game opening streamed

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-02/white-album-2-closing-chapter-game-opening-streamed

OCT 4: Translation Patch for A Profile
http://amaterasu.is.moelicious.be/blog/?p=1052

OCT 4: Fate/Zero collaborates with Master of Epic MMORPG
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-04/fate/zero-anime-collaborates-with-master-of-epic-mmorpg

OCT 7: Crunchyroll to stream Majikoi also ported to PS3
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-10-07/crunchyroll-to-stream-majikoi-oh-samurai-girls
Also: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-07/majikoi-dating-simulation-game-ported-to-ps3-next-spring

OCT 17: Maaya Sakamoto to record Voice CD for Type Moon project

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-17/maaya-sakamoto-to-voice-cd-for-type-moon-april-fool-project

OCT 17: Ever17's remake game opening posted
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-17/ever-17-remake-game-opening-movie-posted

OCT 19: Abunai Koi no Flight otome game offered as app for iPhone
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-10-19/abunai-koi-no-flight-iphone-love-game-app-offered

38:37 Break - YUNO - opening
41:20 Main Segment
76:40 Break - True Love - credits
78:23 Upcoming Games:

Madonna ~Kanjuku Body Collection~
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=716459
http://vndb.org/v7848

Custom Android Ai
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=710385
http://vndb.org/v7979

Walkure Romanze ~Shoujo Kishi Monogatari~
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=634685
http://vndb.org/v4041

Ren'ai 0 Kilometer
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=705658
http://vndb.org/v6714

Shinsei ni Shite Okasubekarazu
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=704543
http://vndb.org/v6611

Midori no Umi
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=710904
http://vndb.org/v7238

Steins;Gate 8bi
thttp://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=718041

Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu
http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=615265
http://vndb.org/v443

93:40 Ending - School Days - Kanashimi no Mokou e

Eroge Bus Episode 3

2011-09-29T21:31:00.002-04:00

Join me for this month's episode of the Eroge Bus with guest blogger/podcaster @HisuiRT from The Reverse Thieves while we review Innocent Grey's Kara no Shoujo released by Mangagamer

Direct Link Download

Show Notes:

00:00 Intro - Skydive - Freefall

02:22 Opening words and introductions

10:41 Break - Internet Dramu

11:20 News:

August 24th: A TL patch for Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo – Anata wo Suki na Shiawase was released

http://axypbworld.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/sh5/

August 25th: Analysis of Japanese sales of visual novels to date:

http://visualnovelaer.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/rewrite-sold-24424-copies-what-on-earth/

September 1st: Mangagamer releases a retranslation of Edelweiss

http://mangagamer.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/edelweiss/

September 5th: Some drama, Amaterasu releases TL patch to MuvLuv Alternative and Shikkoku no Sharnoth despite Mangagamer’s talks about licensing MuvLuv.

http://amaterasu.is.moelicious.be/blog/?p=962

http://novelnews.net/2011/09/06/amaterasu-deal-falls-apart-two-patches-released/

September 6th: Fate/Extra CCC RPG planned for PSP release next spring

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-09-06/fate/extra-ccc-rpg-planned-for-psp-next-spring

September 16th: TL patch for Rin ga Utau, Mirai no Neiro was released

http://zoom909.blogspot.com/2011/09/rin-ga-utau-mirai-no-neiro-patch-is.html

September 16th: Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney game cast revealed

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-09-16/professor-layton-vs-ace-attorney-game-cast-revealed

September 17th: TL patch for galaxy angel the end of enternel love is released.

http://tenka.seiha.org/2011/09/galaxy-angel-the-end-of-eternal-love/

September 21st: Aselia the Eternal goes Golden Master to ship in October

http://www.jastusa.com/aselia-the-eternal-goes-golden-master

28:47 Break - Kara no Shojo OP

31:17 Kara no Shoujo review spoiler free

Preview picture of Kara no Shoujo 2:

51:18 Break

52:01 Kara no Shoujo discussion FULL OF SPOILERS

76:12 Break - Mayushii Dubstep

77:01 September Japanese game releases:

Chu×Chu！ on the move～絢爛時空の歌姫祭（フェスティバル）～ by UnisonSoft Accent

プリンセスX ～僕の許嫁はモンスターっ娘!?～ (princess x) by Poison@Berry

VenusBlood -ABYSS- by Dual Tail

らぶ2Quad (Love 2 Quad) by Marmalade

恋騎士 Purely☆Kiss (koikishi) by effordom soft

your diary by CUBE

神咒神威神楽（かじりかむいかぐら）(kajirikamuikagura) by light

Lunaris Filia～キスと契約と深紅の瞳～ by Whirlpool

SuGirly Wish by Hooksoft

シュクレ～sweet and charming time for you～ (shukure) by GIGA

89:14 Outro - School Days - Kanashimi no Mokou e

Eroge Bus Episode 2

2011-08-24T22:05:00.005-04:00

Join me for this month's episode of the Eroge Bus as I talk with Kouryuu and Exedore of Mangagamer about Mangagamer. I apologize in advance for some of the noisy audio that occurs midway through.

Direct Download

Show Notes:

00:00 Intro - Freefall - Skydive

03:35 stuff no one cares about.

05:25 Break - Uguu!

05:37 News:

July 30th

Imouto Ijime english patch release.

August 11th

Hongfire.com has a front page facelift

August 11th

vNovel Interactive has announced a high quality professional remake

August 13th

3rd Carnival Phantasm BD to Bundle Melty Blood Game also 1st BD released at Comiket

August 13th

Key to release Little Busters for PS Vita.

08:32 Break - opening to Koihime Musou

10:28 Discussion about MangaGamer with Kouryuu and Exedore

43:04 Break - opening to DearDrops

44:33 August Japanese releases:

Rance Quest by Alicesoft

Yarisugiitazura! Swimming School by 18 Rocket Ice Cream

UraKyoushi ~Haitoku no InetsuJugyou~ by Bishop

Daiyamikku Days by Lump of Sugar

himekishi Olivia ~he, henshin, kono henshin otoko! sukoshi wa haji wo shirinasai!~ By Silky’s

Love Ride Eve by WhiteSoft

47:37 Closing - School Days OST - Kanashimi no Mukou e

Thank You: Otakon 2011

2011-08-01T15:36:00.019-04:00

It's that time of the year where tens of thousands of anime fans gather in downtown Baltimore. Of course, this gathering is Otakon, the second largest anime convention in the US. Last year, I made a fairly critical look at the failings of Otakon. However, I am pleased to say that this year, most of my complaints have been addressed. So without further delay, let's get into the details.

The best badge!

