The O-Talk Podcast

There is not much to say other than I picked up Magic: The Gathering for the first time in 10 years. I originally played it when I was in middle school and I had a big collection of cards. Then one day, I gave away all of my cards. Now that I'm starting up again, I need to build a few good decks.

A day after work, I decided to visit Wal-Mart to check out if they had any cards. I ended buying a Black/Green Innistrad Intro Deck and a 2012 two-player core set. When I got home, I wanted to find out if there was any local tournaments in my area. I found a table top game shop that does that sort of thing and I visited the next day.

While I was at the shop, it was a good experience. They gave me all sorts of good tips on the type of decks I want to build and everyone was really friendly. I was also informed since that shop is part of the Wizards Play Network, that means the shop will be part of special events such as launch parties for new card sets and tournaments. While I was there, I picked up a few things. I bought a Blue/White 2012 Intro core deck, two deck boxes, and...........

....... a 2011 Deck Builder Toolkit. This Deck Builder Toolkit is great because it brings a ton of helpful cards for anyone starting up.

I'm kind of glad that I got back into Magic: The Gathering as an adult because I better understand the game and I can buy any products as I like. So, do you play Magic: The Gathering? and what kind of deck do you play?

I recently conducted an interview with Steve Savage from Fantopro.com. Steven Savage is what he calls "Geek 2.0: The Professional Geek." He's a Project Manager in Silicon Valley who writes, blogs, and speaks on geeky jobs, careers, and trends. You can find out more about him at http://www.stevensavage.com/.

Holy crap, a live action Space Adventure Cobra is being made. When I found this out, I was just surprised since its originally a Shonen Jump title from 1978. I grew up with watching the anime and finding this out has me a bit interested in it.

In recent years, many companies have released anime/Japan inspired apparel. Many of those were pretty ugly and looked bad like those anime inspired shoes made of recycled materials. However, Boomslank Anime T-Shirts are planning to change that with their amazing t-shirts.

What I like about Boomslank is their designs. The Simplistic designs such as Kuma and Delta look great with the black graphic on white, it makes it pop. As for the highly detailed designs, I feel bad wearing them because designs like Airport and Strike Witch are true works of art.
I highly recommend these t-shirts because other than looking good, they are pretty comfortable.

Right now, I wish that I was living in Japan. While checking out Bandai's online store, I discovered this must have for anyone who loves Mobile Suit Gundam than their own family. They are selling Mobile Suit Gundam themed collection cases.

They come in two versions, the Earth Federation version and Principality of Zeon version. They also come with adjustable glass shelving, mirrored background, glass door with a lock, and decals. The down side to these cases, they are expensive as hell. Just the M sized case costs 19,800 Yen and imagine how expensive the shipping must be because they are deliver already assembled.
Part of me is thinking that I should just build it, but it would be a tough DIY project. So, what do you thinking of these collection cases?

A few months ago, I was invited to the In Memoriam: Satoshi Kon Event as press. The thing is, it's in New York City and I live in Florida. However, I asked a good friend of mine, Linda from Anime Miz's Scribblings if she could cover the event for me. She gladly said yes. This post is of her covering the event. I hope you enjoy.

As a one night event sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City, on December 22, there was a double showing for Perfect Blue and Paprika at the Walter Reade Theater. This theater is just around the corner from the famous sight of Lincoln Center, and next to the Juilliard School. I have come to this theater before previously for a screening of Sky Crawlers, so getting here was relatively simple for living in New York City.

While there definitely wasn’t as big of a crowd as I anticipated, I felt that it was quite word of mouth or what I saw as some advertisements via ANN, Twitter or even Facebook that definitely let fans be aware of this event. I was made aware of this event earlier from Otaku Dan. There was still a comfortable size of people.

This event is a respectful ode to the memory of Satoshi Kon, whose death is a significant one for the Japanese animation industry this year. He leaves behind only a handful of movies, so showing these two exhibits, not just the sheer brilliance in story telling, but the entertainment is quintessential Kon.

Before the movies began, there was a speaker that came and spoke to the audience for a couple of minutes. He mentioned that Satoshi Kon was at New York, several years ago for a similar movie feature marathon. New York still gave Kon fond memories, even as the late director lay on his sickbed. The speaker ended with saying that there were keepsake postcards from Satoshi Kon’s memorial service in Japan last month. He also took a picture of the audience to show to Kyoko Kon who is Satoshi Kon’s widow.

Pefect Blue is the first movie that placed him in international spotlight, and Paprika was the last full length completed project he worked on. What more can anime fans, and movie goers ask for? I certainly enjoyed watching these two psycho-thrillers on the big screen. Though technologically dated in the plot, Perfect Blue is such a suspenseful thriller, which can send chills up neck of viewer, watching the story of singer/actress Mima.

