Still alive!!

It’s been almost a month since I came back and both suitcases are still sitting in the middle of my bedroom mostly unpacked. I did take out most of the anime stuff though and now I’m facing yet another dilemma: where am i going to put all that crap!! Figurines are currently taking up all existing shelving units (3 in total), tv bench (which is occupied also by printer, scanner, and a 4ft tall tower of empty boxes) most of my table and a good chunk of living room floor. and with a good number more arriving shortly, what’s an otaku to do?

Now, to the horror of most figurine collectors I actually like being able to touch and to “play” with most of my figurines (and yes, i do call them dolls). so naturally all of them get de-boxed right upon arrival and i’m not too keen on keeping them behind glass either. not to mention that anything glass and cats don’t go together very well. I do have couple of budget plans as to where to keep the figurines, along with the stash of anime magazines, manga, and countless boxes of ancient electronics. But I am curious, where do you guys keep your anime and figurine stash?

On the aside note, as my most expensive doll is making his way here, all of you who own Asian ball jointed dolls, where do they sit?

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Well, not so greatly as I still have not unpacked, despite coming back two weeks ago.

I actually find it very hard to write about the trip to Japan simply because there was nothing there that I thinks deserves special attention. Tokyo was nothing surprising, Akihabara felt more like an average shopping district somewhat relevant to my interests, rather than the glorified anime Mecca. I’m either getting old, or I’ve been otaku for far too long; both are not out of the question either. Actually no, I’m lying, Yokohama’s Chinatown was kind of weird: touristy^2. Though I can’t pinpoint exactly what weirded me out the most. I did buy a giant plush meat bun though, now I need to remind myself that it’s a meat bun and not a poring ^___^.

Since I actually don’t have any impressions about the subject matter, here is my small guide to Aki:

1) Gamers has English maps. Take one or two - they help! Not to mention that it’s usually a moe Lolita girl that is giving them out.

2) If you are looking for anime DVDs, OST, drama CDs etc. Go hunt Liberty stores. They sell pre-owned anime/movies/games and so on. There are 7 of them around Aki, and you can get some very sweet deals if you look hard enough. Mandarake also carries second hand anime merchandise. If you’re lucky the will have that first press/limited edition boxset of whatever anime you where looking for. As for new DVDs.. pretty much any shop that has “DVD” sing on it will have them.

3) Shopping for figurines:  they are pretty much everywhere.  The one thing that deserves mentioning is the second hand “boxes” that are on the first and last floors of Kotobukiya/Volks building.  The trick is: everything on the first floor is about double the price then the one on the last floor. So.. if there is something you want cheap, or something you missed at wonderfest - you bet it will be there. In case of wonderfest figurines: woala! The next day at about double the price. Well they deserve the extra cash for standing in line, don’t they? Hehe.

4) Casual anime related merchandise - just go to Animite. Just must warn you: stairs there are steep and narrow, and it can be crowded sometimes. And if you go down too fast you will get dizzy. Of course unless you one of these people who take the elevator

My anime loot is actually not as big as one might think. Old pinky street figurines. Box set of Meine Liebe, 3/5 First press Mononoke DVDs (missing first and last), and a stack of dojinshi.  Now.. what’s the proper way to wrap that yakata….

Once the line started moving we got inside in under an hour. And for those of you who are wonderng the guidebook is the admission ticket. you can buy it on sight, or pretty much anywhere in akiba, it costs $20. Once inside i did screw up a bit with lining up, aka. I went to Kotobiakya booth first, though the white swuimsuit nekomimi got sold out, so Bamboo Blade’s Tamaki it was. The next planned was the Good Smile booth. However, the line up for it went around the floor, outside (the sunny side mind you) around the corner, and around the corner again. I did not even bother standing in that one.

