Otakon 2008 Countdown?
It’s always a good reminder that the summer convention season is in full swing. We even got our nice (but expected) industry announcement out of the way and hopefully that’ll kickoff a very good summer for us in 2008.
I know I made a couple promises earlier this year but unfortunately one of them fell through. No panel for omo! I’m still up for karaoke however, and I am planning to send out an email very soon. It’s not too late to join in on the potentially epic lame/lol-ness–just leave a comment (and fill in the email field) saying you are interested about embarrassing yourself.
I said this before, but I am still interested in meeting up and saying hello to some of you. JP/Hinano will be spending their carefully saved monies at Mitsuwa Summer Matsuri, so we will certainly be in lack of Russian fangirl nerdrage (if that’s keeping you away, Scott). Since no one said anything I have to presume: 1, no one cares; 2, there’s a better party somewhere I don’t know (and I want to come!); or 3, people are really okay meeting up at my originally proposed time….
Which has to be changed if the JAM Project show is at 8pm … Well, one thing I know is that this year I’ll be using my cell phone to follow twitter. You can stalk me easily by subscribing to it, or let me know who you are so I can do likewise.
Who’s coming? Readers and bloggers alike? I’ll be there from Thursday night until Sunday, so my schedule is relatively accommodating. If meeting random internet people online is too freaky for you, I can work with that too if you don’t want to be identified…but you just have to email me or something.
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Some more useful information. We found out JAM Project’s Brazilian set list from their show last weekend. The only thing you need to take into account is that the individual artists had solo shows prior to the JAM Project concert, and it reflects in their solo section of the set list as reproduced below:
1. Rocks
2. STORMBRINGER
3. No Border
4. CRUSH GEAR FIGHT
5. GARO ~SAVIOR IN THE DARK~
6. Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger (Masaaki Endoh)
7. Rondo ~revolution~ (Masami Okui)
8. Dengeki Sentai Changeman (Hironobu Kageyama)
9. Yakusoku no Chi (Acoustic)
10. In my heart (Acoustic)
11. Angel Voice (Yoshiki Fukuyama)
12. We Are! (Hiroshi Kitadani)
13. Battle Communication
14. PORTAL
15. Break Out
16. Genkai Battle
17. VICTORY
18. SOULTAKER
19. EC1 Hagane no Messiah ~2006 ver.~
20. EC2 GONG
21. EC3 SKILL
Also, on youtube you can find videos. They did not ban video cameras and the like at the show. It’s likely they will not ban it at the Otakon show, too…
The other piece of news is that there’ll be an English verison of No Borders, the single that came out this past Tuesday, performed at Otakon. You can see a glimpse of the words at Masaaki Endou’s blog.
JAM Project @ Otakon Primer
At the JAM Project events for Otakon 2008, there may be some stuff you’d like to know ahead of time. And unless you’re a JAM Project fan who goes to Otakon a lot, odds are you probably don’t know all of these.
1. It’s a bit of news for some still, so I’ll repeat it–Rica Matsumoto is taking a break from JAM Project activities this summer. Some fans are still holding out on if she’ll make it to America and the other tour stops, but it’s quite unlikely. It’s kind of ironic considering she’s the one who has been to Otakon already in 2003.
2. The concert at Otakon is part of their NO BORDERS tour, which started off in Japan and the international part of the tour began in Taipei this past month. Even without Matsumoto they were able to do most of their songs. Naturally some songs will be difficult (FREEDOM?) but looking at the set list it shouldn’t be a problem. Do expect each of the JAM Project folks to do solo songs at the show.
Speaking of which, you can check out the Taipei set list here.
3. Because it is a tour, the JAM Project roadies will be selling some of their tour merchandise at Otakon. We can pretty much confirm they will have at least t-shirts and CDs for sale. It’s hard to say what else they will bring, and in what quantities. However, there are some reports from Taipei and I saw a picture (and…can’t find it anymore) of what was on sale there. It’s a good bet that there will be less stuff at Otakon, simply because there are fewer roadies and it’s harder and more expensive to ship that stuff. But picture books, towels and bandannas are definite possibilities, along with sweat bands, stickers and whatever trinkets they decide to ship over. Not sure about DVDs because of region locks.
And as usual, they’re probably going to hawk the goods at the dealer’s room rather than at the venue itself.
One thing about T-shirts–it’s likely that they will have American-sized shirts on sale rather than super small Cospa type shirts that are from Japan. Good for us?