It's Friday morning and I made sure to line up at around 7 AM to get into the convention center. I was quickly reminded that it's the summer and this year has been especially hot and humid. Needless to say, when the doors opened at around 8:20 AM, I was drenched in my sweat. That said, not only did they let people in the convention center on time, but also 10 minutes early! Holy cow! All along my goal was to be one of the first people to get into the dealer's room. This is the first time in 7 years that I decided to do that. My motivation was the Puella Magi Madoka Magica charity poster. We had no idea how many Otakon was selling. Their website implied that there were limited quantities. Noon came and the doors finally opened. With few people around, I was able to get a good look of the dealer's room this year. The quantity and variety of exhibitors was quite an improvement. I think most notable additions were probably the Bandai Entertainment and Sentai Filmworks booths in the industry section. Very little space was wasted on large and lavish displays. The usual dealers were in attendance plus a few new ones. Overall, I spent a good chunk of my time at the dealer's room.

Scout beat everyone to the front of the line. Must have used Bonk!

Last year, Otakon's guest line-up was fairly lack-luster. This year, Otakon stepped up their game and offered a plethora of Japanese guests. Unfortunately, there was really too much to do and too much to see and I only managed to check out Atsuhiro Iwakami who was responsible for producing many Aniplex series such as Kara no Kyoukai, Bekemonogatari, Ore no Imouto Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga nai and most importantly the new Puella Magi Madoka Magica. He was a pretty cool dude and introduced Madoka to many people who never seen it. On Saturday, I managed to get his autograph on the limited edition Madoka poster. For a better coverage of Japanese guests, I recommend you check out Reverse Thieves' post on this matter.

Atsuhiro Iwakami just signed my poster.

What would a convention be without major industry panels? There was fairly a good number of industry panels which is a good reflection of the recovery of the anime industry. The Funimation panel was fairly straightforward as usual. There was a Sunrise panel that showcased some of their newest and upcoming shows. Most suprisingly though, Bandai Entertainment threw a hell of a presentation with the voice actresses of K-On! singing fuwa fuwa time. A violinist and composer who was responsible for the soundtrack to Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya played one of the tracks from the soundtrack while on stage. As fun as the panels were, however, most of them were fairly disappointing in terms of announcements. Surprisingly, the best announcements came from the Bandai Industry panel who announced the acquisition of Nichijou and Gosick. Aniplex USA announced Oreimo. ...and Funimation picked up the Sora no Otoshimono movie.

Typical Bandai Entertainment panel.

Despite the guest and industry heavy schedule, I managed to attend some fan panels. On Friday night, there was a Let's Play Eroge panel. It was a fairly entertaining panel. It was run by trio of girls so yaoi content was inevitable, and as an eroge panel it was quite mediocre. On Saturday, I attended the excellent Investigating Detective Anime panel which was presented by the Reverse Thieves. On Sunday, it was proven to me that the Touhou fandom is insane when I attended a Touhou panel. Finally, I wrapped up the convention with a Puella Magi Madoka Magica panel that went fairly in-depth into Madoka and was quite full of delicious spoilers.

There was also this Anime Amazons panel about strong female characters.

Every year of Otakon is remembered by something. For example, 2004 was known for Larc ~en~ Ciel's concert. 2010 was of course known for the massive fire alarm. And this year is known for the ice cold water man. His enthusiastic approach to selling water has turned him into an internet meme. His "I've got that ice cold water" jingle could be heard repeatedly during the weekend in the hallway repeated by con-goers. Hopefully this will replace the buttscratcher and marco-polos that are growing increasingly tiring.

In conclusion, Otakon really got their shit together for this year. They managed to finally get people in on time; managed to get a hold of interesting Japanese guests; made crowding seem like a non issue; got rid of the staggered schedule. Even the convention center improved. They put in new carpeting; put in new maps and signs; painted the doors and walls; and even opened up a food court in the dealer's room. Overall, Otakon 2011 has been very good.

I spent too much money.

The Eroge Bus: Episode 1

2011-07-27T16:26:00.011-04:00

Join me for this month's episode of the Eroge Bus featuring Michael Camacho of Otaku in Review Podcast and The Otaku Gamer. In this episode we will be discussing Nitro+'s Deus Machina Demonbane that was released by JASTUSA.

Direct Download EDIT: should work now!

Show Notes:

0:00 Opening Song: Skydive - Freefall

3:36 Intro

9:16 Break

9:26 News

June 27th: JAST USA announces 7 new games right before AX: http://www.jastusa.com/pre-ax-roundup-coming-attractions
July 4th: Mangagamer releases Kara no Shoujo: http://www.mangagamer.com/r18/Titles/Details/359B59DA-2B1C-4FD1-8574-58C8343CF220/kara-no-shoujo
July 12th: JAST USA releases Yukkuri Panic: http://twitter.com/#!/jastusa/status/90958861967695874 http://www.jastusa.com/yukkuri-panic-escalation-is-coming
July 14th: JAST USA: Preorders for School Days HQ and Saya no Uta/Hanachirasu http://www.jlist.com/product/JAST004 http://www.jlist.com/product/SAYASET
July 19th: J-list partners with Mangagamer for package distribution: http://www.jastusa.com/j-list-partners-with-manga-gamer-in-package-distribution-deal
July 25th: Mangagamer's plans for Otakon 2011: http://mangagamer.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/otakon-2011/

20:43 Break: Demonbane Anime Opening

21:38 Deus Machina Demonbane Review (spoiler free)

33:36 Deus Machina Demonbane Discussion (full of spoilers)

55:53 Break

56:44 Japanese June Releases

1:06:09 Japanese July Releases

Kyuuen no Kizuna -THE ORIGIN- by xuse http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=674352
Tsuma X Heven by Complet's http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=707786
Oiran Ru-ju by liar soft http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=706955
Hougako Custom Time ~customize lovers~ by TEATIME http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=711686
Imouto Style by C:drive http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=707954

1:12:39 Closing Song: School Days OST - Kanashimi no Mukou e

As you can see, this is my first podcast. Please leave comments so I can improve it.

AnimeNEXT 2011

2011-06-17T10:13:00.012-04:00

Summer's here which means the con season is about to start. What better way to start of the season than the 10th anniversary of AnimeNEXT in Somerset, New Jersey. This mid sized convention was held in the Garden State Exhibit Center and the nearby Double Tree and Holiday Inn hotels. This year the convention grew even bigger in size with crowds beginning to choke the convention even on a Friday. Despite the crowding, I've been pleased with the panel line-up, the constant presence of staff, and the overall atmosphere of everyone there.

Damn those trees!

First Impressions.

This is my 3rd time at AnimeNEXT and not much has changed since last year. Coming in on Friday I noticed that there were quite a bit more people than usual. Picked up my badge pretty quickly and had plenty of time before the first set of panels. Usually Fridays are more laid back, but this year almost every good panel was scheduled on Friday and felt like I had fun non-stop the entire day. Lining up for popular panels seems to have become a norm at animenext.

