<style type="text/css">!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } A:link { color: #0000ff } --> </style> I've heard a lot of people who don't know much about anime and manga say that you never see any oriental (or East Asian) character designs in anime and manga and this issue is often used by many as a pretext to look down on the arts of anime and manga. I have to admit that this issue is thought provoking. One cannot deny that there a ton of anime titles out there that use the so called “moe” character designs (large eyes, small mouth and nose...etc) but there are also many titles that don't use such designs at all. The question is: among the titles that don't use any “moe” character designs; are there any that use oriental designs? This quetsion got me thinking so I decided to do some research in order to settle this issue once and for all with concrete proof. My research led me to compile a list of titles that have used oriental character designs in the past. The list is shown below: 1) Monster 2) Kurau Phantom Memory 3) Rurouni Kenshin OAVs (Trust & Betrayal and Reflection) 4) Otogizoushi 5) Happy (Naoki Urasawa manga) 6) 20th Century Boys (Naoki Urasawa manga) 7) Zipang 8) The Spirit of the Sun 9) Planetes 10) Like the Clouds, Like the Wind 11) Seirie no Moribito (it is set in a fantasy world but I will include it nonetheless) 12) Mushishi 13) Paranoia Agent 14) Texhnolyze 15) The Gokusen 16) Old Boy (Manga by Nobuaki Minegishi) 17) Cromartie High School 18) Jin-Roh 19) WXIII: Patlabor The Movie 3 20) FLAG 21) Solanin (manga by Asano Inio) 22) Ciguatera (manga by Furuya Minoru) 23) Summer Holiday with Coo 24) Only Yesterday I believe that is a fair amount of titles that covers a large range of genres. There may be more titles that I don’t know about or I forgot to include so if you know of any such titles, by all means tell me in the comments section or via email and I will update the list. The interesting thing is that all the titles listed above are not only examples of Far Eastern character designs but all of them represent some of the finest titles that anime and manga has to offer (and I’m talking about top quality here!). What's more fascinating is that all the people who use the character design issue to attack anime and manga haven't even watched or read any of the titles above despite the fact that all these titles are critically acclaimed. Of course all the serious anime and manga fans out there know that the main reason those people make such accusations is because they never bothered to look for such titles in the first place. It's always easier to make false accusations than to search for the truth. There is another interesting issue I want to raise regarding character designs in anime. I’ve heard many people say that the widely used cute character designs that feature large eyes, small noses and small mouths are actually Caucasian character designs. I completely disagree. There are no Caucasian people with these facial features because if they did exist, they would be in museums and science labs by now because they are different from the norm. Those widely used designs in anime were applied to Caucasian, Mongolian and Black races without exception. A famous example of this (though not something that I would call a quality example) is Plastic Little. That single episode OAV featured characters who belong to all the major human races but all of them were drawn using the same character design format mentioned above. Now that I laid out all the facts, it’s time to tell you what I think and what I hope for. I believe that realistic character designs (Far Eastern designs if the story setting is Japan / Far East or other appropriate designs if the setting is outside the Far East) are best suited for serious titles while the cute design format is suitable for comedies. The number of anime and manga titles that feature Far Eastern designs have increased over the years and my guess is that it will continue to grow in the future. I don’t agree with other people who say that the cute character designs should be abolished because those designs are beautiful in their own way but I believe that their proper place should be in comedy and light titles. All in all, I think this cocktail of styles helps to enrich anime and manga and make them the captivating arts that we all know and love.
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Sent to you by kevn57 via Google Reader: Maki Horikita's "Innocent Love" via Tokyograph on 8/19/08 Popular actress Maki Horikita has picked up her next lead drama role. She will star in the tentatively-titled "Innocent Love," scheduled to air in Fuji TV's flagship Monday night time slot this fall. As the title suggests, the show will be a romance story.The script is an original work written by Taeko Asano, whose most recent hit was "Last Friends" this past spring. Like that show, "Innocent Love" will focus on the lives of modern youths. The shows also share a director (Yusuke Kato) and a producer (Toshiyuki Nakano).The story centers around the tragic heroine Kanon Akiyama (Horikita). As a child, she lost both her parents to a murderer, and her older brother was arrested as the prime suspect. Shunned by her town as the sister of a killer, she heads to Tokyo and picks up a job as a housecleaner. There, she has a fateful encounter with a man, but the road to romance is fraught with difficulty.This will be Horikita's first time starring in Fuji TV's key time slot. Last year, her popularity skyrocketed due to a starring role in "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e." Currently, she appears in the NHK taiga drama "Atsuhime." That series doesn't finish filming until the end of September, so she will briefly be shooting simultaneously for "Atsuhime" and "Innocent Love.""Innocent Love" will premiere in October. Things you can do from here: Subscribe to Tokyograph using Google Reader Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
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Just so everyone can note, I never officially watched Berserk. Ok, so I went on YouTube and watched something called "Berserk the Abridged Series". It was pretty funny - including the ending. Thing was, the ending wasn't the real ending and just a big mock up of the real Berserk ending. It was, what you'd call, a happy ending for everyone. But that was a bit strange as the creator of it said he CRIED at the ending - that it's a controversial episode to really 'abridge' about. So pretty much, I went on and YouTube'd it and was amazed to see that there was one (or more) that weren't flagged.