Paprika is a fantastic imaginative movie that displays the cinematic genius of Satoshi Kon. He even has a role in the movie, to which I was pretty happy to realize. Paprika explores the possibilities of dreams. Definitely of both movies, Paprika is a movie that is a sight for eyes on the big screen. It definitely foreshadows Kon’s still unfinished project of The Dream Machine.

I'm finally back from Metrocon. I will say it off the bat, this year was not that great compared to previous years I have attended. However, something memorable happened to me this year.

I normally take a lot of pictures of the convention, but I forgot to pack my camera. I thought that I placed my camera inside the camera bag, I should have double checked. At least there was not that many well done cosplayers that I missed out on. Also, a tropical storm was pasting by Tampa. There was so much rain.

I will say it right now, I will never ever buy anything at an anime convention. The vendor's room was crap because almost everything was marked up by around 20% to 50%. Hell, I saw some guy trying to sell a Black Rock Shooter figure for $275 U.S. dollars. There were a lot more bootleg vendors this year. There was this old lady trying to sell me a bootleg Reimu plushy. Another vendor was selling anime wallets, the one wallet that stood out the most was a Bleach wallet with Luffy from One Piece on it. Metrocon needs to fix that bootleg issue.

There where a few okay panels this year but most were more targeted to female anime fans. I am a little disappointed that I missed the one panel I was waiting for, it was a Maid Cafe. It sucks that it was going to be opened for only 2 hours and the line was nuts.

I did managed to meet the author of the Cosplay in America book. Ejen is a really cool guy to have a great conversation with. You should buy his book, its really good.

As for the memorable thing, when I got to hotel with my girlfriend, I asked her to marry me. She said yes.

At the end of it all, the convention was okay, but it has a lot of room for improvement.

Well, this is going to be my last Metrocon 2010 update post before the day of the event. This post may be boring but it does have some interesting information if you will be attending the convention.

Well, everything in my Metrocon do to list is complete. I do have some small things to do like setting up a want/need list for what I would like to buy at the vendor's room and making a schedule for the events I want to attend.

As for the panel that I will be doing on "How to build an Arcade Stick", I have not yet order the parts I need for this panel and I bet they will not arrive by the time Metrocon comes along. I will still run this panel but I need to change my presentation.

I will also be part of the Anime 3000 Panel podcast panel at Metrocon. There will be both a audio and video recording of the podcast.

This year's Metrocon is going to be a blast. Now all I have to do is just wait and save my money.

Edit: I drop my "How to build an arcade Stick" panel due to metrocon having weird rules. I have contact them about me brings my tools and I get different answers.

I'm not a stranger to anime mouse pads. I have owned quite a few in the past, but most have been disposed of. I eventually learned to alternate mouse pads every 3 months just so they can last much longer. Lately my wrist has been hurting and I found the right mouse pad that would solve that problem.

I upgraded to an oppai mouse pad. Marmar sold me his mouse pad because he does not like girls with big breast. This mouse pad is from the Record of Agarest War limited edition set. The mouse pad features Vira-Lorr from the game. At first it was really hard, but after a while it became soft.

This post is pretty much an update to my last planning for Metrocon post. Sorry if it's boring but it does have some pretty cool news.

Since my last post I managed to get some important things done.

Things I can check off from my to do list:
Bus Ticket
Metrocon weekend badge
Hotel reservation
Submitted my entries for the Picture This contest.

Things that are still on my to do list:
Laptop Backpack
Setting up a budget on money that I will spend at the dealer's room.
Making a list of things I need(missing manga volumes) and want.
DSLR camera

I'm very excited for this year's Metrocon because Spike Spencer, the English voice actor for Shinji Ikari will be there. I'm going to have him sign my copy of End of Evangelion and Evangelion: 1.01. I'm also going to be running a panel once again. This panel will be on how to build an arcade stick, will be expecting some people there. So, I'm pretty much just set for Metrocon this year. Now, I just have to wait.

I have always wanted a Dakimakura but price is somewhat of an issue for me. The covers themselves are usually priced around $80 - $100 USD. The main reason why I got the Dengeki magazine was because its cost $50 USD and it comes a dakimakura cover. As for the body pillow, I ordered it from Wal-mart for the low price of $17 USD.

Well, It's that time of the year again that I start preparing for Metrocon. The convention will be from July 23 to the 25 at the Tampa Convention Center. This will be my third Metrocon that I will be attending. For me, Metrocon is my Super Bowl, World Cup, and Wrestlemania combined.

For those who have not been reading my site for a long time, I like to plan 2 months ahead of time. But this time, its different because the money I had saved towards this anime convention was spent on car repairs. I pretty much have to get a second part job(blogging is my other job) to save money for the following things:

Bus Ticket
I'm taking a Greyhound bus because I want my car to last a long time.

Metrocon weekend pass
I need to get that before the convention.

Laptop Backpack
This year, I'm going to bring my laptop with me. The one I currently have is too small and beaten up.

Money for the dealer's room
This is self explanatory.