So next on the list was Griffon. The line up for them was double coil outside as well, thought it was in the loading dock, so it was not too bad. Though China Dress Ryomou was sold out before i got there. Thus the loot was Neko Kanu, China Dress Kanu and White Swimsuit Sonsaku. I did do couple of runs around the first floor but that was about it as i was quiet tired and there where plenty of guys with nice cameras and the internets are probably swarming with photos as I type this. Plus my flip-flops have no arch support what-so-ever, so by about 2 PM  (showed up there at 7:30-ish) my feet where killing me. So first:

Notes for the future:
1. If it is something you really want - line up the night before.
2. Wear long sleeve, bring a towel and a hat. Especially if it’s +35 outside, Tokyo Big Sight is surrounded by concrete, you will broil.
3. Bring buddies, give them directions and moneys and make them stand in lines. You will only have enough time to stand in two lines max before everything sells out.
4. Pack cash LOL

Announsements:
1. If anyone has Griffon’s China Doll Ryomou WF limited and is willing to sell - I buy.
2. If anyone wants WF limited Bamboo Blade’s Tamaki - I sell $75, or trade for –^

And the picture dump: (linked to my LJ because there is more space there)

Oh yea, this shitty picture is the shot of the Karen and Shirley figurines. There is a no-photo sign there and zoom on my soapdish is not cool enough, but basically they are 1/7 (or 1/6) scale Bunny Karen and School Festival (Swimsuit, maid coronet thing and pigtails) Surley.

My hopes for this season actually relied solely on this series, and right now I’m not sure if it let me down or not. On one hand the main character has much promising personality, on the other hand the “Freckles”* - the creeptastic talking maneki-neko is way to freaking annoying for a comic relief. Which, mind you, is unnecessary to begin with. As many people pointed out it  does give off mushishi vibes, both due to the mushi/ayakashi central theme and the somewhat similar personalities of the main characters. But let’s just hope it does not turn out like Tactics. >_< And I do sincerely hope for the return of the cat-like spirit in the purple yakatta. But yea, it all comes down to this one series for the entire season. Not too bad, considering I do have quiet a few on hold, but still, I normally manage to fish out at least two watchable series a season ;_;

*Yea, Madara is a name of the bad guy form Naruto, and that’s all you get if you google it. But if you look up the direct translation it’s actually means “spots” or “speckles”. So I take it whatever his true form is it’s supposed to be pure white, and the red spots is a defect or something? Well, we’ll figure it out later on.

Ryoko`s Case File

Haruhi and Kyon grew up and now work for the police. That actually roughly summarizes the story. The original story is written by Yoshiki Tanaka (LoGH, Arislan Senki) so we can expect a solid plot at the very least. The setting does not leave much space for epicness, but there definitely will be some awesome plot twists. Though, like most of Tanaka’s works, it suffers from somewhat slow pacing. It’s definitly on my “watching” list, but I will consume it in bulk, rather then watching as it comes out.

Blade of the Immortal

Well, to be honest I had the lowest possible expectations for this one. As fine as the manga is, the only way to do it justice in animation is to animate it a-la Hellsing Ultimate or Afro Samurai. The cutesy animation and way too much yapping per square second successfully killed the drive on this one. So unless there will be some drastic changes in animation and/or story pacing I won’t be picking it up.

First arc out of the six. Animated by studio 4C, though I don’t even need to say that. This arc actually consists of four different parts three of which are shown from the point of view of each of the kids who claim they saw Batman fight a weird guy and because of that where late.

This one is my second favorite arc of the six. The shadow batman is awesome. If anybody watched, or read The Maxx, shadow-batman kind of reminds me of him. The facial expressions that is. The rest of the characters are drawn in similar style as Kemonozume, but with much more details given to the backgrounds.

02: Crossfire

Thi Russians are coming, thi Russians!!… Second arc, animated by Production I.G.

A pair of cops sent out to drop off Jacob Pheeley (sp?) back in prison. Coming back they get caught in a crossfire between the Russian and the Italian mobs, just to be rescued by Batman- Deux ex Machina style. I guess the batsuit is fireproof…. the Russian guy is amusing

03: Field Test

Third arc of the series, this one done by Bee-Train. I must admit, this one is my favorite of all and not because of the art. Well, not in that way, but because of the sheer WTF-ness of it. I’m not a big fan of batman, I did my research required not to go O_o whenever I watch anything dealing with this franchise, but that’s about it. But darn, what where the guys at Bee-Train smoking to turn Gotham’s Dark Knight into a yaoi bait? And it’s not just visually, the entire character is way off, which is what makes it so darn amusing. At first time I actually thought this would be Edward Nigma, as the character is much closer to him then Bruce Wayne. The bat-armor (and no, it’s not a suite anymore) reminds me of Berserk’s Griffith here. (and it looks like I’m not the only one to think so)