This is justice!

Panels and Guests.

Although AnimeNEXT is only mid-sized con, it is able to attract some big names in the Japanese anime industry. Studio I.G.'s animator, Satoru Nakamura, and episode director, Koudai Kakimoto, were the guests of honor this year around which was quite awesome as they are responsible for working on Moribito and Eden of the East. There were no big name musical guests this year which was somewhat disappointing but the ones that were featured were still very cool.

I attended many panels which were mostly hosted either by the Reverse Thieves, Anigamers, or Charles Dunbar who run many high quality panels. Whenever you see their panels listed in the con guide, make sure you attend them. I've noticed that panels were not scheduled until after 11 AM which is pretty good for most people. But there were still some problems with panel rooms being too small for popular panels. In addition, they put panels in workshop rooms that had no projectors which caused problems to panelists that depended on powerpoint for their presentation. I noticed that AnimeNEXT seemed to have a shortage of panels, with a few of them being programmed for all three days to fill in time. If you have a great idea for a panel, now would be a great time to think about submitting it for next year's AnimeNEXT.

@hisuiRT, @Poetic_Ink, and @VamptVo presenting a panel

Dealers Room, Artist Alley, etc.

Since the convention is in the same location, the dealer's room is the same size as it was, crowding near the entrance was somewhat of an issue but once you leave the area it was pretty smooth to navigate. The variety of dealers wasn't as good as last year mainly due to the fact that AnimeNEXT was scheduled at the same time as another bigger convention. There were noticeably more booths for guests and such than before and Funimation, who's usually at AnimeNEXT, was completely absent.

They located the artist alley in a completely different place than last year. Last year the artist alley was in the double tree hotel. This year they moved it to right across the dealer's room next to the main events stage. This was a good decision as it enlarged the artist alley and allowed for more walking space.

Once again, the anime screenings and the video games were in the training center and the holiday inn hotel as last year. Unfortunately, this will always be the issue of the venue. Fortunately, I was not troubled by the detachment of screenings and video games as I never really had time to check them out.

I scored her at the con. She now protects my anime.

Closing words.

In short, AnimeNEXT continues to be one of the best anime conventions to attend in the North East US. This year, there was a significant increase in attendance and the convention will continue to grow. Although the convention will still take place in the same venue next year, I can foresee AnimeNEXT to outgrow the convention center and eventually move once more to a bigger venue. Hopefully, next year, the convention won't be scheduled on the same weekend as another bigger convention.

They Sure Grow Up Fast: Zenkaikon 2011

2011-03-24T13:09:00.006-04:00

Although I have only been to Zenkaikon for 2 years, even in a year's time it has grown a lot bigger. This year it was Zenkaikon's 5th year running and it grew from being in a small room to 2 floors of the Valley Forge Convention Center.

Unfortunately, the massive growth wasn't without some growing pains. Last year when the convention took place inside the Radisson Hotel next to the Valley Forge Convention Center, it was very crowded. The crowding made the small con experience feel like a big con despite having small con guests and events. Fortunately, the change of venue to the convention center solved the crowding problem and allowed the convention to grow comfortably to several thousand attendees. In addition, the convention is still in it's sophomore stage as the staff are still unable to work the A/V well enough to allow for panels to start on time.

The high growth can be attributed mostly to the location. This is the only anime convention in the Philadelphia / East Pennsylvania area. In addition, it also attracts con goers from New Jersey and even New York. Another anime convention was being organized to take place nearby, but these plans were eventually scrapped.

Of course I have to mention the earthquake/tsunami that ravaged North-East Japan because Zenkaikon did their part in raising money to help those in need.

A Very Merry Review

2010-12-15T18:32:00.019-05:00

It's the week of Christmas and you know what this means: The unveiling of my secret Santa review. During late October my secret Santa has given me three options (which I originally planned to watch) and then select one for a review. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I was unable to watch all three of them. Instead, I am going to review the one show I was the most intrigued with: Invincible Super Man Zambot 3.

When I began watching this anime I was not aware that it was co-created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino who is well known for his Gundam fame. However, eventually it became clear to me that this was a Tomino show... but not just a Tomino show, a pre-Gundam Tomino show. Zambot 3 is where Tomino began building his particular storytelling reputation. It is apparent that many elements in Zambot 3 are later then seen in Gundam series.

Zambot 3 in action.

Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 was a super robot show that aired in Japan in 1977. The age of the series was very obvious to me as I began watching. The dated visuals and sound was at first, quite repulsive. In addition to that, the story started out somewhat childish as the show was aimed at a teenaged boy audience. Fortunately I endured the beginning of the series and was treated to a much darker, much more complicated story.

The heroes of the show.

It begins with Kappei Jin who is having a quarrel with a gang leader, Shingo Kouzuki. In a middle of a friendly little fight, a giant robot called a Mecha-Boost attacks the harbor which is where they live. At the same time, Kappei's grandfather is finishing excavating a large spaceship, and within, a human controlled transforming mecha called Zambot-Ace. While running away, Kappei ends up on top of this spaceship. His grandfather then instructs him to "shoot in" into the Zambot. Somehow he already knows how to pilot the robot. His grandfather explains to him that he has been teaching him how to pilot through sleep-learning. Unsurprisingly, Kappei manages to defeat the mecha-boost after finding its weak-point.

The first episode was very simple and quite frankly, somewhat boring. The following episodes introduce Uchuta Kamie and Keiko Kamikita who are also Zambot pilots and Kappei's cousins. To battle the mecha-boosts the three Zambots combine to form the Zambot 3. Eventually, we learn that the mecha-boosts come from an alien entity called the Gaizok who wants to destroy humanity and that the Jin family are actually descendants of aliens from planet Bael who settled on earth after their planet was destroyed by the Gaizok. Now that the characters and settings has been established, Tomino tells a story of fighting for acceptance. A colorful kids story turns into a dark story of death and constant struggle for war-zone survival. Without spoiling anything, the series beholds drastic events and an epic ending. The ending also throws in some philosophical consideration and emphasizes an overall moral of the series. What I really liked was that every relatively major character in the series underwent significant change. Kappei didn't just stay as a snotty rowdy kid, he turned into something a lot more grander. The story of this series is definitely its strongest asset and makes this old series worth watching even today.

Manly tears.

I can sing praises about the story all day long, but now comes the more negative side of the series: The visuals. Unfortunately, this show was animated on a very low budget in 1977. The colors are muted. The whole presentation is grainy. There are lot of reused stock footage to cut costs and animation is somewhat sluggish.

Obviously, just like the visuals, the sound is just as dated. The soundtrack is of a cheesy 70s variety. The recording of voices is low fidelity in a single channel. The Japanese dub could use a bit more work as some of the minor characters were poorly casted. Despite all this, the ending theme is very powerful, especially near the end of the series.

