Just What about Your Star, Do Tell?
Grats to the Anime Blog Awards for finishing relatively successfully. I ran across a couple interesting blogs (which I promptly now have forgotten…they’re bookmarked somewhere) in the process of participating in it. I mean, I’m kind of surprised–I never really am that interested in popular blogs on the whole, and was surprised to see some interesting blogs on the same wavelength as mine. The “rookie of the year” category is a telling example–the winner is a blog that I don’t know and I still pass over; but the other nominated entries in that category bring something original to the table that I value.
The ABA tie-in is pretty simple when as applied to Macross. Who is Sheryl? Who is Ranka? The latter will totally lose in a ABA-like contest in context of the show, but she’s the star in the show. And she’s the rising star in Nyan Furo.
[insert awkward transitional sentence here]
First–What ’bout My Star–for me that is the defining track on this CD, only because it appears twice and it gets lodged into my head easily. I hate it when songs get stuck in my head, because it sort of contaminates the experience for latter tracks. Nonetheless, the repetitive pop is just the right softness to be pleasant and the right sharpness to be catchy. I can’t really decide if I like Sheryl’s Live version more or the @ Formo version more–I like how the Sheryl only version is integrated into a live setting (with the appropriate arrangement!), yet I really dig the May’n/Nakajima duet.
It’s like Get Along.
But I think my favorite track overall on the CD is Welcome To My Fanclub’s Night. I don’t know why–probably because of the arrangement and the appropriate amount of energy as a fake live version. Without any kind of emotional attachment to the actual show, it’s easily the best produced idol power pop song on the CD. It’s just got corny lyrics, but it’s not that bad for an anisong.
Infinity is pretty good too, that said, but Diamond Crevasse puts it to shame.
Anyways, the past half year we’ve heard some more “LOL Kanno is a plagiarist” stuff and I think while it is always good to fish out where Kanno is getting her mojo from, it’s just outright ludicrous to jump to conclusions when most people don’t even know about what it means to be a plagiarizing musician. But man, Klaus Badelt much? And also some Zimmer?
Overall I’m sort of amused by this entire CD. The selection of the BGM tracks to be included on this CD is a very clever mix. A lot of the very impressive tracks go right along with the not-serious-business pop vocals (Triangular is still a LUL-tastic comeback for Maaya x Kanno), and they mix well 1:1 with some of the Hollywood-inspired mood-setters. If you don’t take Kanno’s pandering seriously (as you shouldn’t), I think you’ll really enjoy the tracks they have selected.
And thankfully, even so we get some more subtle tracks to go with both versions of Aimo. Track 20 (Kirakira), specifically, was very nice. And necessary. It’s just a little too much to have the whole soundtrack be full of lulz and awesome, right?
Speaking of lulz, though, nothing beats Ninjin Loves You Yeah. Or if you’re really bold, you can try this version.
And in the context of this CD, the Nyan Nyan song is just down right sinister–beckoning you to the pretty girls, gorgeous, delicious, deculture. It mixes Chinese, Japanese, and English to create this bizarre, meta-cultural experience. And appropriately it’s smack in the middle of this very fun soundtrack album. It’s no longer East meets West, or some postmodern display of lulz. It’s a glimpse of the humble reality about anime as a form of entertainment.
It’s not easy to play a flute for two separate audience and make them both sing–the East and West; or in the context of this blog, the good and the popular. When you’ve micromanaged the soundtrack release for a cartoon TV show to include promotional material for aspiring idol talents in the form of a fake live show, while delivering a potent payload to appease die hard fans of the composer, AND at the same time weave a coherent narrative, in line with the theme and concept of the anime, that adds to the enjoyment of the show’s intended audience, it’s hard to not call it “best soundtrack <insert time frame>.”
[Note: If you ever want to do the Nyan Nyan Dance, you can get a glimpse of the full motion in episode 10…sort of.]