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Yes, I know this is late. I LOVED THIS MOMENT. The only way that this would have been funnier was if Nunally was doing it. Comon, think about it, Nunally miraculously stands up, punches Suzaku, and yells, “how DARE you try to seduce my onii-chan!!!!” Oh no… death flag…. please don’t start killing everyone sunrise….. Cries….. That’s cuter [...]
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So we got a Rick Roll of epic proportions. Ain’t stop me from loving this episode though. This episode was practically filled with Death Flags. So much so that i could count at least 10 at a glance. Lets do a quick count shall we? [Death Flag 1] The title of the episode itself. Goodbye Sister. And we all [...]
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Here are some pics from the San Diego Comicon I had in my camera. Enjoy!But first, some images of San Diego. We have basically the best weather in the world, generally a balmy 70 degrees while the rest of the country is -20 in the winter. It's nice when we're not burning down with wildfires anyway.This is our historic roller coaste, which is a lot of fun to ride. I am often surprised by things I see in my home country, like Deep Fried Twinkes or this. I know America is all about "freedom" and all, but still... Shouldn't there at least be some kind of tax on stuff we really shouldn't be eating as a people?Setting up for the con now. People regularly come and ask us to sell them our little Japanese flags, and we always decline politely. Some of the nice things we were selling. Smart customers know that we often have stuff at the cons that we've sold out of on the site, and come to check if the item they missed buying before happens to be in stock. This is because we ship the items over in February so items can subsequently sell out in Japan but still be available in the U.S.It's so funny to see the ultra-pretentious bars in the Gaslamp District beggar themselves to the geek crowd during con, happy to seat Stormtroopers and Klingons in their normally too-hip spaces. Comicon is totally the final victory of the nerds of the world over all else. We got a bunny girl at our table. She did leekspin for us!On Saturday night, I had to go to a Midnight Madness at Toys R Us to get that really nice Millennium Falcon. I thought, ha, how many people can there be in line? There were hundreds, many of whom were dressed in costume. Here's a rebel soldier with a remote control "mouse droid." The best Boba Fett I've ever seen, too. He friggin' had his laser blaster with a computer read-out displaying Imperial letters. Almost there... Almost there...It's away! At around 2 am I got inside and got my Falcon(s). I would be tempted at the AT-TE if I'd been a kid, but my lack of space to store these things is already chronic. Back at the show. The Han Solo across the row from us kept taunting me all convention long. If this were just a little cheaper...Vocaloid cosplayers. They were being interviewed by a camera crew that just did not know what they were talking about, so I had to let them know what the whole Vocaloid/Leek Spin thing was all about.This looks nice. I am a huge fan of this book by Stephen King, the best he's ever written. Dude dressed up as a Myspace page. Funny, but when you're causing a massive traffic jam in the most crowded room anyone there had ever been in, it's not cool. Show's over, time to leave. So, while we're waiting for the forklifts to bring us out, I happen to be standing right there when one of them drops a big glass case full of stuff. It shattered quite musically.Funny ad. I had to LOL.Okay, back to Japan for me. You know, theose ziplock baggies they give you put stuff in at the airport checkpoint are awfully nice? I helped myself to a few, they don't have cool baggies like this in Japan.