If you can get through the dated visuals and cheesy late 70s sound, the series is worth watching. Unfortunately this series has never been licensed for an English release so picking up a physical copy is nearly impossible since the series is so old, and is more than likely, out of print. Fortunately, there is a readily available fan-sub of this series. I give this anime an 80/100

NYAF, the redheaded stepchild of NYCC?

2010-10-15T13:38:00.015-04:00

Feel the Love

As many of you already know, there were two major East Coast convention taking place at the Javits Convention Center in New York City last weekend. Or at least, there were supposed to be two conventions. New York Comic Con, the biggest convention on the East Coast was hosted along side of the New York Anime Festival. This was a result of ReedPop's plan to merge the two conventions. A total of 96 THOUSAND people attended the combined convention. New York Anime Fest found itself secluded in a small basement area while New York Comic Con took over the rest of the convention center.

Why would you do that?

So was NYAF really the redheaded stepchild of NYAF? It's hard to say that since NYAF is usually in the basement area anyway and that there were still as much NYAF programming as usual... or at least that is what Lance Fensterman claims. However, I noticed that in fact there was less room than usual for the NYAF convention floor minus the dealers. NYAF took place on the other side of the convention where the cell signal is even worse than the other side as well as fewer rooms for use. Still, ReedPop had their priorities, since at least 70% of the attendees came for NYCC and not NYAF. So NYAF got the shorter end of the stick.

NYAF opening ceremonies and the 10 people there to see it

But overall, the convention experience was still fairly enjoyable since there were some decent and interesting guests such as Minori Chihara (well known as Yuki Nagato) and the creators of VOCALOID. The programming had absolutely no gaps where nothing was going on. And even if you were not interested in screenings or panels, NYCC had a lot going on at the showroom floor. What sort of made this experience a chore, was the massive crowding on Saturday. I didn't even attempt to get through the exhibition hall (dealer's room) because it was just insane. The lack of cell signal in the basement didn't help things especially when you wanted to look up the schedule or live tweet during panels.

Feel the wrath of Minori Chihara's laser eyes!

Looking back to NYAF 2009 I noticed some disturbing things. First of all, I did not see ANY workshops in the programming for 2010. Although there were screenings, in 2009, there were so many more. Since NYCC is supposed to be a family friendly con, almost all 18+ programming was cut. I am not even going to mention LARP. So it's pretty obvious that this year's NYAF was shrunk due to NYCC's enormous size. It also came to my attention that the amount of dealers that usually sell at NYAF has shrunk and were not present for NYCC/NYAF. I am not sure if this was because they either couldn't afford it, or perhaps ReedPop allocated only a number of tables for anime-centric dealers.

If that looks crowded, keep in mind that it's only Friday.

So what can ReedPop do to not make NYAF look like an embarrassment? For starters, they need to restore NYAF back to its previous size. Perhaps use some of linecon's (the space used for lining up to get in) mostly unused space to allow for this. Put it back to where it usually takes place since the cell signal there wasn't so bad. The crowding in the anime/manga spaces at the exhibition floor was unbearable, they need to allocate more space for walking/browsing as well as allow for more anime merchandise tables. That's really all they need to do.

The "linecon" area shown here, is empty during the rest of the convention. Perhaps it can be utilized in the future.

If you want to know more about what happened at NYAF, check out Janaiblog's great post on it.

What is wrong with Otakon?

2010-08-03T09:00:00.018-04:00

Every year, in the hot and sweaty middle of the summer, Otakon, a large Anime convention is held in Baltimore, Maryland. The convention is so large that it practically takes over Baltimore for the weekend. To con-goers, Otakon is the Mecca of the east coast conventions and an absolute must go convention if you live on the east coast. You are almost guaranteed to have a good time if you attend the con. This year's Otakon has been my 7th year and I can comfortably say that it was the worst Otakon yet.

Don't get me wrong, Otakon is still a great convention and it is easy to list all the great things that it had to offer this year. Every year it has been always well organized despite the steady attendance growth to over 29000 this year. The quality of the panels at the convention was superb and there were fresh screenings anime and movies. The dealer's room as always had a large variety of dealers. The video game, as always, massive.

However, describing the shortcomings of the convention is a lot more difficult because it forces you to think a little more about the reasons for the shortcomings. Also, criticism is somewhat useless if you don't offer alternate solutions.

Overcrowding

"Welcome to Otakon, anime and Japanese culture and freaking lines!" -fellow attendee waiting on the line to the dealer's room

This is a problem that every large convention is faced with. This is a problem that simply can't be solved by regular means. Otakon has been taking many steps in alleviating this problem and so it isn't as severe a problem as linecon. However, the symptoms are still there: inability to get into popular panels without lining up an hour before, large lines to get into the dealer's room, masquarade, and the rave. If you're claustrophobic, you're screwed. Unfortunately, not much can be done about overcrowding at Otakon without changing the venue completely. With the recent addition of the Hilton, a change of venue seems unlikely in the near future.

Getting Into the Convention

This problem was introduced last year. In the past, once you got your badge, you could pretty much enter through any entrance. For some inexplicable reason, they opened the convention floor with just one entrance and thus people who got their badges on Thursday night were screwed as they had to wait in a line to get in anyway. This problem became so ridiculous last year that many people who picked up their badges on Friday or even just registered, were able to get into the convention sooner than people who picked up theirs on Thursday. Oh yeah, and no one that was waiting got in till 10 AM. This year, was a repeat of the same problem but not only of Friday, but on all 3 days! Even though the convention is technically supposed to open at 8:30 AM, they didn't actually start letting people in till 9:30 AM. I have no idea why you would screw over panelists who had their panels scheduled at 9:00 AM like that, but the idea of only one entrance being open is ridiculous.

Is the Dealer's Room Shrinking?

In 2008, Otakon's dealer's room was at its largest size. Taking up the size of this year's dealer's room plus the artist alley. Last year, for what I thought was economic reasons, they shrunk the floor to what it is this year's size. However, I noticed a disturbing number of dealers that were at Otakon for many years and suddenly didn't show up this year. The additional space seems to have been allocated to dealers who needed the extra space, but the variety of dealers has shrunk noticeably. I really hope this isn't a trend that is to follow for the upcoming years.

Where Did All the Cool Guests Go?

Last year was probably the most amazing Otakon for guests ever. With many known musical guests and interesting anime production staff, Otakon 2009 was easily the best Otakon. This year, Otakon understandably toned down on the amount of concerts and musical guests. I would have been okay with this change as long as the guests that were brought over were just as good as in previous years. Unfortunately for Otakon, that did not happen. Home Made Kazoku was the best that they were able to do this year despite the fact that other conventions on the east coast like AnimeNEXT, Anime Boston, and New York Anime Fest had a much better success at getting interesting guests. I understand that acquiring Japanese guests is a very difficult especially on the east coast where it becomes more expensive in both money and time. It is also becoming apparent, that with the con industry booming, the competition of getting quality guests has really heated up. Otakon is in danger of losing it's east coast crown as the biggest convention to NYAF which merged with New York Comic Con.