04: In Darkness Dwells

Animated by Madhouse. Heavy action, heavy shading, visual modes, gas masks and a guy who’s mom flushed him down the toilet because she did not want him. Yet another standard issue rescue mission for Batman. This time underground. Nothing that stands out other then the way they portray Gotham City. Very nice, though it gives off the vibes of Dark City (the 1998 film).

05: Working Through Pain

Back to studio 4C. Em, Neo, is that you?
This time the story revolves around Bruce before he actually became Batman. This one follows Bruce through his training to learn to deal with the pain. Well, physical at least. I found this one amusing simply because of how much Bruce here looks like Neo. The fight scene at the end, with him wearing all black, and the back flip through the air: that did not help the image either.

06: Deadshot

The final arc, produced again by Madhouse. More shading, more action, more manly Batman. Actually I think this one has the best action scenes of the six, the fight atop of the train was awesome. The main villain this time is a “legendary” sniper called Deadshot, hired by “thi Russians” to take out Batman as hi pissed them off enough in the previous arks. Considering Batman’s history with firearms this one proves to be a challenge for him.

So over the course of six 15 minute episodes Mr. Wayne goes from a weird shadow to a mutated bat, to a battle robot, to a yaoi bait, to Agent 008, to Neo, to Mr. Manly Man… pick the one you like the most I guess. I’ll take the shadow and the yaoi bait ^___^

Time to jump the bandwagon. It’s take two on the long painful subject of “Fansubs are evil”. I originally was going to focus on Scott’s article on Greg Ayres’ panel, but it got torn apart By Hinano and various other people, so there really is no need for me to nitpick on it. So I will focus on roughly two points:

First of all: Sorry Greg, here in Canada it is actually NOT ILLEGAL to download digital media (movies/music/etc.) for personal use. So downloading fansubs is not = stealing, as it is not illegal. Or it is stealing, but stealing is legal, so there is no problem.  So your “it’s illegal” argument does not fly here. And that leaves us with long-ass complaint about how fans are no longer buying the DVDs, but rather prefer to download fansubs and or dvd rips off the internet. Well, what have you done to motivate us to purchase these DVDs, or actually what have you done to motivate us to purchase R1 DVDs?

Now, he does mention that’s it’s ok to import anime if it has not been licensed. But what about importing what has been licensed simply because the R1 edition has shitty packaging, shitty quality, and (quiet often) shitty translation? But oh, apparently it’s treason to import licensed anime, or more *gasp* prefer to import legit J-Rock cds (or anime OSTs) over buying anime DVDs. Mind you, you can download them as well, but for some reason fans prefer to import them.. where is the catch?

Let’s look at the process. When an anime is being made, its expected revenue does not come solely from DVD sales. Rather it is distributed among advertisement while the show airs (the larger part), merchandise sales, drama cd, character cds, soundtracks sales, DVDs, and everything else. In such case these DVDs only account from maybe 30% of the expected revenue. PLUS! And this one is important, DVDs are merchandise! And they do cost roughly the same as a decent figurine, about $70 per dist with two to four episodes. But they also look like merchandise.  For your money you get a very nicely packaged disc, usually with mini artbook, model or keychain, maybe couple of stickers and what’s not. And quiet often the looks and the content of the series is being changed as it comes out on DVD. It’s is cleaned up, redrawn, and often new scenes are added. Now, let’s take a look at the R1 DVD of the same show. eeer.. all I can see is a shitty plastic case with one DVD that’s does not even has a nice print on it; and if I’m lucky a one page insert saying “buy our shit”. Oh, and it’s about two years late. HOW exactly does that motivate us to spend our money on this?

