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I’ve been added to Anime News Network’s “Art of Reviewing Anime” panel at Anime Expo. Not that I think there’s anything particularly “artful” about reviewing anime, and its kind of weird that ANN hasn’t updated their info about the panel to include my name even though they said they would…but whatever. Come down and root for Otaku USA all the same.
"The Art of Reviewing Anime"
Sunday, July 1
Live Programming 4 (Long Beach Convention Center 203C)
2 PM
Some little boys develop crushes on their teacher, their mommies, or the girl next door. But in Japan, were child development is complicated by the consumption of large quantities of anime and live action superhero shows of the Ultraman and Power Rangers variety, little kids are just as likely to fall for comely female cast members in tight fitting uniforms. There’s long been a cult of adult fans who like to ogle super heroines (indeed few AV stores in Japan are without at least a few titles of the Panty Mask variety), but only now do such freaks have entire stores dedicated to servicing their needs.
Tokyo’s Akihabara district – perhaps you’ve heard of it – is now home to the flagship store in the growing Heroine Tokusatsu Kenkyujo (“The Heroine Special Effects Laboratory”) chain. Complete with control panels and blinky lights, the inside of the store is designed to look like the inside of a high-tech research facility. On the shelves are hundreds of independently produced adult-strength female superhero sagas. Titles like Gravure-Heroine and Dragon Angel are thinly disguised rip-offs of kiddie fare like Kamen Rider and Gatchaman minus their oh-so unnecessary male casts. Instead, attractive young women in fantastically designed uniforms take center stage to tussle with monsters and alien menaces on their own.
Although most of these shot-on-video movies look like they were financed with loose pocket change, the DVD-Rs they are contained on fly off the shelves at the outrageous price of around US$90. For those with modest funds (raises hand), the Lab also hawks CD-Rs containing still images and an Mpeg video preview of the full feature, for around US$20.
For the sake of future generations, I bought the budget CD-R of something called Redlady whose packaging reminded me of a confusing dream I had about Ultraman when I was around seven years old. Boasting more ambition and special effects than the usual title in the Tokusatsu Lab, Redlady unfolds in a suitable-for-Godzilla miniature city where our masked heroine wrestles with a guy in a rubber monster costume. There’s nothing downright raunchy about the humiliation Redlady must endure to save the world (that would be too obvious and…normal) but the peek-a-boo camera angles and lingering takes during the wrasslin’ scene make it clear who the target demographic is: YOU!
Go on…see for yourself!
Now, other Heroine Special Effects Laboratories have opened in other parts of Japan, including Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo’s Shinjuku district. Demand a Heroine Tokusatsu Kenkyujo in your hometown today!
Ol' big mouth is back in an epic interview with the Otaku Generation podcast cartel. I pop up around the 1:13 min. mark to talk magazine wars.
Sneak peek at the contents of issue 2 of OTAKU USA magazine...
The ever-mythologizin' Mike Dent of the legendary R5 Central podcast chimes in with an OTAKU USA promo of his own! Pass it around, lick it, love it!
Joseph Luster and myself have really done it this time! Gone "a little loco" and made a short MP3 promo for OTAKU USA magazine. Feel free to pass it around, post it on your assorted blogs and podcasts, and have a nice day!
From last night's Marvel of Manga mixer at the Asian Art Museum, here's the Four Horsemen of the Mangapocalypse. (From left to right) Fred Schodt, Gilles Poitras, Derek Wildstar, and Jason Thompson. (Guest Star - Nico as 'Il Paparazzi')
I’ve just scanned a bunch of old shonen manga covers for Jason Thompson (author of the upcoming book Manga - The Complete Guide and the manga dood for OTAKU USA) who will be delivering a lecture about the art and science of manga magazines tomorrow night at the monthly Matcha! mixer at the Asian Art Museum.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the wilder ones.
Here's legendary Japanese rebel Tange Sazen defying the US Occupation forces on his trusty steed Diablo. From Boken gatsugeki bunko, 1949
The first Japanese boy to land on the moon made it with the aid of some props left over from Toho's Battle in Outer Space. Shonen Gaho, 1961.
From 1964, this is the cover Shonen Gaho WISHES they could have run back in '49...
Oh! Tomo Machiyama! In a fine fat feature for issue 2 of OTAKU USA, “The Mach” will be making a heretical case for Shotaro Ishinomori (Cyborg 009, Kamen Rider) as a greater and more innovative manga artist than the much-lauded Osamu Tezuka. And gosh, if it’s all not rather persuasive to boot.
I’d love to post the whole thing right here, right now, but dig this: I’d like you to actually buy the dern thing itself. Call me old-fashioned if you must! Still, here’s a peek what inflammatory stuff we have in store for the next round of hit-and-run:
"The ending of Ishinomori’s original Kikaida manga was perhaps his most devastating. The android hero, Jiro decides once and for all to stop the robotic “destructoids” created by the evil organization DARK. To do this, he makes up his mind to kill every robot he can. But in the process, he also murders his own mechanical family members, including Kikaida 01 and Bijinda.
The last panel of the manga says, “Jiro did a horrible thing. He killed his own siblings. Now, he is a human being.” Jiro was an innocent, free from original sin. He had a conscience, but that wasn’t enough. It is sin and evil that defines human beings. The very last line of the story asks, “Jiro is now human…but is it good for him?” The young readers of the Kikaida manga were just like Jiro. They had no grasp of morality beyond the simple stories of good and evil usually presented in manga. With this ending, Ishinomori told them, “you are not human yet, in order to become a grown up, you have to understand the evil that exists inside of you.” Only Ishinomori could create a deeply ironic and philosophical conclusion like that. So I think he was greater than Tezuka."
More evidence for the prosecution:
Ishinomori’s experimental masterpiece JUN.
Well, ok. Today is the official launch date of OTAKU USA magazine. Even though people were able to find copies as early as a week ago, I always had it in my head that the show wouldn’t really start until June 5th. Now that it's actually here, there seems no better way to celebrate this alchemical journey of spirit into matter than to pose the question, “Can You Feel It?”
Myspace is a joke by any standard, but you got to do this sorta thing nowadays. Don't expect too much...I'm just throwing this page together in-between working on text for issue 2. Still, add me as a "friend" and leave nutty comments and such. I'll be doing a magazine blog there as well.
OTAKU USA MYSPACE PAGE
The first in-depth review of issue #1 of OTAKU USA is in from the headbangers at Heisei Democracy. The short version: They like it! They like it a lot!
Excerpt:
"It’s a purchase I would recommend for any serious fan of Japanese popular culture. It’s fueled by the love of the writers, and unlike many of its competitors it has no corporate parent that it’s beholden to...think of the magazine as an investment in fandom, an alternative to the big guy, and an authentically interesting read that you’re likely to come away from better informed than you were before...It is the duty of all patriotic Americans to proceed to newsstands and bookshops on June 5th and procure every single copy you see, and for all patriotic Nonamericans to do the same (overseas subscriptions available!)."
Full review with pics here
I'm going to go back to watching Zizek videos on YouTube now.
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