4. The venue is going to be at the First Mariner’s Arena, which is big enough for 14000 people. Back when L’Arc-en-Ciel played their show at Otakon 2004, people weren’t able to pack it out, but I hope it draws more than TM Revolution’s show at 2003 would… Well, who knows. Anyways, for people who are familiar of the ordeal you had to go through at the L’arc show, they should have some expectation of what things may be like at JAM Project’s show. In other words, you’ll likely to be standing outside if you are waiting in line. And Baltimore weather in August is, in a short word, hot.
As an aside, the Otakon masquerade this year will also be at the Arena.
5. While it’s not official and subject to change, the JAM Project show is going to be on Friday, August 8 in the evening, like 8pm. 8/8/2008 8pm. LOL superstitious Chinese numbers. Anyways, it’s better to stand in line at 6pm than 3pm, for sure. But this also means Friday night is going to be hot and bothersome since I’ll be pumped till like 11pm. And because First Mariner is a proper venue, there won’t be ticketing (cost $ for Otakon) and there won’t be anything allowed inside the venue as you would expect any other rock concert of that kind. No food and drink (probably not even bottled water), no camcorders and cameras, etc.
For Otakon goers that are commuting from outlier hotels and residences, a lot of cheap parking is near the Arena, so it should make going home after the show easier. Otakon’s website and their forum can help with that.
6. Of course, the ultimate highlight about American-style anime conventions is the opportunity for guests to interact with the fans. That means, yes, panel and autographs for JAM Project. While I don’t know any real details (besides those things will happen), you can pretty much bet on that like prior years, Saturday late morning/afternoon will be the prime time for autographs. Also it seems that Otakon is going to treat JAM Project as “one” guest, meaning all the JAM Project guests will have the same autograph session. This also means, more than likely, the five artists will sit on the same table and deal with just one line of fans at a time.
Otakon does have a set autograph policy on their website, but in years past they will deviate from it slightly to accommodate you as long as it’s not obstructive and if there isn’t a long line. But of course a lot of it depends on the guests and their managers willing to accommodate the fans too. What is definitely up in the air is the use of tickets; in some years prior Otakon gave out tickets who attended panels to make sure they get an autograph, in some prior years they did not bother and you just had to camp the line. Well, we’ll see.
7. Sort of related to the high cost of getting JAM Project to play at a con, JAM Project won’t be playing with a live band…I think. At least there won’t be one flying in with them I guess. Will that put their signature 10-minute version of SKILL in jeopardy, I don’t know.
There will likely be more information available as we approach the date. I’ll try to post as they come out in reasonable doses.
Satoshi Kon Covers It Himself
So Satoshi Kon came to NY for a visit a couple weeks ago. I went to the Friday showing with the on-stage interview of Paprika. I was also 45 minutes late…not that it matters considering I’ve seen Paprika on 35mm at least twice now. I did the usual recording thing and there were a lot of juicy stuff at the interview worth spinning out; it’s just the recording came out pretty badly. Because I was late I didn’t get a good spot; so yes, unlike Tokikake this showing had a good attendance.
So what do you do? You Google around to see if anyone else have done it. It’s about not reinventing the wheel.
And Satoshi Kon probably does the best job himself.
Short of copypasta, though, I’ll just list the questions that I recorded here. I apologize ahead of time for the crappy transcription.
Kon took the stage after a brief intermission at the end of Paprika. At the end of the intermission they played Kon’s Anikuri 15 clip “Good Morning.”
He then took the stage with applause with the MC and translator.
I wasn’t able to get the recording for the first bit of the interview, so from memory I recall… First he spoke about this retrospective, and mentioned something how he’s getting it in America with just 4 films. But was honored anyways and hope to have this again when he is properly old and got lots o film?
At any rate, the MC started to field questions, starting by asking Kon about the Anikuri 15 segment. I remember this well because he starts by panning NHK by saying how it is accused by the public for misappropriation of funds. In order to improve its image NHK asked the top animators to produce a short, and he was asked and he made a short.
I was able to get the recording thing going soon after that. I’ll try to paraphrase; the whole session was rather long IMO.
Why did Kon choose to be an animator? He likes it when he was little? Watching animation growing up, Kon makes a comment: the disposable nature of anime today; back in the days, there was more anticipation and fans digested each work better. (I agree; people consume anime very differently today.)
How was it being a mangaka and how does it compare? He said people always asked him about it, but he likes moving images so he likes making anime better.
How did he get to do Perfect Blue? He’s been doing a few things, and some producer approached him and they went ahead. Same with how he got to be an animator from being a mangaka. He is not ambitious and people approach him. [There was suppose to be a joke here.]
At this point we watched a clip of Perfect Blue; namely the lead up to the rape scene and the rape scene itself.