As to the argument about supporting the anime industry: last time I checked the anime industry was located significantly further east and has very little to do with cheap greedy bastards south of the border. So pardon me, but I have no clue how “buy anime R1 dvds” equals to “support anime industry”. And why suddenly the entire industry’s revenues became dependant solely on the DVD sales? Where that stack of Gundam Seed Destiny character CDs that I own fit in the picture? Oh, and that shelf of figurines behind me - THATS the reason why IkkiTousen got a third season ^,___,~

So when you look at it, Winny, Share and Perfect Dark exist for some time now. Sure Japanese industry has their hissy fits over it now and then, but it’s a momentary thing, as it is not hurting the industry that much, because the industry relies on _MERCHENDISE_ sales, PART of which are DVDs.  While the actual content (anime, eroge, whatever) will eventually evolve into a more portable medium, such as downloads, one-time play usb sticks or something,  the merchandise side won’t go anywhere.  Moreover, what seem to be happening recently with Tower of Daruga and Blassreiter, we will see more and more anime coming out originally with English subtitles. (and the Blu-ray edition of Blassreiter (which will exist!) better have them!) In such case - good luck North American “anime industry”, because you will have to come up with one hell of a way to make me spend my blood money here!

And to precede the argument of “Well, Greg is talking about the anime industry in general, and not just the North American” part: he’s not. Because Japanese anime industry gives very little shit about us on this side of the ocean. What is happening to anime industry in Japan, is it’s becoming more and more niche-lized (is that a word?) as it guarantees the income.  Which is why we have Queen’s Blade anime, SekiRei anime, more IkkiTousen, anime adaptation of various eroge and so on. Simple evolution to cater to those small parts of the population who are guaranteed to like it, rather than making one big piece to cover multiple niches. Sure such anime will still exist, but there won’t be many. And I don’t mind, as I myself is a representative of a niche. And we do get catered to, just not in North America XD.

There, I rest my case, which can actually me summarized in one line: no, I won’t buy anime DVDs unless you motivate me; and ethical motivation does not work here: money talks, bullshit walks! Motivate me!

All is paid and booked, and I land in Narita Airport in the afternoon of July 24th. I am going as a tourist so there really not that much planning that needs to be done, and the one that is mostly involves what to buy and where to go and wether or not bring an empty suitcase for all the anime merchandise.  Normally I travel with one bag, not including my laptop case. So since I am traveling to an otaku Mecca the question is: do i want to bring an extra empty suitcase with me, or do i want to use it as an excuse to buy a Gundam Suitcase (Char custom, fuck yeah!!)? Now, because I had to squeese in the trip only a month ahead Im managing to miss my local anime con, which means that a) I have to finish the guidebook for it ASAP, and b) my awesome Mother Eliza cosplay will have to collect dust for a year (not including the obligatory photoshoot, that one will happen regardless). *aside: Stellar Light has an AWEFULL tasting foam*

But, on a good note, I get to hit Wonder Fest Summer 2008 which gets me (hopefully) Dark Saber, Nendoroid Miku and Figma Suzaku (and whatever elce I decide to pick up ^^), that is assuming I get there on time, but then.. what’s camping at the doors there comparitively to camping here at -25C weather for my PS3! ^^ Other then these the only things I need to hunt down are limited edition DVDs of Mononoke and Koutetsu Sangokushi. That does not include obligatory presents for friends and family, of course. ^^ .. and the gashpones and the dojinshi and the… oii… i will be so broke ;_;

Shopping aside, I am kind of puzzled as to what to do when it comes to tourist activities. Other then obligatory hike up the Tokyo Tower, Mt. Fuji and every maid cafe in Akihabara i really don’t know what to do in Tokyo. There is of course the imperial palace, but i believe it’s closed to the public most of the year. I did make plans to swing to Kyoto for couple of days to hit local “tourist attratctions” in form of temples and yada-yada. And the famous flea market of course, but other then that I have no idea. So I guess I wuld be taking a trip to my local Chapters and going through all the touristy books about Tokyo/Kyoto while I sip my overpriced Starbucks Chai Latte <_< I would really like to awoid wondering aimelessly around Akihabara, since it is a financial trap for otakus ^^

The mini-games on the MGS4 websites where amusing enough. The result will probobly occupy my desktop for pretty long period of time. I actually don’t look at my desktop too much, so I rarely change it, and considering this one is interactive - it will stay there for a while ^^. Now onto the desk:

This is the cleanest it’s been since I got this table. Seriously. And yeap, that’s my supper. Eventually Kanu will will vacate the space on top of the PS3 in favor of the 1/100 Yukikaze model, whenever he gets here. Mikuru migrates from home to work and back periodically. And well, ChuChu and Shizuka are here because I honestly have no space to put them right now. Oh, and normally the table also has two big-ass furry white cats, located randomly, mostly across a keyboard ^^; And pardon the bad quality - highjacking brother’s phone: it has the best camera out of all the ones I have left. ^^;

As I was going through my “to buy” list for my upcoming trip to J-land, figuring out whether or not I want to buy one thing a ditch the other, or buy both and fuck the budget etc. etc. I caught myself noticing that a good deal of the planned items are anime DVDs. Moreover, some of them are DVDs of anime that has been licensed in region 1. So why would anyone in their right mind do something like that, especially since Japanese DVDs are significantly more expensive then their North American counterparts AND they don’t have subtitles? (usually)

Well, first of all its not a question of price. I do not raccoon when it comes to DVDs, so I actually do think $50 for couple of episodes is an acceptable price. (so the 2.5K box-set of LoGH is much tempting, even though the series is kind of low on the rewatch value) But there are about a dozen of catches 22 here, and most of them have a lot to do with quality of the product. Because excuse mya, but why the hell should I pay my blood money for a disk with shitty quality picture, ugly ass subtitles, a crappy translation and the cheap-ass plastic case*? If I can download it for free in HD, with so dearly beloved by me flashy subtitles font and bubbly karaoke effects and a translation that sometimes far surpasses the one we get on DVDs.

Though about the translation is my personal view. The subtitles on DVD releases are often done so to be made available to all slices of population and that exactly what I HATE! If someone does not know what the term means it’s time for them to hit the books, it does not mean that that those doing the translation should translate “moe” or “senpai” or “one-san” etc. and god forbid translating such common expressions as “Raison d’etre”, “Deus ex Machina”… Not only do I consider such terms to be common knowledge, but also most of them do not have an adequate English synonym, as such either the meaning or the form is lost. And I’m not willing to sacrifice either. And those of you who don’t know the mentioned terms: here’s a rope, a soap and a chair – go become an hero.

There is my favorite one, and the most painful experience while watching the official translation was the one in the release of Yukikaze: there is this thing called Sortie:

“Sortie - term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it of aircraft, ship or, in older times, of columns of troops from a fort. The unit usually has a purpose of accomplishing a specific mission, whether alone or with other aircraft or vessels.”

FUCKING USE IT! Thank you! ( that was my daily 5 seconds of hate. ^_^)

But the one thing for which I’m willing to take all of my bitchings above and shove it, and then sell a kidney or two to pay for the DVD - is the packaging. Because I’m a stationary freak and because my visual censes are a bit more sensitive than they should be. I want the nice hard plastic, paper lined case with see-through cd holders and pretty anime print. I want the attached mini-artbooks, keychanes and yada-yada that supposed to go with it. And it is solemnly because of it that I’m willing to fork out extra bucks for the Japanese edition of the Re-Cutey Honey OVAs or the limited edition Mononoke DVDs, for which I will be hunting all stores across Tokyo and Kyoto. ^_^ And that is why the ladies down at my post office know me by the sound of my voice, let alone by my face and address ^_^’

The only times when I do buy north American releases is when it’s easier to find it on DVD then it is to download it. It applies to most of anime that has some age to it and especially if it falls under “my favorite” category. Finding a rip of Psycho Diver or Demon City Shinjuku on internet is pretty much as easy as biting your own elbow. So the trip to the nearest DVD store or to amazon.com is justified.

The said above attitude is also the reason why I really don’t care what will become of anime industry in North America. Winny, Share, and Perfect Dark are not going anywhere any time soon.

And speaking of packaging: the Region 1 Blu-ray Yukikaze box: where did you guys stash the 300 pages manual and the 1/300 coldcast Yuki that supposed to come with it? And yes, 2.5xprice was well worth it for the Japanese edition.