Category: Anime, Manga, Etc

I needed to get out of the office for lunch today, so I proceeded to a Corner Bakery and had a salad. Today I was listening to my Otakon 2005 playlist on my iPod and had a couple of things strike me as particularly memorable. One of them was just my own vanity at the reaction I got from the crowd for my rendition of Shizukana Yoruni. Probably just my imagination, but I think people actually liked it. Even if they didn’t, it was still a lot of fun singing it.

The other thing that struck me is just how much the young people of today are different from the way we were in my younger days. I went to the Otaku dance on Friday night and observed a number of interesting things. The crowd was divided into several distinct groups. There were couples dancing together, most of these appeared to be people who already knew each other fairly well. There were groups of two or more women dancing together. These women appeared to be just friends, but danced with a familiarity similar to the couples. Another grouping consisted of men dancing in groups of three or more. The men tended to dance in circular groupings and were not as familiar as the similar female groupings. At the fringes there were men and women dancing solo, though the men doing this appeared to outnumber the women.

In the main room there were also two large areas were some very skilled black and Asian men were competitively breakdancing. There were a lot of people who appeared to spend the evening watching this. These groupings were repeated on a smaller scale in the room where the rave party was going on.

So what’s the point? The point is freedom. All of the aforementioned people were just doing what they wanted and having fun. In the past, a dance consisted of couples dancing, the occasional strangers hooking up and everyone else standing or sitting along the wall either hoping to be asked to dance, if female, or working up the courage to ask someone to dance, if male. But the kids today have not been raised with such restrictive gender dictated roles. Watching all of this I had the feeling that the human race had actually made some progress and I felt very proud of it.

As I’ve gotten older, I find myself looking longer and harder for bargains for the things I like/need. Some of this is the influence of my always bargain conscious Hong Kong born wife and part of it is my relentless need to make the most efficient use of resources possible. In any case, the constant flow of coupons and promotions from Borders has served to keep down the cost of my manga addiction this summer. In an almost Pavlovian pattern, when the coupons come out, I buy.:) The beauty of it though is that manga are treated as books and not comics, which are never discounted. So if you want graphics with your text, forget the comics, pick up a manga and save some money!

Hey! I’ve got another coupon! 😮

Last night Puffy AmiYumi played the last of their current Go East tour dates here in Chicago at the Vic Theatre. In short, they rocked! The Vic is a relatively small and intimate theatre, so even from the balcony we had a really good view of Ami and Yumi, who along with their band were obviously having a great time and sharing it with the rest of us. They performed almost nonstop for about an hour and 15 minutes. They only took a few short breaks to talk with the audience in pretty good english, though mostly written on note pages. They played most of their popular pieces including the theme song to the current Pokemon movie in Japan. I was really impressed by the energy and passion of their performance. It was definitely worth it to see Puffy live. Even WillowBrow, who at best tolerates my interest in Japanese pop culture, had a good time and thought they were cute.

The audience was not what I had expected. I assumed that most of the audience would be teenagers and 20-somethings who are currently into anime, manga, and Asian pop culture. But in addition to this expected demographic, were lots and lots of little kids with their parents. Obviously the little kids were there because of the very popular Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi animated series on Cartoon Network. This made for a very strange mix of kids in the proximity of people drinking beer. The presence of the kids wasn’t really a problem during the main show, but the opening act strayed into PG-13 territory a few times which as a parent myself made me a bit uncomfortable with so many kids under 10 present. Once Puffy started playing, it really didn’t matter anymore. I don’t think the show was tailored to kids, but there wasn’t anything objectionable and the kids who were still awake by the time they started had a rocking good time. The fun of Puffy was truly infectious and I hope I’ll get the chance to see them again.

Ugh, the days before a big trip are always fraught with anxiety and excitement! In fours days I hit the road for Otakon and there are so many things I still need to prepare. In particular, I really need to do something about my side mirror. It’s not serious just irritating and having it taped up is just soooo tacky. I’ve done the 900 mile drive to Baltimore before on other business, so that part doesn’t bother me too much.

The thing to really gets me is the fact that this is my first solo convention in a long time. So I’m a little nervous about meeting new people all by myself. On the other hand, traveling solo means I can do whatever I want, which is part of the whole point of going at this time! I’m usually not so selfish, but right now I just want to have as much fun as possible. With 20K other otaku around, having fun may not be so hard afterall. Oh, anyone looking for me (yeah riiiiight), my con handle is Shonen Jidai. I didn’t have time to make a costume, but I do hope to get a lot of cosplay pictures. I love those cosplayers!