Was the Staggered Schedule Necessary?

I figure someone has suggested a staggered schedule to try accomplishing two things: Allowing panelists time to set up or pack up; Giving people time to get to the next panel. Unfortunately, there were obvious setbacks of this idea. Since there was 30 minute break between panels, it was painstakingly obvious that there was about 50% loss in time that could have been filled with more panels. The staggered schedule sacrificed panel variety as well as added 'dead' time between panels. This made the schedule boring with fewer interesting panels. Now Otakon wasn't the first convention to have used a staggered schedule. New York Anime Fest uses a staggered schedule with much success. So why couldn't Otakon get it right? Not only does NYAF keep a 15 minute break between panels, but it keeps a much more constant panel schedule which Otakon also failed to do. I really hope next year, they try to improve on this.

Hotel Reservations

So Otakon offered reduced rate hotel rooms if you reserved through Otakon. Fair enough they were indeed cheaper. However there was an important catch to this deal. If you reserved through Otakon and not the hotel directly, it means that hotels will treat you like a second class citizen and were allowed to downgrade your reservation if they wanted to. So if you (attempted to) reserved a room with two queen size beds for two people and one guest, tough shit, the hotel can give you a room with one queen sized bed if they want to. I wish that Otakon made it clear to everyone reserving hotels through them of possible issues concerning room reservations.

Having Fun Not Permitted

Just like many jaded veteran con goers, I too get annoyed by people yelling catch phrases and sudden hallway huggers. Over the years, Otakon went out of their way to enact rules to stop people from annoying others. Unfortunately, this is a double sided sword because at the same time, you are restricting people's expression of excitement and subduing the atmosphere of the convention. Suddenly, the con felt less lively, and more bland. I really think there can be a middle ground on this issue. Surely, the vuvuzelas can stay banned, but there is really nothing wrong with signs as long as they don't incite disruptive behavior. Catchphrases allowed as long as they're not racist, inflammatory, or vulgar. And really, what's wrong with consensual hugging?

As everyone already knows, there was a fire alarm that went off at around 2 PM on Saturday. However, I can't really blame Otakon for the fiasco since it was completely out of their control. Regardless, Otakon did an excellent job handling this matter.

These were most of the negatives that I feel turned Otakon 2010 into a mediocre con experience. Please feel free to comment on anything here, whether it be agreements or disagreements.

Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2010

2010-06-19T07:45:00.031-04:00

I realized I haven't updated my blog in a while. Been kind of busy with life in general and didn't put any time into blogging. Fortunately, the summer con season is upon us with AnimeNEXT and I took this opportunity to write up a con report. Enjoy!

Thursday: Day 0

Thankfully, AnimeNEXT had pre-registration pick up on Thursday as well as regular registration. Picking up the badge on Thursday alleviates anxiety from having to deal with missing out on panels or programming while you wait on-line to pick up the badges. The pickup went pretty smooth and it only took me about an hour of waiting in line. Already, people there were upbeat about the con and some actually cosplayed even though it wasn't a convention day.

Friday: Day 1

I wish more conventions would do this: Open the con at 9 AM, but schedule panels a few hours later in the day. AnimeNEXT did just that. This allows people who didn't pick up badges on Thursday to not worry about missing out on an interesting panel. By the time the first panel started, most people already had their badges. AnimeNEXT changed up the convention layout this year. There were 10 rooms in the Doubletree hotel dedicated to panels and workshops. Artist alley was enlarged, and video games moved to the Holiday Inn hotel in across the street. Once again the video screenings were in the training center.

@TheDigitalBug: Always impressed by #anx2010 variety in the dealer’s room.

@TheDigitalBug:…but no touhou in sight…

Panels, Panels, and more Panels...

The majority of the time at cons, I spend attending interesting (or so I hope) panels. Today was no exception. I started out my day by attending the "Rando Me!" panel. It was a fan panel about random gag anime such as Excel Saga and Cromartie High School. Other than that, there was nothing note worthy to say about this panel.

I was very impressed by the panel I attended next: The "Inside the Lives of Congoing Otaku" panel focused on a discussion about: What is to be a congoer. How do others view congoers? General behavior of congoers. What is the past, present, and possibly the future of conventions? The panelist predicted that conventions are going to continue to grow and that many more are going to show up. Concurrently, new small conventions will appear that specialize in a genre of anime or a very large series like Gundam.

“You don’t want to be glomped by a 400 lbs slave leah.”

AniGamers and Uncle Yo presented a panel on "Fandom & Criticism: The Art of Active Viewing" which discussed techniques on critiquing Anime, Manga, and Video Games. This was a very useful guide for bloggers and writers who spend a good amount of time reviewing an object of interest.

"FAN-WANKING"

As any convention, AnimeNEXT has opening ceremonies. Unlike other conventions, AnimeNEXT attempts to introduce the convention to the attendees with a humorous skit. This year, they did a silly awards ceremony which although wasn't of the best execution, managed to keep everyone in the seats at least amused.

The Japanese guest of honor for AnimeNEXT this year, besides the musical guests, was Kenji Kamiyama: A high profile director and screenplay writer of Production I.G. Some of the shows he worked on was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Seirei no Moribito, Jin-Roh, and most recently, Eden of the East. A usual, a Questions and Answers panel took place and everyone had the opportunity to ask Mr. Kamiyama questions about him and/or his works. The crowd managed to ask him some very interesting questions and Mr. Kamiyama was very open with answering most questions.

This year, the musical guest was a mostly-girl band from Japan titled "Stereopony" who are responsible for a few songs that appeared in Bleach, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Darker than Black OAV, and Yatterman Movie. I was pleased by the fact that the concert ACTUALLY had standing space for a change as opposed to just seats. Stereopony's music is a colorful melodic rock and the crowd responded very lively. Their concert went very well despite the fact that press were hassled by the staff for taking pictures even though they're press!

I finished the day by attending a Hello! Project Idol Madness panel. Since I know very little about Hello! Project idols, I came mostly to see if I can learn more about this Japanese phenomenon. Even though I expected a discussion panel, it was mostly a game show that gauged your knowledge of Hello! Project idols....*sigh*.

Saturday: Day 2

@Thedigitalbug:

Crowd today is noticeably younger. #anx2010

I fired up my AnimeNEXT day with some Rock Band at the Holiday Inn hotel and checked out the video game rooms there. Basically, they took three rooms and took out the walls in between them. There was a large abundance of fighting games, only a little bit of first person shooters, some rhythm games and plenty of old school console games on SNES, Sega Genesis or Dreamcast. Rockband was in a room by itself as well as Dance Dance Revolution. As usual, there were plenty of tournaments going on throughout the whole weekend.

