Newsbot Time
First off, Otakon, being my “home” con away from home, is going to announce their musical act for the year at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, which is in 2 weeks. If you prereg now you can try to guess who it is and maybe win something.
I highly suggest you prereg and guess who it is. And go. Go. Go if you know what’s good for you. This year is going to be special.
Second item today is that a friendly dude from M80, an online marketing firm, asked me to plug some contest TP is running. Isn’t it nice to be able to have a job that lets you contact friendly bloggers and talk about cool anime stuff, partly to make it seem less like spam but also because, well, it’s cool anime stuff? Anyways, it’s not like my current job sucks, but it’s not what I want to do for a living. I guess doing viral/grassroot marketing has its own challenges as well. Only if marketing was this friendly. Hey, they are hiring.
The third item is about this lol contest. I like the idea (even if it seems like a lame attempt at farming links), and while it’s potentially a whirlpool of drama, it sounds fun. I tossed in some random nomination that people should take a look at, and that’s that. I hope this takes off in the right way because it can be a lot of fun.
The fourth item should be a whole blog post, but I want to ask the question and get it out there. Bandai Visual, via their BOSS Note blog (…you know, I just “got” the joke to that blog’s name), announced they’re delaying their releases to change the way they’re dealing with their stuffs…are going to be. Furthermore BOSS man himself is “promoted” to an international position back in Japan that probably gives him even more power to shape how BV USA does its work in the US.
The question I have is really focused on this paragraph, and I quote:
Anyway, Bandai Visual (Japan) and Bandai Visual USA are now rushing to reschedule all future releases, focusing on Blu-Ray. Due to the recent quiet market, we will postpone standard single DVDs for TV series. We are assuming that the market does not prefer that format.
Now, the entire post mostly talk about the switch to BRD. And shows like True Tears would rock on Hi-Def But does that paragraph talk more about “standard single DVDs” rather than just “DVDs”? To me it reads that they’re going to do standard single BRDs and DVD sets. That’s what would sell, for sure.
How does it read to you?
Takanori Makes the Squeeze
So some of you know that TM Revolution is coming to New York ComiCon. For those who are planning on going, they’re stuffing all of yall into a hall that sits 3000.
That’s right, 3000.
They have the Javitz Center. Which means it has enough space that can hold at least 10,000 in the basement. Of course, odds are that’s simply not possible as the Comic con doesn’t really use up all that space overall, and it probably costs a metric ton of $$$.
For comparison, when L’arc en Ciel went to Baltimore for Otakon, they had over 10,000 people show up at that gig. Of course Otakon draws like 30,000 people all by itself so much of that can be attributed to that fact alone, but this is the Big Apple and not the dump that is Baltimore. It’s midtown madness! TMR’s Otakon visit topped out at around 4-5000 or so? But that was in 2003.
But anyways, even if TMR was not coming (and, FWIW, I’d have made plans to go much earlier if he is bring Abingdon Boys School), NYCC is a crowd crunch anyways if it was anything like last year. I suppose I can go again and try to score free loot, but I’m a lot more busy now than last year. Even if TM Revolution is showing himself in a venue that holds 10,000, it’ll be a crowd anyways.
Choices choices.
Pillows And More Pillows
March 22nd is the world pillow fight day. You can read all about it on their website, which is pretty simple and straightforward. I mean, it’s a flashmob armed with pillows, exercising their freedom of assembly as strangers and comrades in arm, may it be feather, cotton, or something else more sinister. Or oops, not a flashmob. Just a bunch of people doing something people don’t do.
What’s more interesting for me is March 21st. The Pillows is hitting up Anime Boston that weekend, a con I never bother to visit and is sort of kind of a local thing for them anyways. On Friday March 21, however, they’re playing a gig in New York City, where Ryusuke’s friend died. I guess.
Having been to a prior show with a similar lineup (Noodles, the Pillows) back in ‘05, I can say with some confidence that this is a pretty fun gig that you don’t want to miss if you’re at all a weeaboo, or otherwise have affinity with this breed of rock.
Speaking of that breed of rock, I just got Rock Band the other day and it’s a pretty addictive and fun game. Especially with a group of folks. Kind of like this picture.
Ashes Unfit for Giant Robots? What Goes with a Shooting Star?
Over time the Gundam franchise evolved to match what’s appealing and interesting to the youth of Japan. Or Asia. Youth in Asia. Nice Boat.
Sorry, just couldn’t stop myself there.