Yahoo! News is reporting today that some Japanese musicians are trying to join iTunes Japan, even though their recording labels, such as Sony, are not. The Japanese iTunes Music Store has been a huge success, breaking through the one million downloads mark in only 4 days (it took 7 in the U.S.). It only makes sense that a recording artist would want his/her work to be as accessible as possible to the fans (and paid for of course). But as tightly controlled as the music business is in the U.S., it is even more so in Japan where many artists receive a salary rather than royalties and the typical music CD sells for nearly $40. In such an environment, for artists to publicly move against the wishes of their labels is nothing less than a revolt. But the Japanese consumer has spoken, very loudly, in favor of iTunes so anyone whose work is not availble via iTMS is going to be left behind. I just don’t see how $40 CDs are going to survive with iTMS around. Even CD rentals, which are popular in Japan, are likely to suffer as many people will likely prefer the convenience and lower cost of iTunes downloads.

Right now in Japan, RIAA’s worst nightmare is unfolding. Given access to legal, low cost digital access to music, not only are consumers moving away from overpriced CDs, the recording artists are as well. At least in the U.S. market, CDs have begun to fall in price but even now, a new CD from a popular artist may cost $15-$20 which is still too high. If the artist revolt in Japan spreads, and there have been U.S. artists who also have been breaking with their labels, then maybe the artists and the fans will get a better deal in the end. As for the labels themselves, they can either get with the new program, or be left behind.

Apple’s iTunes Music Store has opened in Japan at last! While, like the other stores, I don’t expect to be able to buy Japanese music from that store here in the U.S., I am hopeful that someday soon this will not be the case. For me, one of the attractive things about music via the internet is the opportunity to hear music from all over the world in many different languages. Before RIAA began its crusade against online music, I had quite a lot of fun listening to various French and German internet radio stations that had sprung up like weeds. So I’m hoping that soon, buying the latest BoA, or Ayumi Hamasaki song will be as easy as it is now to download the latest from Kenny Chesney via ITMS.

Yes! The arrangements have been made, the car has been fixed, and permission has been obtained from she who must be obeyed! I’ve been cleared to attend Otakon! 🙂 This is especially sw33t since I’m on the precipice of one of those milestone birthdays. Staring into that chasm, I fear that this may be one of the last chances I’ll have to run rampant with like minded otaku. There, I said it…I am an otaku and now the healing can begin…w00t! Otakon here I come!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince comes out tomorrow, and I’m sure there will be the usual media coverage of the throngs of fans who want to be among the first to get the new book. I will not be one of them, however, I have agreed to pick up WillowBrow’s preordered copy at the Borders near my office. So I guess that makes me a Harry Potter Mule!

I’ve only read the first three books, so I’ve a way to go before I jump into the latest one. Perhaps I’ll pick up number 4 tonight.

Some time before this year’s ACEN, my daughter Jessica decided to "go goth" and started wearing black clothes, and belts in all kinds of interesting fashions. I wasn’t exactly expecting this, but it’s been really cool to see her express her creativity in this way. She’s always had a very good fashion sense and is an artist with a lot of talent and potential. But up until now, this had been expressed in a relatively quiet and private way. Her goth inspired attire coupled with a (pardon the expression) killer bod, is attracting attention that I did not think I’d have to deal with so soon. Despite that, I’m actually very proud of her and it is with great pleasure (and her permission) that I post a poem she wrote in literature club at school. In a poetry collection where most of the students are writing about video games and fantasy themed subjects, this really stood out.

During college at the University of Chicago, I attended an event called the Lascivious Costume Ball (LCB), a rather interesting party featuring mostly erotic costumes or in many cases, no costume at all! I was fortunate enough to attend the last of the "authentic" LCBs before its popularity (ie, a Tribune article) forced university officials to shut the whole thing down. Anyway, during this event I stepped into a room where X-rated movies were being shown and took a seat. Onscreen a young man proceeded to give another young man a serious blow job. Well, I don’t know what happened next (I could guess of course) because it wasn’t what I was looking for so I left. I cannot say that I was disgusted, just shocked and a little amused to have stumbled into something I had not expected.