Just like any other anime convention, AnimeNEXT had anime screenings. But unlike most other conventions, the screenings were playing 24/7 and there were a total of 5 rooms just playing anime non-stop. Funimation also brought in Master of Martial Hearts to screen at AnimeNEXT so it was a good opportunity to get a preview of the whole show.

In attempt to master the art of spending money on a con, I attended the ConBudget panel which was loaded with tips and tricks for minimizing the expenditure of a convention trip such as how to travel, stay overnight, shop, etc. Following the ConBudget panel, I cought the better half of the Otaku: Through the Generations panel which featured more discussions on verious generations of Otaku.

Funimation was the only company that had an industry panel at AnimeNEXT. We had the opportunity to meet Josh, the new man that will be hosting most Funimation panels from now on since Adam Sheehan was promoted to a different position in the company. Unfortunately, Funimation had nothing new to announce at AnimeNEXT and so if you already saw the news from Anime Boston or Anime North, you pretty much knew everything that was going to be shown at the panel. Josh wasn't as lively as Adam, but once he gets the hang of his job, he'll get better.

A weathered veteran of the anime industry, Greg Aryes, mainly discussed the impact of piracy on the anime and manga industry as well as the recent scanlations shake-up. Greg Aryes has already talked in the past about how piracy and fansubs are ruining the anime industry hoping that his voice would at least inspire people to take a stand. He was questions whether his efforts are in vain or whether they actually cultivated fans to respect copyrighted works and perhaps stimulate the industry. He does not know, but I believe from what I seen, that his struggle did indeed sway fans toward a more legal approach to appreciating anime and manga.

Ever wondered why older anime has such different drawing style? How bishounen came to be? Evan Minto of AniGamers answered these questions and discussed the evolution of character design at The Changing Faces of Anime panel. He discussed all the styles that became building blocks for later styles in modern anime one time period at a time.

Uncle Yo provided an hour of nostalgia at the "As the Otaku Grows" panel where he discussed all the old shows and cartoons that most of us grew up with. As usual, the panel was filled with plenty of humor as well as revelations of cartoons that got away with some perverse stuff.

I wrapped up the day with a hentai panel...but unfortunately when I got out of a previous panel there was a long line of people waiting to get into a small room. Surely I wasn't going to get in, but I persevered and midway through the panel I was finally able to get in. The panel focused mainly on series that were not licensed (yet) . But they did show a good list of quality titles.

Sunday: Day 3

@hisuiRT: "Best" #anx2010 experience. Walking in on someone masturbating in the bathroom!

Sunday at three day conventions is always a day of relaxation. A day to cool down after two days of partying. For some people Sunday was the only day that they attended the con so the energy was still there. I didn't do much other than do some last bit of shopping and then sat in some interesting panels.

Every convention should have one of these: A panel on otaku by otaku for otaku. The discussion ranged from how otaku are potrayed by the media, how otaku are viewed by normals to what makes otaku tick.

I have not seen Legend of Galactic Heroes, but I was intrigued by it since I keep seeing and hearing people talking about it. So I took the plunge and watched the first movie of it along with fan commentary. Pretty good stuff.

Appearing for the second year, a Psychology and Anime by Charles Dunbar discusses philosophies in psychology and how they apply to anime and anime fandom. This was a very insightful and educational panel where we got to ponder the implications of how we perceive and interpret anime.

To close off, AnimeNEXT 2010 was a blast. Although a moderately sized con, AnimeNEXT is able to provide the congoers with plenty of things to do, and very interesting guests. Although there are still some issues that AnimeNEXT needs to iron out for future years, AnimeNEXT is going to continue to grow and bring quality entertainment for attendees for years to come. On a completely different note, here's my weekend spoils:

Other AnimeNEXT 2010 reports to check out:

Reverse Thieves

Anime Almanac

Out of Time Productions

Finish What You Started

2010-05-15T20:03:00.004-04:00

I've noticed a viewing habit among general anime viewers, that many anime series get started and eventually dropped. There are many reasons for this. Some which are legitimate; A show really sucks, why finish it? But most of the times, it's for the reasons such as lack of patience or the viewer believes there are better shows out there. More importantly, dropping anime becomes a poor habit where worthwhile shows end up getting unfinished.

There are some direct and indirect consequences of this habit. First observation I made is that, although not necessarily always true, people who drop anime don't own it on dvd or bd. If I am going to buy anime, I am more likely to watch it completely through. So if you poke around profiles on myanimelist.net, you can see who the 'real' anime fans are. In addition, people who chronically drop anime are more likely to miss out on a great series that just happened to start slow.

A nameless anime fan with a chronic dropping habit.

Now I am not saying that you should not drop any anime at all. As Brent of Otaku no Video put it, there is an opportunity cost when you start an anime. If the anime is so terrible, it would be smart to drop it and watch something better instead. For the record, I have not dropped an anime series so far. I usually try to stay away series I won't enjoy.

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things!

2010-03-09T08:34:00.009-05:00

A couple days ago, I posted a reaction post on Funimation's Dance of the Vampire Bund controversy. Now I am going to attempt a more analytical view of the events that transpired.

The whole event began with Funimation's announcement:

FUNimation Entertainment is known for releasing the titles we license in their original, uncut form, as their creators intended. However, after viewing the unedited as well as the Japanese broadcast edit of the series Dance in the Vampire Bund, we have determined the series contains controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences.

With this in mind and with approval of the licensor, we will edit select scenes from the series in streaming and home entertainment release. These are scenes which are inappropriate for U.S. viewing and are not essential to the storyline.

Dance in the Vampire Bund is a complex and dark drama cited by press and fans as one of the best anime series out of Japan this season. Its strong story is what brought the series to our attention and why we are bringing it to the U.S.

I don't know how much time Funimation's PR department spent on this announcement, but this is where the nasty starts. First of all, they start of with a lie. Sure they had a good track record with censorship for a good period of time, but Funimation has censored things in the past. Then they say that some people might not like the content in Dance of the Vampire Bund. Okay. Every anime has controversial elements that, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences. I am sorry, but this sentence will not give you pity and understanding for what you are about to say in the next paragraph. We don't really care that you got approval from the original creator. Many times, they agree to anything, but saying that everyone in the U.S. cannot handle some material in Vampire Bund is not only an insult to the show's fans, it's an insult to all your customers! Apparently everyone's too dumb and sensitive to handle Dance of the Vampire Bund in it's original form! Great! Thanks Funi, this will guarantee sympathy and agreement. Vampire Bund is definitely, a complex and dark drama, thanks for dumbing it down for us! Maybe I am reading too much into this. Maybe I am just getting old, jaded and bitter. But this PR is a kick to the groin.