DSLR Camera
depending on the job I get, I may buy one.

At this year's Metrocon, I'm not going to volunteer like I did last year. My body was destroyed by the end of the convention. There's a possibility I may be part of big panel this year but I'm not 100% sure. Will do an update post on this in a few months.

I will tell you the truth, I have not been a big fan of Miku Hatsune songs. I was attracted to her mainly because of her look and I really never paid attention to the music. In the last month, I forced myself to sit down and listen to songs that have been created. It's really good.

The thing that I like about these songs, their created by different people. There are fans all over the world who are creating original songs with the Vocaloid program. Each song is unique from any other and I like that. These are a few Miku Hatsune songs that I recommend for you to check out. If you do listen to Miku Hatsune songs, what are your personal favorites?

Well, I modded the Mayflash Arcade stick that I reviewed the other day. It was a lengthy process but it was fun. This is pretty much some of the things I did.

I recently interviewed the writer of the Otaku Encyclopedia, Patrick W. Galbraith. His perspective on the otaku culture is very insightful and interesting.


What was the first anime you saw and what was your initial reaction to it?

The first anime I ever saw was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It was destiny, fate, love at first sight. With Nausicaä. Seriously, the girl ruined me for real women, and I was only in grade school. I’m from Alaska, and there isn’t much to do there except for drink liberally, engage in sporting activity or stay at home. I was too young to drink and too meek for sports, so I ended up spending a lot of time at home. My older brother was learning Japanese and was into anime, so we watched VHS tapes of whatever he could find. Being in Japanese and with often sketchy subtitles, it was way beyond my ability to comprehend. So I did what any young lad would – I looked at the pretty pictures of beautiful girls. I guess maybe I still have a tendency to do that! I was 12 when my family moved to Montana, and had trouble adjusting to the new environment and retreated into my room and my anime. My passion for it accelerated until a point when there was no stopping or going back. When I started tattooing my two-dimensional wives onto my body, I knew my life was over. I think I was still stuck on Sailor Moon and had just watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, which introduced me to Asuka, who I love dearly to this day. I was reborn as something else, as an “otaku.” This love, or perhaps lust, for anime brought me to Japan. I wanted to learn everything I could about the country, people and pop-culture that had such a huge impact on my life.


How did you permanently move to Japan?

I studied here from 2004 to 2005, and moved to Tokyo permanently in 2006. I was really very fortunate to be affiliated with a good school and receive academic scholarships, which really facilitated my getting started building a new life. I threw myself into studies and otaku hobbies, which increasingly began to overlap. I spent a lot of time in Akihabara. I felt I found myself there among the stacks of manga and toys, reflected on the screens playing sample anime and demos from dating simulator games, shoulder to shoulder with other young men who for whatever reason went down the same path as myself. I took notes on every store I went to, from every person I talked to, just trying to soak it all in. But I was soon to learn that Akihabara was a place in transition. In his book Learning From Akihabara, Morikawa Kaichiro, a professor at Meiji University, explains that it was only in the 1990s that Akihabara became the sanctuary of otaku, a place supposedly without power where subculture had a chance to emerge and blossom. The private room is opened into public space, if you will. However, otaku soon started to appear in this discourse of “cool Japan.” Politicians talked about how Japanese pop-culture was going to take over the world, spurred by otaku creativity. Large tract development appeared in Akihabara, and the area was promoted as a hotspot for tourists. The media came out in force, seeking out extreme otaku for prime-time TV programs. This caused something of a backlash however, with some Japanese objecting to the public display of subcultures that clashed with traditional values and sensibilities. The chaos and friction was incredible, with the image of otaku bifurcated into a schizophrenic good/bad construct – the tension was palpable on the streets of Akihabara. And even as all eyes turned to Akihabara, I became aware that this was just one area for and face of otaku, and our image of otaku was becoming skewed, or manipulated in many ways. Sure, maybe I am a moe otaku who hangs out in Akihabara maid cafes and plays bishojo games, but that doesn’t mean most people are. Together with Adrian Lozano, I founded the first regular, English-language tour of Akihabara in 2007 as a way to introduce people to the changing Akihabara cityscape, and give them some perspective on how the otaku culture was changing. I wanted to place Akihabara and the new otaku boom into social, political and economic context, and explore how they fit into the wider otaku scene historically and contemporarily.


So what is it like living in Japan?