Yet I’m hesitant to call it that. Nyan Furo’s intrinsic qualities take a back seat in terms of epic composer epeen, compared to some of the more sublime works from Yoko Kanno. Basically, Nyan Furo is all about pandering. But that’s why we are all going to buy copies of this CD and be like giddy fans, because you know OST2-3-4-whatever will have more of this, and hopefully more of the Kanno score that made her the fan favorite today.
For a more detail breakdown of Nyan Furo, check out this entry from the premiere YK fan blog. I think DarkMirage is going crazy with the translations too, if you want a crack at it (as he translated none of the songs I wanted to look up).
Beyond Shinkai
So in a couple weeks, Makoto Shinkai will have his film and interview in London. Poor sods stranded over this side of the pond, like us, can probably take this opportunity and do something else while Shinkai moves on to a new chapter in life as an expat.
“2nd_Life (茗记)” is something that might be it. You can watch it on Youku, or watch it on Tudou. Chinese-based streaming video sites don’t work super great on my home connection, but they do work. YMMV.
This 6-or-so minutes long indie animation is produced by some PRC studio called L-Key. It’s in Chinese with Chinese and English subs. You can also find the soundtrack in mp3 as well as a WMV link (it didn’t work for me) for the video. Coming from a Shinkai fan’s perspective the similarity is clear, but there’s at least a modicum of originality in the expression that makes it credible, at least a little.
Big thanks to Iwa ni Hana for pointing this piece out.
Speaking of which, there’s this other piece on Iwa ni Hana about She and Her Cat which is just delightful. Can I go squeee now? You should go pay the blog a visit.
Momotato Is…
Some things in life are just hard to put into words. Momotato is one of those things.
Sure, for most people, Momotato is this guy who used to blog (although technically he still does) about anime, Japanese pop music, and some random game stuff. And being one of the earlier anime bloggers who wrote about proto-news, his influence on the fledgling online blogging community in English-language-land is actually more far-fetched than one would imagine an owner of a dead blog.
But to me, he’s a friend I’ve known for some time. And he’s a pal. Despite his eccentricities, there’s an undeniable charisma about him which makes his opinions somehow always better than most people’s opinion about the same thing, even with the same opinion! He did not need pretty pictures or a 12th grade vocabulary to convey heartfelt ideas, even if he had those. There’s a trace of humility entwined with experience in every wisdom-laced review he posts on a humbly designed, pre-Web 2.0 homepage. It was admirable, and to me he’s managed to accomplish something that few I know was able to do so–to cause ruckus out of building bridges between fans who share the same passions, rather than divisive drama spoken from some ego-filled hot -air-balloon/soapbox.
Even so, I don’t think I’ve gotten close to capture the essence behind why a small group of people are so hyped up on Momotato. He’s just a fan much like you and me, after all.
Perhaps he is the everyfan?
I’d like to take this opportunity to (try to) embarrass him, but also to let him know how many of us still appreciate him. And also for me to get a better idea just how many people who appreciate him. You can do this by leaving a comment on a blog. Any blog. Like this Anime Blog Award vote thing that’s going to end today. Just post “Momotato” in the comments.
Anime Blogging Nonsense
For once, I feel compelled to do something about the state of anime blogging.
Would anyone be interested in hosting a panel with me at Otakon? This is a somewhat serious commitment and the deadline for an application is the end of the month. I am in the process to evaluate if this is a worthwhile idea or not so I can accordingly decide the next step.
I realize while anime conventions are a part of the fan culture, the mixing of that and anime blogging has not really come to focus in the fore. One of the issues that could be discussed is exactly the scope of anime blogging. The everyday blogger writes about daily circumstances, and it’s not totally uncommon for someone to talk about or review an anime once a blue moon. Or manga. Or any other subject matter the usual “anime” blog scene cover. How is that different than an “anime blog” as we know it?
Should we talk about the style of blogging? Personally I take a very relaxed approach; a major advantage of blogging is the way it allows for the expression of individuality; at the same time, it is worthwhile to discuss the nature of such things in order to provide insight into how to get the most out of a blog as a blogger. As long as we can convey to people that ultimately a blog is whatever you make it, and defined categories are not all there is to anime blogging. At the same time, I am interested in how people think about this issue, if you have given it some thought.