Uh, while I was somewhat of a fan of good o’ The Brilliant Green in its hay days, the band’s return last year was a big question mark. I think quickly, though, they’ve shown much of their old selves. It’s still a little too early to make a prudent call, but it’s never too early to exclaim “wow I like this” when, well, I like their Gundam 00 single.
But that bothered me. A Buriguri song in a Gundam anime? Yes I know much of the two’s demographics overlap. But so what? That’s like hearing Radiohead on Avatar or something. Well, that’s probably too much of an exaggeration.
And while L’arc en Ciel has anime tie-ins on a regular basis, their last song on Gundam 00 was also a little odd and unfitting. Not that it was bad (and in fact, I like both songs as well as the animation) but something just doesn’t seem right.
It begs the question: what does seem right? I made a reference to a classic KOTOKO song, Onegai Teacher OP, in the title, because I thought that song fit as an example. In fact, I love Second Flight (Onegai Twins) even more, and the overall package that the opening animation for the show was superb and it is something that I just don’t see much at all in recent shows.
And even so, Gundam opening and ending songs have consistently set some kind of landmark–good ones and bad–for anime that came before and anime that follow. I think See-Saw still rakes in the big bucks from their SEED works, and anison people like Chihiro Yonekura got a lot of popularity from her classics in 8th MS Team. If we broaden it to Sunrise “real” mecha shows then the list will probably double with people of more mainstream impact as well, like KOKIA, among some long list of other musical achievers.
I thought about Gundam specifically. Perhaps it felt odd only because I had a preconception of what Gundam is suppose to be like, and the grungy style of alternative rock didn’t go with it? It’s not to say there aren’t other Gundam theme songs that were “out there” or anything, but they somewhat fit the show. Older songs fit the older Gundam shows; fruity songs like Turn-A-Turn fit fruity Gundam anime like Turn-A; Nami Tamaki’s dance beats did wonders for SEED. So why is Ash Like Snow giving me any problems? It’s hardly the worse or even the most unfitting song-to-show.
Perhaps I’m just not taking Gundam 00 seriously enough? Or maybe music marketing is just being too aggressive? Sigh.
Crying Manly Tears - The Confession of a Makkun Fan?
I love anime songs for some reason. I blame my weak will power under attack during a period in my life when I was impressionable (freshman in college).
I’ve spent some time thinking about it on various occasions–and often while listening to anison while doing that. The conclusion, every time, was pretty much that music (and creative expression as an outlet of my generally repressed personality) was a growing part of who I am. I find myself surrounded by it and it’s a black morass, an endless pit of artistic swirls paving the fun, enjoyable, but fruitless sinkhole of time and energy. Music is the language of the soul, but where is my soul going?
And I’m not alone. Things like MySpace speak volumes of the similar spiral towards destruction traced by countless others. Having some idea how a recording are made in this day and age we all question the authenticity of artistic expression in its most common mode–radio and CD recordings. The simple act of making music is mixed into the industry of producing music celebrities. It’s the timeless dilemma of a pursuit of truth and beauty.
Still, I believe people have this innate programming that makes us recognize truth as confronted by it, and praise those that are beautiful. Is why I cry manly tears of hotblooded courage while watching a JAM Project live? Is this why Heart Shaped Chant is so enthralling (and it’s not even my favorite Nana song)? Is that why XKCD is my favorite webcomic for some time? Or find fellow Asian-kins quitting their jobs in search of a living by using good ajax code and promoting the indie sort of fun? Is this why people care about that open letter?
It’s silly. But it’s about soul. Maybe that’s what made me a Makkun fan in the first place. Being an oversea Makkun fan was hard as for a long time she was pretty much just your typical Star Child artist. Seeing her music evolve was interesting as she switched producers and tried to inject more of her personality in her works (at the cost of fans, probably). Eventually she slowly switched from a typical idol kind of promotion to a rock musician type of promotion. Some of it was corny but some of it was pretty fun too. It’s like she’s actually serious about this, but from my outsider perspective I don’t really know anything concrete.
But I think the anison scene can use more people like her. And people like the rest of JAM Project. And people who are willing to come together for passion and also for a living. I’m not sure why people like myself react to them the way I do. I’m not sure if anison is for people who are still kids inside. I’m not even sure if anison is something to be taken seriously. But for the passionate, the young-at-heart and the responsible folks out there, if they have a blast doing the thing they love and still make enough money to support themselves and be responsible human beings, well, then all the power to them.
And yeah, that is why the anison scene can use more Animelo Lives, as a corporate testimony of a meeting of spirits, of fire-branded souls screaming for joy at a festival of epic awesomeness.