I absolutely love it! I add to that a small caveat, because I really don’t live in Japan. I have always lived in Tokyo, which is a totally different place. It reminds me a bit of Rahxephon, you know, where Tokyo is this planet unto itself. In this little bubble where I live, I can watch late-night anime in real time, go to theatrical openings and idol concerts, hang out in maid cafes, attend events and meet new and interesting people everyday. It is so easy to meet people into the same things, get access to events and information, talk with journalists and scholars working on topics similar to own. My hobbies, research and work all converge in the otaku hobbies, and I can be close to them in Tokyo. I intend to continue writing and perhaps take up teaching, though the number of academic posts is down even as the candidates are up the world over. I guess I will take my chances and see how it goes. The city provides me with unique opportunities that I want to follow through on to the full extent of my abilities. It is also a place where I can learn and grow, to expand on that potential. I was born in Alaska and grew up in the mountains of Montana. I never had a credit card, used a train or taxi or stayed out all night before coming to Tokyo. The absolute reversal of everything I knew has made this a place that even now never ceases to amaze me. I have fallen for Tokyo, the same way I fell for Nausicaä – that one love that ruins you for life. I honestly don’t think I could ever go back to where I was before. There isn’t anything waiting back there, so I chose to continue this journey of discovery.


What was your inspiration to make The Otaku Encyclopedia and how long did it take you to write the entire book?

It took about five years to put the book together, or about four years of data collection and one to edit it. The whole thing was occurring in tandem to my ethnographic fieldwork among otaku, which began in 2004. When I got to Japan, every single time I talked to someone I’d encounter all these words and concepts that I was only vaguely familiar with, so I asked them to explain. I collected hundreds of pages of interviews and notes that were edited down and organized into the current book. There is so much more that could have gone in, but the publisher, Kodansha International, wanted to keep it a small size and affordable price. In a way I am happy about this, because it makes the information accessible to a wider audience with perhaps only casual exposure to the culture. On the other hand, I would love to collaborate with a group of otaku writers inside and outside Japan and publish an expanded addition, or perhaps a series with volumes focusing deeply on certain topics. Anyway, the process of putting the book together was a long one because there was so much information out there to synthesize, and so many stereotypes to confront and work through. Coming at this as a fan and student of Japanese popular culture from outside Japan, I was very concerned with how the media portrays otaku and their activities, both in the sense of media images generated in Japan and those conventional understandings disseminated among fans outside Japan. The media image is especially important in the case of otaku, because the mass media played, and still plays the most important role in setting the parameters for discussion. And the mass media tends to construct easily recognizable stereotypes. Often the definitions are presumed in advance and never questioned openly, as if we all implicitly understood. This tends to make definitions appear self-evident, while reinforcing received stereotypes. My job was to interrogate constructed images. I hope to bridge generational and geographic gaps – otaku inside and outside Japan, of different groups and generations, male and female – in the ongoing discussion of otaku.


What is you honest opinion on the word “otaku”?

It is what you make it. Honestly, it means nothing. Absolutely nothing. Otaku-like behavior is being super deep and narrow in your interest, which is intense and long in duration. You can be that way about anything and still not identify as an otaku. Conversely, you can identify as an otaku even if you are only casually interested in anime and manga. The word is arbitrary. In fact, it was created and applied by others as a pejorative for people they didn’t like. Nakamori Akio famously slammed “otaku” in his 1983 article, but actually he just personally found dojinshi fans to be gross, right? He used the word “otaku” to mean “those weirdoes,” the implication being “those weirdoes who are different from me.” Indeed, Nakamori saw himself as a representative of the “new breed,” or shinjinrui, and insisted that this generation of creative, individualistic youth was different from otaku. Only in his mind, I say. Likewise, as information-consumer society reached new heights of excess in the 1980s, there was a general anxiety about the direction of Japan’s young people. And then, in 1989, a young sociopath named Miyazaki Tsutomu murder and cannibalized four little girls. The media, just like Nakamori, used the word “otaku” to describe people that they didn’t like, but this time the entire generation of young people deeply involved in new media and technology. Sharon Kinsella suggests that otaku became scapegoats for all that was wrong with Japan, and a lot of wrong during the recessionary 1990s. Again, the word otaku and its application are arbitrary. Miyazaki was certainly a member of the VCR generation, and seemed to have an intimate relationship with media and technology. He even visited Comiket. So he seems to have been an example of otaku. But he himself didn’t even know this word. Further, even if he was an otaku, does that mean that all otaku are socially inept, sexually suspect and potentially dangerous? I think not. Those crimes committed by “otaku,” or those identified by the media as “otaku,” are numerically small. And who is to say that these so-called otaku are representative of anyone else? If a doctor commits a crime, then are all doctors by virtue of being “doctors” evil? Is there some essentially bad about doctors? This is an irrational line of inquiry, even more so if we did not know who exactly we were talking about when using “doctor” in the broadest possible sense. Such is the case with media criticism of otaku. The same is true for the positive otaku image emerging in the 2000s. Is the protagonist of the TV drama Densha Otoko representative of all otaku? He hangs in a maid café in Akihabara, so the answer is no. He says the word “moe” out loud in response to exciting things, which was not common until this show. Moe was online slang, funny because it is a written pun, surely used by the guys on 2channel in the 1990s, but not spoken aloud. So, we see that Densha is in fact another constructed image. The bifurcation of the image into Miyazaki-Densha, demonstrates just how bipolar and schizophrenic the “otaku” image is. This is because it does not have, and never has had any basis in reality. There is so much tension in the word otaku. You can see this when you write it. Otaku can refer to a subculture in the 1980s (おたく), fans of Japanese popular culture overseas (OTAKU), an international, popular or cool fan culture (オタク) or people interested in newer anime, manga and games, usually with cute girls (ヲタク). You can be “otaku style” (otaku-kei), or identify with a particular place (Akiba-kei), or a specific hobby group (Gun-ota, Mo-ota, ani-ota). Even as “otaku” becomes a more popular category in Japan, some people in the States are abandoning the word in favor of “anime fan.” I personal choose to identify broadly as a wotaku, and specifically I am Akiba-kei and moe-kei. But, most normal people don’t care about the internal politics of the word, and they call me otaku, or I say it to them because it is the most expedient way to explain that I am really into anime. I think we need to be aware of who is using the word, in what context and how, and then react accordingly.