So how does he feel about it: He feels bad about putting that rape scene in for the main character now. He didn’t know very much as a newbie director. Originally they planned PB to be OAV so he/they wanted to add something that makes it stand out, so there was the rape. But it got turned into a theatrical piece half way so they kept it.
Role of pop culture in his show? [The question kind of got lost in translation]: Want to recreate the time and feel of Tokyo for BP.
Layer of viewing in PB: It reflects Kon’s own perspective. He works and draws, a part of him watches that and directs, another part of him watches the director, etc. [takes picture use audience as an example]. Just by taking a picture the audience is now being watched by Kon rather than Kon being watched. The shift in perspective is one way he communicates with his audience.
Control? Just partial. Full control is boring and no control is chaotic. 50/50, but sometimes it tilts. Perceive control versus actual control, etc.
We then moved onto a clip in Millennium Actress, around the part of the sennen tea.
Ever watch your own films? Just when it’s on TV when at home when it’s on, and he always finishes it, out of some misplaced sense of duty.
Japanese film history in your works? Didn’t start out MA with that in mind–was about dream and reality and movies, but it turned out that way. Ended up meaningful the way it evolved.
How do you categorize your film in terms of Japanese cinema? It’s kind of by itself even in terms of animation; a lost child. He would be honored that it can be considered as a part of Japanese cinema history in its small way!
How do you create a character, say, Hana? Not good at chara design. He does stories and plugs characters in. In TG, it’s characters drive the film, hmm. He doesn’t have any transsexual friends, so when he wrote Hana he did some research–dressed up like him once. (The audience lols, naturally.)
How was it writing for a TV series? Compact animation, in movies he can stuff it in; but in TV there are a lot of limits so he can only tell so much stuff at a time. The basic question for both is how to get the audience’s interest from the first scene. Solving and creating more mystery until the end.
How did you get to the end of Paranoia Agent? They want to create it piece-wise because they want to be in the audience’s shoes in not knowing how it’ll end. So they didn’t know. By episode 10 or 11 the crew realized they can’t wrap it up and the screenwriter was in a bind to try to wrap it up. At that point things feel really pressed; he needed to figure out how it end and there was a lot of stress; and it felt Shonen Bat may come. Sympathy for the characters.
The audience fields some question now.
Did Kon ever watch [Konishiba] [Can’t spell it right] (picture with rolling music)? No, not that old.
Music is uplifting and energetic but often opposite of what’s on the screen? For example, if for a sad scene, everything is sad, the feeling of sadness gets away. However if you flip the music so it’s not sad, it actually feel sadder. Juxtaposition.
Akiba knifing? Difficult situation; can’t explain. The perpetrator said that he couldn’t care who he kills, and likewise does it matter who the perpetrator is for this to happen? At first we thought about whose fault it was, but it’s still the actual person’s fault. What is striking is that the person looked like a stereotype of someone who committed a random crime and less as an individual person. It seemed it could have been anyone. No answers.
Otaku culture and his fans? Otaku has been around for 30 years; he’s a first gen otaku. It’s fine if it refers to someone who pursuit what they love very much. Kon is reputed to be critical of otaku in that it is not good to live an unbalanced life and unable to work with society at large. As long as you can function with society it’s fine.
A word for inspiring animator? Here or Japan? Japanese animators are super poor so I don’t recommend it. For someone who love to draw and animate, for CG or hand drawn stuff, as long as you love it very much pursuit it and everyday get a new feel and find a new way to look at it, you’ll be good.
Perspective, people see themselves–personal or abstractions? Becoming a public figure, there will be people who know the person of me but don’t know me, but there will people who know me better than I do. People closest to me probably have a different idea of me than myself. I have an idea of who I might be and it may be not very close; someone else may have a better idea of who I am than myself. That gap is something I want to show in my characters. Oversea or in Japan, I’ve had opportunity to meet fans. In Japan, 70% of the time his fans said he is actually scarier? It’s enjoyable to observe that gap.
[The weeaboo question which the recording didn’t get well.] Thanks for asking it in Japanese. I don’t think I purposely create anything complex; the stories are simple. The delivery is complex. [It’s in the flavor?]
That’s it!
At the end of the session most of the crowd took a stroll over next door to the theater. They have a bunch of Kon art on display, including that hawt Perfect Blue jigsaw puzzle picture. And it took the edge off my complaint how no one asked about his new work. What kind of fans are they?
Lastly, Reverse Thieves has the write-up for Kon’s Monday showing sponsored by ANA. Kon’s blog also lists more details on his trip if you dig around. If you have any question about my indecipherable transcription feel free to ask. I probably still have pieces of that stuff stuck in the back of my brain from two weeks ago.