I’ve just finished reading Legal Drug Vol. 1 by CLAMP and I have that same sort of amused feeling because I’ve stumbled into something I was not expecting, yaoi! I know what yaoi is, and I know that it is rather popular on the Japanese manga and anime scene right now, but it was not something I would seek out (yuri maybe, but not yaoi). Unlike the gay porn at the LCB, I’m not planning on walking out on Legal Drug because it is an interesting story with interesting characters and it’s pretty funny at times too. If volume 1 is any indication, the yaoi elements are more of a tease than hardcore shonen ai, boy on boy action. Everyone’s brain should be tickled on occasion, so I’m looking forward to more! Besides, I’m a big CLAMP fan!

Here’s some CLAMP info in English on the Anime News Network.

Ok ok, this is the last I’ll say about ACEN 2005…I think I’ve turned into a real karaoke fan. I waited hours to get my chance to belt out my rendition of All The Way, the opening theme to Kino’s Journey. But it wasn’t wasted time, as I really enjoyed watching all of the other performers ahead of me. It was really cool, and in a sense it was a way to give something back to the convention because we were providing entertainment for all of the people passing through the con lounge in addition to having a good time ourselves. I almost got WillowBrow to sing, but alas no dice. At this point I don’t think I’ll ever get her up on stage. She’s just too darn proud to take a chance on goofing up, even though on her worst day she’d sound a lot better than me on my best! Oh well…

And while on the subject of karaoke, some sadists at Konami have decided to combine DDR and Karaoke Revolution into Karaoke Revolution Party. Yes, that’s right you sing and dance! Let the nightmares begin! Here’s Ernie’s (little. yellow. different.) encounter with Dance Dance Humiliation at E3 and comments. This all reminds me that I’ve got to get a better mike!

It’s a whole week since Anime Central ended and I’m still looking back fondly on  how much fun it was. The volunteer staff was great and really helped my rather large crew get through some sticky situations with badge pickup. Props to the staff!

There are too many things going on to see everything, so it just turned out that this year our focus was on music. I ended up seeing pretty much all of the major musical performances. We saw the Pillows, Swek, Kumiko Kato, and the Penny Lane Allstars. Oh, and I also want to recognize the two guys with the keyboard who played anime and game tunes virtually nonstop the whole convention. I love passion like that!

Cosplay, cosplay, cosplay! There seemed to be more people cosplaying than ever before. It looked like close to half of the attendees were in costume. And those costumes were very very good this year. I was very impressed by the amount and level of detail that so many put into their costumes. I took a lot of pictures this year that you can see via the following link.

Anime Central 2005 Cosplay Pictures

Well the ol’ clock on the wall says that it’s time to go to work, so I’ll write more a bit later. Needless to say, I’m already looking forward to ACEN 2006. And I’m planning a costume!

This is what waiting for Christmas used to be like when I was a kid! But at last the wait is over, it’s time for another Anime Central! For me this is only my second ACEN, but after last year’s experiences I think this one will be even more fun. For one thing, I’m planning to take my crew out to the hotel tonight to pick up our registration badges early and hopefully get tickets to the Pillows concert on Friday night.

On Friday, I’m planning to be at the opening ceremonies with the lovely WillowBrow while the kids are in school. WillowBrow isn’t a big anime or manga fan (she’s into cooking, wuxia novels and classical music), but she’s being a good sport for letting me drag her to these orgies of pop culture, Japanese pop culture no less! Still, I wish she could get as excited about it as I and the kids are. This year I’m hoping to get a song or two out her since she sounds a lot better doing Emerald Green or Shizukana Yoru ni, than I do! 🙂

After talking about it for months, I finally launched the Wulin web site last night. This is a site whose focus is on martial arts novels, wuxia, and wulin, the life of the noble martial artist. I don’t know much about this myself, but it is one of my wife’s passions and the reason for the site. She’ll be adding more content and direction as the site grows. the tag line for the site, comes from a Chinese expression that basically says that the sword within your heart is greater than the one in your hand.

The fun for me is getting to create something new and learning more about some cool stuff. And since I picked up Jade Empire on Thursday, I’m really pumped for wuxia! I’ve been a fan of martial arts films for a number of years now, I guess drawn by the deadly ballet. But I never gave much thought to wuxia novels and really didn’t know they even existed until I met my wife who’s a big fan of them. I’m hoping that I can get her to write some stories too!

Here’s a link to the site again.

Wulin — the sword within your heart is greater