But then what brought about this decision? People quickly pointed out the Handley Case for the main reason why Funimation stepped back and decided to censor their anime. To an extend those people may be right. Handley may have given American Otaku a bad rep and put Anime and Manga companies in the cross-hairs of legal enforcers. Whether that's true is pure speculation. However, there is definitely not a legal reason because of the Miller Test that was going to be used against Handley (except he pleaded guilty and so we didn't even see it used). Dance of the Vampire Bund would, without a doubt, pass the Miller Test and would be cleared of any obscenity charges. If this was a legal precaution taken by Funimation then they either didn't ask for legal advice, or were too dumb or lazy to deal with it.

Scott of Anime Almanac was quick to defend Funimation in his blog post. After all, the folks at Funimation are fans like us and work hard to get localized anime to the United States. You can't really bad mouth all of Funimation for this incident. Scott also attended a workshop at Katsucon on the various dilemmas an Anime company goes through. He describes a scenario where there is a massive fan outrage. The choice is whether to appease the fans or go ahead and release the product anyway. This a decision whether to support the fans or whether to support the company. As a person, I understand why a someone would pick a scenario that is theoretically better for the company (in the short run). And this is exactly what (someone at) Funimation did. BUT, the fans are your customers; the customers buy your products; sold products provide revenue. Stab your fans, your customers in the back, and they will never come back to buy your products. Lost sales = lost revenue. In the short run, this isn't a big deal. However, it will take years and years for these fans to reconsider and come back.

Analytical posts have delicious pie graphs like these. Data taken from Mania.com.

(Click on the Pie to enlarge)

What will Funimation do? They are yet to respond to the outrage. The best thing they can do right now is to provide some ointment on the wounds of the pissed off fans in a form of PR. But, I am afraid that they will simply stay quiet and hope everyone just forgets about this whole thing and laugh it off like it never happened. (This won't happen.) The worst thing that Funimation can do right now is to pull off other titles and censor them to conform to their new 'appropriateness' standards. Whatever Funimation will do, it is pretty clear as to what many of their customers will do. They will simply not buy the anime during DVD/BD release. Some will never touch a Funimation product again for some time. Unless of course, until Funimation once again places the fans, their customers first again.

A (probable) picture of their projected sales after the announcement.

(Click on the Pie to enlarge.)

On the bright side of things, The Dance of the Vampire Bund manga distributed by Seven Seas is probably doing very well due to the controversy. Ironically, many fans have said that the Anime diverges quite a lot from the Manga and is therefore inferior.

UPDATE: Funimation has responded to the outrage. More interestingly, their response fits my "this is the best thing that Funimation can do right now" scenario that I came up with.

Vampires and Warewolves Oh My

2010-03-06T19:19:00.010-05:00

I've been brooding about this long enough to form a complete opinion worthy enough of a blog post. Unless you live in complete isolation, you may be already aware that Funimation have gotten the rights to Dance in the Vampire Bund. Shortly after their announcement, they disclosed that Vampire Bund's stream and the DVD will be edited for US release. ...insert internet shitstorm here.

Apparently, Vampire Bund contains some edgy controversial scenes that are inappropriate for US viewers...or at least what Funimation claims. So Funimation was faced with a business dilemma: A lose or lose situation where you have to pick which is the lesser loss of the two. No one really knows who made the final decision, whether it was someone at Funimation, or whether it was actually someone in the parent company, Navarre. My guess that it was the latter since this decision was very... out of touch with the fans.

Censorship in Anime is a very touchy issue especially since the DVD buying crowd absolutely abhors censorship. This DVD buying crowd has grown up with anime series that were cut up and censored by US companies so therefore any new censorship cuts real deep into the fan psyche. The result is obvious, everyone and their mom was angry about Funimation's decision. Not only did people declare that they won't be buying the dvd release, they shitlisted Funimation completely, boycotting all their releases. The logic behind this is simple, since the decision was made by the higher ups, the higher ups will only act when loss of profits becomes a big issue and so boycotting Funimation is the only thing a fan can do to force a reversal. Personally, I will continue to support Funimation through this turbulent time.

Many people have claimed that this decision was due to the Handley case. I can see why ...but really, the Handley case has very little to do with an anime that contains topless child-like vampires. Handley had hardcore pornographic comics; Vampire Bund does not have explicit sex nor does it have nudity beyond just topless girls. Big difference. So the controversy has nothing to do with the legality of the show itself, more like that these controversial scenes just might hurt Funimation's corporate image. Another supporting fact is that FUNi has already released a few shows that feature underaged nudity such as Dragonball, Rin, and even Strike Witches.

So what happens now? What will Funimation do? What will you do? FUNi has some options on their hands. My guess is that they will simply try to weather the storm and hope that people will simply forget this ever happened and buy the censored version of the DVD anyway. The fans on the other hand, are smarter than that. They might forget about it, but they will never buy an edited dvd out of instinct. And more importantly, more than 95% of them will NOT buy it. ...I certainly won't.

So what will people do instead; now that they learned of this new, sinful, controversial show? A small number of them, will purchase the R2 releases. However, many others will simply turn to fan-subs. Obviously, why spend money on an inferior product? Or so is the logic behind this action. Alternatively, people will simply purchase the manga and never touch the anime. The manga is now probably getting tons of sales right now. In b4 Seven Seas paid Funimation off to create a viral controversy.

RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~: The Review

2010-02-01T20:01:00.014-05:00

I've always been a fan of dark adult-themed anime. Ever since watching such classics are Akira and Ghost in the Shell, I was truly captivated with the phenomenon of Anime. However, such anime that have mature themes has always been somewhat uncommon and so I have the joy and privilege of reviewing RIN ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ AKA Mnemosyne ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ in Japan.

So before I go into the real review, you may be wondering, why was RIN renamed for US release. I had the same question and inquired Adam Sheehan of Funimation on Twitter. The reason is simple, the original creators wanted it renamed.

Packaging:
First thing I noticed when I picked up my review copy is that the series is packed in a box covered with art. The slim dvd cases also were chuck full of artwork, making them very pleasant for the eye compared to older anime releases. Funimation lately has been doing a very good job making interesting packaging that looks attractive on a shelf and interesting to open.

First Impression:
So I fired up the first episode and I was greeted with the opening which was kind of annoying at first but then diffused to... wait... I recognize that voice and music style ...yes, the opening and ending themes are done by a Japanese power-metal band Galneryus which I am quite familiar with and very pleased they did music for such a dark and grotesque show.
The show opens up introducing the main characters waking up and drinking water vodka which happens to be something that occurs on every episode, except with noticeable variations.

Vodka ends up playing a key role in the overall plot.