What is your current opinion on “the moe bubble trend” and when will the bubble burst?

Moe is being unfairly blamed for everything that is going wrong in the anime industry today. Let’s face it – the anime industry on the whole is suffering, perhaps even dying a painful, prolonged death. This is completely structural in nature. Consider the production committee system, which benefits sponsors instead of production houses. They invest money into a work, and receive a portion of the profits. This is often called “Tezuka’s Curse” because that great creator sold his works for so much less than they were worth, a precedent that keeps animators in a constant state economic crisis. A fourth of animators now work below the poverty line. In Tezuka’s defense, he did manage to position anime as a major force in mass media, and many great animators followed him. However, as the economy gets worse, it is increasingly less appealing for young people to become animators. They can’t expect much money, and the sponsors and broadcasters have them in a corner, only supporting those works that have a mass-market appeal and commercial potential. We all know that anime films got so huge and excessive in the 1980s with Aklira, Totoro and Honneamise that the industry collapsed. Something similar happened with OVAs. Then, the TV anime bubble occurred after Evangelion. I submit to you that the reason why another Evangelion does not appear is not because it is no longer possible due to lack of creativity, but because the market structure resists it. First, after the bubble burst, anime production was farmed out to South Korea and China because this is where cheap labor could be found. As a result, young creators are appearing there instead of Japan. Further, anime series started to be blue chip properties run in prime time or niche shows run after midnight for otaku. In the former case, creativity is limited due to the broadcast laws and sponsors, and the latter due to limited funding and the need to pander to viewers. So, young creators in Japan are moving towards dojinshi and bishojo games because the barriers for entry are lower and they have more creative control. Second, after Evangelion, the digital distribution of series gradually became easier, which cut into already minimal profits for studios. They tried to supplement with media mix and merchandise tie-ins. Hey, Evangelion did the same thing. Its characters are cash cows. Before that, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross did it. But with more studios doing it and fans increasingly able to get it for free or even make their own stuff, the market is killer. They have to pander to smaller audiences with more niche and appealing characters that can appear in multiple media outlets. This tends to limit their mass market and export potential, and encourage the inclusion of certain popular characters and scenarios. That said, Urusei Yatsura did the same thing, right? Let’s not delude ourselves and say sex came into anime with moe. Fans didn’t suddenly become interested in cute girls in anime, just as girls didn’t suddenly become interested in homosexual relationships. This is the culmination of something that has been running deep in this media fantasy for a long time. Okada Toshio says that otaku are dead, or that they only look at beautiful girls. He says that his generation dissected anime and paid careful attention to all the details, creating a system of knowledge production around anime. This is the “advanced visual sense” that defines otaku, a new way of viewing and interacting with media. OK, aren’t fans today dissecting images of cute girls and paying all sorts of attention to the details of their production? If older otaku view anime as an exploded image, then younger ones view characters as an exploded image. Just because their focus has changed does not necessarily mean that they are less intense about their hobbies for a shorter duration of time. They are still very narrow and deep in their interest. If there is trend towards shallow consumption going on, it has to do with the massive amount of media and material young otaku have to consume, which makes it harder to go deep on every single element of “otaku culture,” as Okada seems to imply an otaku must do. And let’s not overlook the fact that behind those stock moe characters, many young anime creators today are coming out with some great stuff. If they can sell it with the characters, if they can establish that economic crutch, then they have a great deal of room to experiment with elements of story and style. I mean, seriously, is there anything more epic than “the endless eight” in Haruhi? They are playing with viewer perception. When the second season came on, and it’s all out of chronological order, you keep thinking to yourself, “Haven’t I seen this before?” You have, both in this series itself an in elements of other series. It is interrogating the mechanism of anime production today, and of time itself. When the endless eight begins and the same scenes are repeated week after week, the viewer demands to skip this and see more of the good parts. But no, it is repeated over and over, giving a true feeling of helplessness. Like it or not, this was an innovative move that got a response from viewers, got them up out of their seats talking about, and promoting, the show. Are we going to argue that Creamy Mami or Mazinger Z are somehow better stories than Clannad and Higurashi? They are older, yes, but no more redeemable than the anime made today. They had a more captive, less savvy TV audience to support them. We are blinded by nostalgia. Moe is a response fans can have for an extremely wide range of characters, so when we talk about “moe anime” we are talking about a huge body of collected work, some of it bad, but not all of it. We shouldn’t condemn all of it because of a few bad series. How about Gundam, this seminal real robot franchise – is Mobile Fighter G Gundam the pinnacle of storytelling and character development? So should we toss out Gundam because it tried to mix Dragon Ball with mobile suits? And about this supposed lack of new creative talents – not everyone can be Miyazaki Hayao or Oshii Mamoru, and criticizing them for that while worshipping a handful of aging auteurs isn’t going to improve the situation. There is a criticism of “nothing new” in moe anime. OK, so was Evangelion “new?” It had its own critics back in the 1990s for remixing elements of other stories into it. That does not make it any less of a show. So, my position on the moe bubble is this – we need to stop blaming moe for a general downward trend, start looking past the character designs to find redeemable qualities and support creators who are in fact trying to do good work despite bad conditions. Moe does not constitute this radial rupture in anime, where suddenly we have sexy characters, remixed stories and lots of character merchandise. I don’t see the point of adopting this elitist stance to anime of the past and tearing down what we have today. Is the solution to character-driven anime to wish the entire industry dead? It’s well on its way, guys. Support the anime industry as it is, or help change it for the better by supporting compromise series like Zetsubo Sensei, Higurashi and Haruhi, but don’t just make irresponsible criticisms.