Discussing such topics at a con also runs into the issue to get the audience involved, and I think that is why the idea is compelling. For one, a lot of con panels are really just pow-wow sessions for people on the internet to say hello to each other. Also how to entertain people may very well be an issue. I suppose I can start stretching and practice learning the crane kick. Anyways, I think this is only a good opportunity and worth all the potential work if other people can play both as panelists and audience.
At the same time, all this thinking makes me realize I’m pretty under-equipped with some of the basic blogging concepts. How do we discuss aggregation portals, scrubbing, or the technical ends of things? Managing traffic and generating it? Advertising? Well I guess I’m not clueless about all of those things but I’m certainly not confident and knowledgeable enough to host a panel. This is just another reason why I will need help.
And … yes. Help. If you are interested in this project (even if you may not be able to come to the panel), I can probably use it. Just ping me, email me, or otherwise leave a message.
Speaking of that, anyone else up for epic karaoke this Otakon?
Huggles Boggled
Blogging and journalism are like salt water and freshwater; to some anyways. Today, they are mixed; you can see the afternoon newspaper dying in the streets and reborn online with the likes of industry, pro bloggers and journalists who release bits of news in a blog format.
But are they suppose to? I guess this guy probably doesn’t think so. What surprised me was my own reaction about he being surprised at ANN’s relatively new tack in regards to internet reporting.
Undeniably true, however, is that ANN is getting more traffic the more they dabble in this so-called “huggle” readership. If you read the comments in that In Search Of post, one of the commenter mentioned this and, well, that’s what blogs are all about! At the same time, unlike other news blog sites that we might be familiar with, ANN is sort of in mid-transition between a more traditional news website to a news blog.
As one of the first major anime fandom company on the internet, I didn’t really pay ANN any mind because it utterly failed to serve my needs (mainly protonews and a source of industry hubbub which was primarily what AoDVD was for). At least, until their mighty encyclopedia started to gain momentum. As a factoid, the first anime entry in the database is Angel Links. That should give you a clue to its vintage.
[Coincidentally that was one of the first series that I’ve had the joy of watching the digital raws while the series was airing. (And the subsequent joy of dropping it.) Anyways.]
So, yes; if we took a look at what fan blogs are about this day and age, we’ll see how things break down:
- Episode reviews, previews, retrospectives
- News - Both straight-up news and entertaining news. Does Mainichi Daily News counts? But I was thinking more like, say, akibablog or Canned Dogs.
- Special features - Like a March madness tournament. Like blogging about your company’s Blu-Ray strategy. Like a sound clip from Yukana. But usually just reports from cons–the home of the huggles.
A lot of blogs mix them up, including this one. But I think that just lays out the things you will see ANN do more of. Being a commercial entity they already have a leg up on getting special interviews, so as a potential reader I hope they can do more of those.
The role of editorial bloggers and editorial blogging, however, is something else. To an extent, the power of blogging comes from the ability to do whatever you want with disregard to any kind of professional standard. If quality writing, professionalism and speed are important things for any publication, why is ANN getting the readership it gets?
Perhaps a better way to see the big picture is to understand how people gather information using the internet. And quite simply put, as long as it isn’t a time intensive and otherwise pain in the neck kind of a thing, people are quite content reading the words of a recent ESL person versus someone who has been writing professionally for decades. What is important is the information within, and does the information in the format presented serves the needs of the person looking for it. Or at least that’s how I judge the quality of information.
But that’s just how I see ANN, as a source of information. Different people perceive ANN as different things, after all.
That’s blogging in a nutshell IMO. After that it’s just a long sliding scale from awful to awesome. We are here to serve our huggling overlords, and many bloggers double duty as both. It doesn’t matter how we call ourselves, our readers can tell the difference (so we believe).
After all, it is the non-Serious-Business nature of internet blogging that makes amateur production feasible; there may very well be no incentive for a person to improve his or her blog if there is nothing to gain from it…much like how ANN has no incentive to improve the quality of its services?
It might be healthy to be obsessed with your blog’s traffic after all?