It’s Roast For Dinner
Hinano has a good roast going on over this post. I figured the issue can always use more attention. And as usual I’m taking her side because, well, she knows what she’s talking about than her subject as usual.
1. I think if we live in a perfect world, every ethical thing should be legal, and every legal thing should be ethical, too. But we don’t. It all comes down to this, really. How each of us finds a way through this kind of gray legal/ethical situation is totally up to each of us to decide. Greg decides to take his voice acting creds to cons and preach it, and I think despite my obvious disagreement it deserves some attention. It’s something people do have to think about.
2. Also, in a perfect world, people who are living their dreams should be able to sustain them–if you love to be a dub voice actor for Japanese cartoons, I hope you can make a living out of it. But making a living, as a general matter, is indifferent and irrelevant to what exactly that you do. Academy Awards winning playwright Diablo Cody used to strip for a living, but she has penned one of the most interesting piece of Hollywood cinema of 2007. And I think she’s making a living now just as she was during her dancing days. It’s an example, but thanks to things like copyright it’s also an example many people can follow (as in, living as a writer and not so much as a stripper, but w/e).
3. I take to heart, at least a bit, about the term hypocrisy that Scott used. I mean to him it may mean something, but I know to me it means something very different because there’s more at stake for me. It’s not only because of my professional responsibilities, but also it’s a subject area I am somewhat passionate about–my copyleftist leaning.
4. And here’s the rub: when it comes to new media (like fansubs), people really, really struggle to come to terms with it in a way they can handle. And it just happens that the US copyright law (as it’s most relevant in this context) is so convoluted that even most lawyers don’t really know it very well; we can’t look to the law for guidance. However, people are ingrained, at an early age, about theft. So the average layman can make a very simple argument/analogy about copyright with stealing.
5. The problem is that the theft analogy has a few serious flaws. It’s like saying you shouldn’t tell someone your secret because once you do it you will forget what it is as you have gave it away. Information multiply and it does not diminish like physical things; rather, it changes in value as it multiply. I’m not even saying the analogy is wrong. What is wrong is making decisions (see #1, above) based on that analogy instead of basing it on what is really happening. The theft analogy is a great way to convey how people feel when they are ripped off by bootleg, for example; but it’s mediocre at best for forming good law and public policy. It’s actually disastrous if you want to draft up a business model in the 21st century–in other words, you can’t make money thinking like that. Now of course the struggle of copyright reformers is to be able to communicate the paradigm shift in a simple way that laymans (ie. lawmakers on Capitol Hill) can understand.
6. Sadly, as the saying goes for politics, if you are explaining, you are losing. In that sense, it does stress on the point Hinano made about retards at anime cons, and how it’s not representative of the fandom at large. But the key is that Greg’s spiel is appropriately tuned for that kind of audience. It’s almost populist how he made fun of people online who may chew him out! Maybe Greg can make his panel thing simpler? Maybe take a cue from Lessig?
7. But really, as Author said, if you want to have a discussion based on reason, good policy, and civility, that is thorough and respectful, and inclusive of both American and international interest, don’t do it at a panel at AnimeNEXT. Maybe try that internet thing? Just make sure you use competent moderators on a good platform. Or better yet, do something hybrid; involve both panel, online, and other offline venues. Then finish it off with a research paper?
8. I wish someone could. But someone did mention about something like how Greg gave up a decent paying job to become a voice actor, so maybe doing something like that isn’t too crazy. Still, he’s really in no position to plead about his vested interest in the industry. And I’m not talking about the inherent bias–I don’t really care about that. I care about his plea about spending money in buying DVDs. First, let’s take a step back and think about it:
9. AnimeNEXT costs like, $35 to go on Saturday. That’s like 2-3 DVDs. Or 7 if you took one of those 5-a-pop sales we saw last month over at Rightstuf. So he’s really preaching to a group of people who would rather go to a crappy con and not spend that money on something better (like I did, heh. heh). For example, I’ve actually kept my budget written down for Otakon for the past ~9 years, so I know how many DVDs I could buy if I stayed home instead of partying it up in Baltimore as a part of this annual tradition of mine. It’s quite a bit. Probably enough to supply Jeff Lawson’s anime habit for a few years, and that is not adjusted for inflation. What’s more, I run on the cheap, too! Just imagine how 20,000+ people that have attended Otakon or AX for the past decade have spent on NOT buying anime DVDs but nonetheless spending money into this industry?