What do you see will be the next big trend in anime?

I think the next step is super-limited animation. As Thomas LaMarre suggests, there will be fewer action-images and more time-images. This means anime will become more about thoughts and emotions. Viewers will look at these still images draw out suggested meanings, empathizing with the image and having an affective response to it. There will be more interest paid to style and presentation of visual data, as we see in Bakemonogatari and Moryo no Hako. There will also be more anime that attempt to convey a feeling or mood rather than a narrative of change and progress. Lucky Star and K-On! are good examples of this, giving a feeling of peace, comfort and nostalgia to the viewer. Nothing happens, yes, but you feel something when you watch. This also means that consumers do not have to see it all to sense the appeal and support it, a very good trait to encourage casual viewing in a media-saturated society. Along with this, character designs will become more important. The suggested depth a character will draw in fans. This is a likely development because if the focus is on characters, then media mix and merchandising is possible, and fans can get drawn in at various points in the unfolding series of the character. That is, they won’t have to consume the character in an assumed chronological order or canonical series. Consider Hatsune Miku, Toho and Hetaria, which are character based, open to fan-participation and spread virally. People can get into this even if they have never used the synthesizer program, played the games or read the web comic. Things will get easier to access and participate in, even to the point of active rearticulation, like “open-source” anime. The character draws them in, and how deep they go from there depends on their level of interest, expertise and time and monetary constraints. In a way, all these possible developments in anime are telegraphed by bishojo games.


What else would you like to promote?

I hope you check out The Otaku Encyclopedia and Otaku2.com. I have also just released an audio tour, Tokyo Realtime: Akihabara. In summer 2010, I will be teaching a course on Manga Culture at Temple University, Japan Campus. Roland Kelts will be teaching the anime course. Application is open to anyone. Maybe we can get a real “otaku university” thing going here!

Last week, several American television shows had some sort of anime fandom in it. The first thing that came to mind was, "Wow. Anime finally made it big in the mainstream." After a while I thought to myself, "Maybe this is not such a good thing." Because of what was depicted as what anime fandom is, it seemed somewhat negative in a way.


On the show American Idol was a young lady who auditioned to become eligible for the rest of the competition to become American Idol. The thing is, her audition was really crappy. Plus, she would probably been blown off of the show. However, there was one thing the show focused on her and that was that she is an anime fan. The first thing that came to mind when I heard of this was, " Oh wow. She's probably an average anime fan." But when I saw it, I was in shock. This young lady was, in the nicest way I can say, a spazz. She took several cosplay costumes to the audition and said her dream was to become a famous singer in Japan. She also claimed she is an otaku. The thing is, her definition of an otaku was "An anime freak." That enraged a lot of people. A lot of people hunted her down on Facebook, Youtube, and any other social media site and they insulted her every way possible saying she is the reason why anime fans can't be taken serious.

In my own personal opinion, I despise the way she acted because people who hate anime or don't know what anime is will believe this is how all anime fans are.