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This week, we take a look at an anti-war song, sung by the now disbanded Do As Infinity. This song was introduced to me only thanks to Zoids Genesis, for which it was the only OP song for the entire series. The lyrics are deep in meaning, even if you do not like the genre, for DAI sings about anti-war sentiments, hoping for peace instead.Yotaka no Yume, or the Nighthawk's Dream, sings about a mission in the night. Nighthawk here can refer to a bird of the same name, or the F117 Nighthawk, a stealth fighter plane that achieved fame in the Gulf War. In the song, the reference is to both in different parts, though the general basis is that of the latter. The bird itself is only mentioned in one line.Much like a dream, the mission's process and how it went and ended seems unreal to the singer. The last chorus is used in the anime TV sized version, because it kind of sums up what war is about or brings.I thank AnimeLyrics and LyricWiki for the lyrics and translation. There was, a long time ago, a translation that was very much well done from which I will now derive the main gist of the song from, aside from the translations used in the links mentioned above. Unfortunately, the link has been taken down a long time ago and I do not even remember the author, except that it had a "Word" in it. I thank you for your translation, should you ever read this.夜鷹の夢Do As Infinity夜の闇にまぎれ僕等　低空で飛び続けた月は何も知らず低く　エンジンが響いていたそこにどんな人が暮らし　笑い合っているのでしょうそこでどんな夢が生まれ　育まれていたのでしょう地図に示された　名も読めない町今夜も　正義を御旗に生きとしいけるもの全て焼き尽くす紅蓮の炎が真下に流れる予定どおりに機首上げて弾薬庫の蓋閉じて勝利の旋回何も　見ない　何も　聞かず何も　何も　何も　何もまるで祝うように花火　ささやかに打ち上げてる怒り　嘆き　悔やみそして　憎しみを受け止める朝日より早く　まぶしい光が突然　ガラスを砕いて生きとしいけるもの全て同じ色　真紅の血が胸から流れる力なく握る操縦桿振り向き叫んでみても誰も答えない月が　遠く　霞み　消える母も　父も　友も　君も生まれた国が違うならこんな砂漠の朝焼け見ずに生きてゆく暁の空に夜鷹がはぐれてもう戻れない流れ星になる生きとしいけるもの全て同じ色　真紅の血で命を　育てるどんな正義をかざしても流れ出る真紅の血を止められはしない夢を　見てた　長い　夢を長い　夢を　長い　夢をYotaka no YumeDo As InfinityYoru no yami ni magireBokura teikuu de tobi tsuduketaTsuki wa nani mo shirazuHikuku ENJIN ga hibiitetaSoko ni donna hito gaKurashi warai atte iru no deshouSoko de donna yume gaUmare hagukumarete ita no deshouChizu ni shimesareta na mo yome nai machiKonyamo seigi wo mihata niIkitoshi ikeru mono subeteYakitsukusu guren no hi gaMashita ni nagareruYotei douri ni kishu ageteDanyakuko no futa tojiteShouri no senkaiNani mo minai nani mo kikazuNani mo nani mo nani mo nani moMarude iwau you niHanabi sasayaka ni uchiageteruIkari nageki kuyamiSoshite nikushimi wo uketomeruAsahi yori hayaku mabushii hikari gaTotsuzen GARASU wo kudaiteIkitoshi ikeru mono subeteOnaji iro shinku no chi gaMune kara nagareruChikara naku nigiru soujuukanFurimuki sakende mitemoDare mo kotae naiTsuki ga tooku kasumi kieruHaha mo chichi mo tomo mo kimi moUmareta kuni ga chigau naraKonna sabaku no asayakeMizu ni ikite yukuAkatsuki no sora ni yotaka gaHagurete mou modore naiNagareboshi ni naruIkitoshi ikeru mono subeteOnaji sora shinku no chi deInochi wo sodateruDonna seigi wo kazashite moNagarederu shinku no chi woTomerare wa shinaiYume wo miteta nagai yume woNagai yume wo nagai yume woNighthawk's DreamDo As InfinityIn the chaos of the nightWe fly low, close to the groundThe moon knows naught of usAs our quiet engine brings us through the night (*1)Over there, what kind of peopleLive and laugh together?Over there, what kind of dreamsAre born and raised?The map shows us a town, a name we can't readTonight once more, we raise our flag of justiceAmong all living thingsA scorching fire flows within (*2)Just as planned, our planes riseThe missile hatches closeAnd we go through a victory loop (*3)Nothing can be seen, nothing can be heard (*4)Nothing at all, nothing at all, nothing at all, nothing at allAs if in celebration of joyThere is modest launch of fireworksThere is anger, grief, and condolenceAnd we then receive the hatred (*5)A blinding light even brighter than the morning sun (*6)Suddenly breaks through the glassAmong all living thingsThe same crimson bloodFlows from their heart (*7)As I grasp the joystick with the last of my strength (*8)I shout out to you (*9)But no one answersThe moon vanishes far into the distance like mist (*10)As does my mother, my father, my friends, and youIf we had been born in a different country (*11)We would never seeThe glow of this desert (*12)The nighthawk in the light of dawnStrays and turns awayBecoming a shooting starAmong all living thingsThe same crimson blood flowsPouring forth lifeNo matter what kind of justice we take upThe flow of blood that followsCan't be stopped (*13)I had a dream, a long dreamA long dream, a long dreamTranslation Notes1. Ok I think it means to say that the engine is quiet, but the accurate translation is "resounding" from both sources. I changed it a little to reflect what it really should be meaning.2. Yeah seriously. I am torn at this part since I have no idea what it means, so I ripped the best one I could think of that talks about this