10. This is really the nail in the coffin as far as Greg’s lack of tact. Let’s just say that for every internet person he flamed at a con, he’s shooting down all those potential customers who probably don’t enjoy cons and would rather put that money where it counts–actual, physical goods. I mean if I didn’t go to 1-3 cons a year I can probably spend an extra $1000 on anime a year, easy. And guess what, who’s making that money? The same people who gave Greg the soapbox to preach from. Forget about Miyavi. The whole thing behind a lot of anime is a device to drive merchandising–selling copies of books and manga, toys and games, and gags and figures and hugpillows and whatever for the otaku. If anime companies aren’t cashing in on those, it’s not the fan’s fault, right? You ARE supporting the industry when you buy Nyan Furo, despite what Greg may be saying. You ARE supporting the industry when you learn of a new artist through an anime and consequently import stuff from that artist, because that’s why that artist got to be in that anime in the first place.
11. So once you boil it down, Greg’s spiel is pretty lame and very ben-dun in the sense that every other retard (including Y.T.) has said something totally not original, with the same broad brush and none the care for precision and the consequences of his action. Why should anyone react any differently?
12. And if you want cred? Unlike Scott I actually own 5cm on BRD. So this is not a matter of hypocrisy and where you spend your money–God knows how much money I’ve wasted on buying DVD or VHS or LD or DLC or whatever; and I wish I could spend less. This is a matter of not knowing what the hell you’re talking about. Greg would be much better off if he went around and not spread ignorance (as he really has no excuse if he’s going to play the industy insider card) and actually be respectful of the people he want to persuade. It’s easy to paint faceless fansub pirates as evil and those who agree with him as good, but it’s all too easy to fall into the same trap you set up for another as both groups of people are two sides of the same coin. It’s always a bad move to insult your potential clients.
13. Here’s something to think about: instead of talking about how fansubbing is harming companies, why doesn’t he talk about how fansubbing is harming the anime that come out today? People don’t really care about companies; they care about the show they like. And if you are going to say anime is going to go away people will just laugh at you; at least provide concrete evidence. Anecdotes are worthless. FWIW, it’s much more interesting to see how stock prices for GDH change based on the reception of Gonzo’s productions, because that stuff is easy to understand. It’s much harder to understand how propping up a dying method of distribution of mass media helps to bring Japanese animation to the next level. If all it took was for Gonzo to go neck deep into debt to produce a series like Tower of Druaga, then hells yea, keep on that downward spiral.
It’s Easy Listening
If you want to put on some refreshing but distinctively “hand-made” music, try this out:
Couple days ago I stumbled across a fan cover album, a collection of renditions of Maaya Sakamoto’s tracks. What’s so remarkable is the quality of these songs–it’s almost as good as those for-sale-at-Comiket fan albums. To be fair it was rough but let’s just say it’s worth your time to try it out.
Most of the tracks are from Sakamoto’s Lucy-Nikopachi-Shounen Alice era [affiliate links], and that’s fine vintage. The collaboration came about through the organization of a fan forum community, Maaya’s. You can read the thread here. (The YKDB thread also sheds some info too.)
If you want to grab a copy of this “First Live@Purple Pro Audio” (it is a live studio album), the best way to do it is via this zshare link, uploaded by one of the people involved in the project. By the way, they call themselves “The Other Side of Lucy.” Definitely fans alright. Annotated copypasta++ incoming:
- Vocals: Pippa (
England ) - Guitar: Jerome (
France ) [International collaboration!] - Mix and Master: Simon
- Where: Purple Pro Audio Studio (
Leeds ,England )
- Makiba!
Alice [Uncanny] - Kodoku
- Daniel […I can so use a Park Amsterdam cover]
- Pocketto wo kara ni shite [uhh. use a kazoo?]
- Chibikko Folk [enjoy your faceless male backup singing?]
- Yukka
- NO FEAR/aisuru koto
[not bad for a Yunagi Loop track, almost better than the original] - pilot
- here [I think this is a good song for a guy to sing, coincidentally]
- yoru [fierce]
- alkaloid
- yubiwa [the arrangement is worth it, let alone the other stuff]
- Gift [this song suddenly got a lot more creds]
- Secret Track: Gift ~why not? why not? version~ [Amusing secret track is amusing!]
Digging around on Maaya’s you can also find their older works, here. To download, you can sign up for an account on the forums. The tracks there includes Yoru, Gift, and Yubiwa, although I’m not sure if they are the same ones as I have yet got a chance to check.
Looks like I’m going to have to bust out that bootleg recording from that Shounen Alice Studio Live sometime soon; this is basically channeling all of that.
When it comes to things like this I’m not even half as critical as I normally am, so I’ll leave it up to the listeners to give this a shot and make their own judgment. It’s just that I really need to take a break from listening to Nyan Furo all the time…