A few days after the American Idol incident on the show 30 Rock there was a new episode with the subplot of a successful actor wanting to create a fake celebrity relationship with a character just to dispel a rumor that he was in love with a dakimakura. In fact he was in love with a dakimakura and he even said, "Are you familiar with Japanese moe relationships where socially disfunctional men develop deep emotional attachments to body pillows with women painted on them?" The actor even referred to his dakimakura as "Kimiko-tan". In the end of the episode the actor decides to accept himself for who he is and publicly announced that he is in love with his dakimakura.

When I saw that episode, I thought to myself, "That is pretty creepy. But, in a way it did show a great lesson on accepting yourself for who you are and that you shouldn't care about how other people judge you."

Other shows during last week also did small mentions of anime, but I'm not getting into that because it's not that big. I find it interesting that in the beginning of the week, people were angry and disappointed. However, at the end of this entire week everyone was okay and had cooled off. Hopefully in the future there will be better examples of what anime fandom really is, but for now only we can set the examples.

So, what are you thoughts on this matter?

For a long time, I have become bored of most mainstream anime magazines. Most of them are just flooded with ads and most of the writing feels forced. I started searching for an independent alternative. Then one day, discovered Otaku Magazine. Well one can say, it found me.

Otaku Magazine is a biannual publication, printed in limited edition, and distributed worldwide. The one thing I like about thing magazine, it that everything is user created. That includes the front cover, articles, illustrations, and comics. If you are every interested in submitting any work, just make sure that it is related to its theme.

If you do get an issue of Otaku Magazine, make sure to spread the word. I would like to see in the future this magazine coming out every 3 months instead.

So, Otaku Dan and I decided to write up another Otaku twist on a holiday classic. Here is what we came up with for the holiday classic of "A Christmas Carol". It is now "An Otaku Christmas Carol". Enjoy!


Scrooge-sama was walking down the hallways of his school with a smug look on his face. He is the President of The Anime Club and has the biggest perversion complex with a big attitude of “he is always right”. It didn’t make things any better that Christmas was approaching. The other students began to whisper to each other as they noticed Scrooge-sama with his usual smug smile.

“You know I heard that he’s an ego maniac. How did he even become the President of The Anime Club?” One of the girls asked another girl.

He finally arrives to the club room on Christmas Eve and the only person that is his actual friend, James is in the room waiting for him. James is doing the paper work for a future anime convention that they are going to. When Scrooge entered the room James greated him saying, “Happy Holidays.” Scrooge’s smug smile instantly turned into a frown.

“Humbug, what’s so great about this season?” Scrooge looks to James like he’s stupid. James sighed.

“The season is about people coming together and helping your fellow men.”

Scrooge scoffed and replied, “You mean helping your fellow man, which is me. If anything this season should be about me because I’m perfect. Now, you said that you had something important to tell me. What is it?”

James shook his head and brushed it off. “What I wanted to tell you is really more of an invitation to a party tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve.” He looked hopeful at Scrooge, though he had a feeling that his invitation will be for naught. It seemed Scrooge was actually considering about going but then completely destroyed what little hope was left in James.

“I’m not going to a stupid party to celebrate a stupid holiday. I have better things to do, “ Scrooge said as he walked around the room in arrogance. In his mind he pictured the perfect girls in his H-games and chuckled under his breath as he imagined all the things he could do to them. Tell the girls how beautiful they are so he could see their big breasts uncovered. Hear their sweet voices tease him make him horny.

James recognized that look. He groaned inward and grabbed the papers. “So, you’re not going to the party. That’s a shame.” He walks to the door and says one last time, “Merry Christmas Scrooge-sama.”

Scrooge scoffed. “Christmas…bah!” He took one last look around the room and then took off to his house.

It was a few hours before Scrooge was going off to bed in his room filled with figures that looked like beautiful anime girls when while he was playing his favorite H-game the screen went from sexy girl to a picture of the former President of The Anime Club. He then appeared outside the screen next to Scrooge in a ghostly form. “Scrooge-sama, you are an arrogant young man and I have come here to warn you that you would-“ Scrooge cut him off with a question, “Why are you so ghostly looking when you aren’t dead? You graduated last year, and I think I saw you a few days ago.”

The former President’s eye ticked, “That’s not the point. Look, three ghosts are going to visit you tonight whether you like it or not. Now I’m going to leave you in your stupidity. Have fun.” With an annoyed look on his face, the former President disappeared and Scrooge sat there wondering if his drinks were spiked with some type of drug.

He then fell asleep at his desk with drool coming out of his mouth and mumbling out the things he wants to do to his favorite H-game character, Neko-chan.

It wasn’t much longer when white smoke was on the computer screen and seeped out to cover the air above Scrooge’s body. As the smoke slowly woke him up he saw the image of Neko-chan standing next to him with her cute big eyes watching him. As his mind began to process that he was seeing her in real life he jumped up then fell to the floor and says, “I’ve finally lost my mind.”

“No silly, nya.” She smiled sweetly at him. “I’m here for real as the spirit of your Christmas past, nya.” Her long black cat tail was waving cutely as she smiled wide.