part. The fire here can be referring to the fire of life maybe?3. No shit, it really says "victory loop" here. The hatch is a missile hatch, since this is a plane we are talking about. You can also say it is a bomb bay but meh, the hatch for the bay must still close.4. Ok this part can also be translated in context as, "nothing is seen of us, nothing is heard of us". Up to you to choose whichever, I just made it the most open translation available.5. This part is a little tricky. I forgot what the original translation I read was, but it can be read as "the hatred reached us" or "we received the hatred". Judging by what happens in the next two lines however, I translated it as "receiving".6. Both translations I linked to failed in this part. It is not the morning light that pierces through the glass, but a blinding light that is faster (or brighter) than the morning sun. This is in reference, especially if you read the chorus that immediately follows, to perhaps a bullet piercing through the glass.7. "Mune" here can be translated as "chest", I chose "heart" because it is in that area and sounds better in English.8. Literally, this part said that the singer was grasping the joystick very weakly. Hence I decided to translate it as "last of my strength".9. Here, the singer may also be shouting out to comrades, or whoever else. However, since the F117 is flown by two people, and the way the context is written in the following lines, I chose "you" as the most appropriate translation.10. There is nothing in here that says the moon is like mist, but the main gist of it is how I translated it, and so I took this more appropriate and colorful form.11. Yes this part is translated as is. I think the singer means to say "if we had been born in different countries/worlds", but I decided to leave it as it is. The way it is currently translated, it is likely that the singer meant to say "had we born in the same country" which is different from both of their countries.12. These two lines are compressed and condensed to make it sound like it should in English. The glow of this desert likely refers to the destruction the F117 unleashed, for which it has now received "retribution".13. Again, the translation is a colorful one. The singer means to say here that, no matter what justice you might uphold, the flow of blood that follows in a war will never be stopped, hence a strong reason not to engage in war, since blood will always be shed.The long dream at the end refers to the song itself, a dream that seems unreal, yet is real because the singer is dying, as the Nighthawk crashes. It is a really sad song though not sung that way, but you can feel the emotions Tomiko Van put into the song when you listen to it.Yotaka no Yume is available in my IMEEM for your listening pleasure. I hope it will convince you that, even if war is sometimes the right path, the blood, the destruction, and the sadness it brings, will never be stopped.
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Bionic Commando: Rearmed - Anime Trailer (18MB, for PSP/Quicktime) Some people have probably seen this trailer but if you haven't seen it, then you have to see it. I never played the original Bionic Commando game but this remake looks unbelievably good that I think I'll get it once it's out. First thing first, do not confuse this game with the upcoming new, fully 3D game called Bionic Commando. Bionic Commando: Rearmed (or Bionic Commando: Master D in Japan) is basically just an updated version of the original with new graphics. The designers have said that they're aiming for that 1980s look and I think they've done an excellent job at it. One noticeable change is how they've redesigned the Nazi-like uniform of the villains. Instead of the swastika symbol, that villains are now sporting an eagle-like logo on their uniform and flags. Despite this, it's not hard to see that some of the design are inspired by WWI uniforms. Speaking of villains, some of them look pretty fruity. There's one that looks like a metal wielder but holding a lolipop on his hand, making him looking like a Pedobear. Another looks like a a half-dead guy.
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We get a distinct hint as to the possible political leanings of seiyuu 加藤英美里 / Emiri Katou, best known for voicing Lucky Star’s (or should that be Red Star’s) Kagami Hiiragi, with her shameless appearance in the pages of admitted communist newspaper 赤旗 / Akahata (Red Flag). The article in question is a feature on her [...]
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Well, I decided to blog it…as a peace offering to all the awful, awful Tomoyo fanboys who I managed to get into fights with this past year. And now, I have to admit…Tomoyo is the best. … No, I’m just kidding. Can you imagine? I’m still waving my Nagisa flag and Tomoyo is still my number two. Though, [...]
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