Getting Comfortable:
It's not easy to get comfortable with this show, as there is plenty of graphic violence, nudity and sex; Which is comparable to a rated R movie. However, what struck me were the voices of the main characters as they sounded quite familiar. Rin Asougi was casted by the same actress that did the voice of Amaha Masane from Witchblade: Noto Mamiko. Mimi was casted by Rie Kugimiya who everyone should know, is responsible for plenty of tsundere characters such as Shana, Louise and Taiga. So this show has quite a solid voice cast! Besides the remarkable voice talent, the animation is just gorgeous. Lots of attention was given to detail and animation quality.

Detail. Lots of lots of detail.

The Vitals:
So what did I think of character and plot development? As a show about immortals, the series progresses through about 6 decades with a decade in between each episode, forming quite an interesting perspective on immortality. This sort of thing has been done by Popotan, but the girls there were transported forward in time. Instead, here, each episode tries to convey what occurred during the gap of time that we missed since the last episode.

The series slowly unveils every mystery right until the final episode where it ends in a truly epic fashion. The characters themselves are very interesting especially the antagonist who, as the series progresses, becomes more and more hated... in a good way. Rin Asougi, who is the main focus of the series, undergoes extensive mental and emotional development throughout the series while undergoing painful physical and emotional trauma.

Ouch.

Extras:
One reason for purchasing a series on dvd is that many times there are those extras that you don't get from a download or stream. The extras for Rin are pretty standard fare: textless opening and endings; trailers and promotional videos. But Rin also has an interview with the Japanese voice cast which I thought was very interesting to see four very influential voice actresses in one room talk about the show and their roles.

Feels good man.

Bottom line:
The high quality production, the dark and brutal atmosphere, and interesting and original story makes Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ is a must have. But, I would not recommend this to people who have a weak stomach for violence. Overall, I would rate this series 95/100. Go watch it!

Delicious Walfas Waffles: a Story of Incredible Courage

2010-01-22T21:00:00.001-05:00

One name that everyone seems to know in the western touhou fandom besides ZUN is Walfas AKA KirbyM. His simplistic and unique art style is easy to recognize and with his release of create.swf, his art style is seen all over the place. So it shouldn't be of much of surprise that his drawings of touhou characters is quickly developing a fan-base in Japan where touhou fandom is enormous.

No ma'am.

Walfas' is currently a college student who makes shiny animations and blogs about mostly touhou in his spare time. Recently, he teamed up with an ActionScript programmer, Thefre, to make the latest create.swf which is widely used by the fandom to create quirky fun touhou videos or pictures. Over time, many of the fan works even made it over to niconico douga which is the Japanese version of youtube (and used primarily by Japanese).

He also made these neat file folders which were also sold in Japan.

Eventually, Walfas finds himself collaborating with a Japanese doujin circle, ddiction, in creating a textbook for learning English called New Hori-ZUN: A pun on the New Horizon English learning textbooks. And that, by itself, is an amazing accomplishment.

On Japan's DVD Economy and Why Media Blaster's Still Selling Singles

2010-01-19T19:19:00.006-05:00

In recent years, we experienced quite a meltdown of the anime market in the United States. The Japanese market took quite a blow from the meltdown and suddenly was unable to afford to produce as many shows at it did before the meltdown. It didn't help that Japan never recovered from the 20 year old recession and therefore all the anime companies in Japan have been having a difficult time in making profits and even staying in business. So there was no surprise to me when I read a blog post about reverse importation of anime to Japan. The post goes into detail about the history of the dvd format, Japanese economics, and the effect of reverse importation of Japanese anime.

X9 = ~$800
Versus:X2 = ~$90

A fine example of why reverse importation exists.

My view on reverse importation is that it should definitely be allowed. Japan is still selling all anime in singles for $40-$60 for a large variety of reasons. One main reason for the high price for so little is that the anime is released a week to month after it has aired. Also most importantly, there will always be a number of geeks who will buy these shows no matter what. So why lower the price? This reason is also responsible for Media Blasters decision to continue releasing anime in singles despite a recent trend in the industry to move to 13 episode sets. Inflexible Japanese retail system be damned. But, now is not the right time for reverse importation to transpire. We need to let the Japanese anime market recover first before giving it further blows to their profits.

Sexy Anime and Why Queen's Blade is Here to Stay

2009-12-30T19:15:00.002-05:00

Ah, Queen's Blade. A series which does not shy away from showing boobs 75% of the time. Where women just happen to lose clothes/armor/other things (like snakes) almost every time there is a battle. Even though it's somewhat excessive in its vulgar display, it's still a fun anime to watch. But of course since its over-the-top display of animated breasts and lack of any deep plot makes it an easy target to bash. People from all over the internet spared no time in making sure everyone is aware how tasteless and terrible this show is. Yet, despite all the negative reviews, the show is getting lots of attention in Japan and have become quite a cash cow. (So now as a consequence we have a OVAs, a second season, and even a PSP RPG). Media Blasters are probably gonna rake up a lot from releasing the DVDs here in the states.

Just love the contrast in this image.

However, this is actually a good reflection of the current state of the anime industry in Japan. Also, at the same time we have shows like Kanokon and Strike Witches which were also quite as daring as Queen's Blade in its exposé. (Well, the TV versions were quite censored.) The reason for why these shows sell so much is that the age of the average anime fan is rapidly increasing due to what might become a hikikomori crisis in the future. Since we were in an economic downturn, anime studios had to ramp down on production of artsy experimental shows to series that are guaranteed to make money.

Kanokon has fewer safe images on the net than Queen's Blade.

But all of this isn't quite new. The percentage of hentai anime has been steadily increasing for over a decade (from 15% to 20% (This figure is based from an 'expert' from a hentai panel at Zenkaikon)). And will probably keep increasing unless anime in Japan starts getting a large influx of young viewers.
Until then, Queen's Blade is here to stay whether you like it or not.

Grand Opening!

2009-12-30T09:59:00.001-05:00

Motivated by all the crazy stuff that has been happening over the years, I've been challanged by OtakuNoVideo to start my own blog. (Well in all fairness, he issued the challange to everyone.) So here we are with my first post about the blog itself. Right away the name is a reference to a particular video which features Tewi Inaba using English for comedic reasons. Originally I was planning to name the blog as "Tewi Maniax", as a satire or parody of Ogiue Maniax blog, but then I realized that I am probably not gonna blog much about Tewi at all.

Except when I talk about how Christmas would have been much better if Santa was Tewi.

So what should any reader expect from this blog. Not much at all really. I am only gonna post when I feel like posting what I feel like posting. I am not a professional writer nor is English my native language so this blog will probably be full of typos and bad grammar. (Hopefully not.) But do expect posts that are perhaps thought provoking and/or provide food for discussion. I wouldn't want it any other way.