Scrooge pinched his arm and as he felt it hurt him he believed that this must be the most realistic dream ever. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself, ‘if this dream has Neko-chan in it, it can’t be bad.’ He then began to unzip his pants until Neko-chan noticed and stopped him.

“What are you doing you pervert, nya?” she gave him a stern, but really cute look. Scrooge’s face went blank and then he hung his head. ‘Damn it. She turned me down.’ He looked back up at her as he remembered something, “Well this is a dream, right?”

“No, nya. Now let me take you to your past, nya.” Neko-chan grabbed Scrooge’s arm and dragged him to the door when he asked, “What do you mean my paaaa~st?” Neko-chan’s cat ears were perked and she said, “I mean your Christmas pasts silly, nya.” She giggled cutely and it gave Scrooge a stiffy. ‘God she’s so cute and beautiful.’

“Stop checking me out, nya.” Neko-chan gave him that same stern look as before. Her tail continued to wave around and her cat ears were a little pulled back to show slight annoyance. “Pay attention, nya.”

Scrooge looked to the scene before him and saw that it was when he was ten years old. It was Christmas and his first present he opened was the box set of the anime “Tigermon Z”. His face was so full of joy; he smiled so brightly. “Awesome!” his ten year old self exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting this so badly!” He looked to his parents and got up to go hug them. “Thanks Mom and Dad!”

“This was when I was ten. I remember that Christmas. It was so awesome!” Scrooge smiled smugly.

Neko-chan blinked. “Why was it awesome, nya? Because of the anime, nya?” Scrooge shook his head.

“No,” he replied. “It’s because I was with my Mother and Father.” As he reminisced on those feelings of joy from that particular time, it caused him to feel sad that he doesn’t get those feelings anymore.

He then wakes up in his room and he sees a maid looking at him. “You’re wide awake my master. I am the ghost of Christmas Present.”

She smiled sweetly. “Let’s go visit where your friend James is at.” She and Scrooge magically appear floating above the karaoke bar that James and the other club members are at. They were celebrating Christmas Eve by singing anime songs and having fun. Everyone was getting along and laughing happily. As Scrooge looked around, he saw all the wonderful foods they were eating and noticed the many anime products there, including a few that he’s been wanting.

He looked to the maid and asked, “What’s the point of this?”

The maid answers, “Don’t you see what you’re missing? You could be here having fun with your friend James and be somewhat likeable, yet you were selfish and thinking only about yourself.” Her stern, little voice cut through his mind and Scrooge began to understand a little bit of what the sexy little maid told him.

She smiled as she saw that what she said was getting to him. He seemed to really be paying attention now. He looked around the karaoke bar and realized that it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to accept the invite James gave him earlier.

He wakes up again. “Damn this dream!” As he gets up from his desk and turns around, there it was. Mechazinger T was standing before him.

“Let me guess, you’re the ghost of Christmas Future,” he says with a sweat drop. Mechazinger T replies robotically, “Affirmative.”

“So now what?” Scrooge asked Mechazinger T opened a portal and throws Scrooge into it. Scrooge is back in his room and looks around, “wait a minute. I’m back in my room.” He looks toward his desk and sees a fat balding man. “So who’s this slob?” He was silent for a while then he reacted in horror. “No! It can’t be! That can’t be me! Can it?!” He fell to the floor in despair.

Mechazinger T answers robotically again, “That is you in the future, due to you alienating everyone in your life and you fell into a deep depression in hatred and died alone in your room.”

Scrooge cried sorrowfully saying” I will change! I will change! Give me another chance! Please, another chance!”

He wakes up on the floor crying with tear down his eyes. He opens his window and it’s light outside. He sees the neighbor kid and asks, “what day is it today?”

He replies dryly, “It Christmas you weird Otaku.”

Scrooge calls James on the phone. James answers, “What happened?” He asked in a tired voice.

“James! James! Call and round up all of the club members to meet me in the park at noon,” Scrooge said frantically.

“You sound very excited this morning. Sure, I’ll do it.” They then hang up.

The clubs members were at the park and Scrooge appeared with boxes of pizzas and drinks. He then began a speech.

“So I know that I have not been the best president of this great anime club. I have realized how selfish I had become and how I have not taken anyone else’s feelings into consideration. This is my apology to everyone about how awful of a person I have been. So I’m sorry and Merry Christmas! Dig in!”

Everyone accepted his apology and began to raid the many boxes of pizza. And James speaks up with a pizza slice in his hand. “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

Well, Otaku Dan and I decided to do a twist on "T'was The Night Before Christmas" to match the wonderful world of anime. So here's what we came up with. Hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays!!

Yesterday, I got my brand new wall scroll. I have been meaning to buy a new one since June and when I attended Metrocon, I did not find appealing to my taste. It was until a few days ago, I decided to get one instead of a new figure.