I'm going to start a series of briefs where I can just post blurbs about anime rather than a few paragraphs, like I usually do. And since I've been swamped this week with homework and work and watching anime, it's time for Brief I!
The plural of "anime" is "anime." I frequently say "animes" when speaking, but never in text. So, for future reference, it's "anime," not "animes."
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Shonen Jump Alpha and Manga Stream
I’m going to do this again. I’m going to talk anime industry again. And I wanted to challenge myself with some Japanese pop culture instead. But no.
Anyway, Manga Stream (an illegal manga viewing site) just shut down every Viz translation they had up on their site. Which means One Piece, Naruto, and BLEACH, most notably, are now off their site. I know this because, up until now, I had been using their site to read those three manga because I was A. cheap, B. poor, and C. too lazy to get a Shonen Jump Alpha subscription. Well, the first two haven’t really changed, but I can always find enough money for anime or manga in my wallet. And the laziness changed when Viz shut down the Viz manga from Manga Stream.
I’m going to first talk about Manga Stream, then move on to Shonen Jump Alpha, as I have problems with both of them.
First, Manga Stream, when I started reading it back when One Manga was still a thing, was in support of legal translations. They had a banner on their archive page (which went back about four weeks) that said they only had the last four weeks because they encouraged buying the manga. Now what do they have? “Manga Stream translations are spoilers, we don't archive any older chapters.” I have no idea when they changed their “mission statement,” but it’s clear they don’t care about legal translations anymore.
This is the latest volume of Shonen Jump Alpha. Its comments have exploded with people complaining about Manga Stream’s Viz titles being shut down. One comment in particular has both greatly amused and annoyed me.
“What the crap is this? i paid 26 bucks for a 1 year membership only because Vis decided to be turds toward the fan-based scanlation sites, only to find out that the current issue is the one i read 3 weeks ago? and not only is it 3 weeks behind what the fan sites already did, the translations are crap and the site is nowhere near my definition of user friendly.... your company is putting out a shoddy product and (as a paying customer), I'm unhappy.”
Wow. Really? All of this information was clearly defined when they had the press release for Shonen Jump Alpha months ago. So you just said to yourself, “Hey. No more Manga Stream, better buy it then. Jesus…Oh? What the hell is this? This is outrageous! Blaraaaaaaarg.” If I didn’t know anything about Shonen Jump Alpha, I would do a bit of research before dropping 26 bucks on it. Fortunately, I dropped 26 bucks on it having done lots of research.
One comment by username “Vizsucks” simply says, get this, “Viz sucks”. That entertains my greatly. But before I talk about their business model, I’ll complain a little about Viz myself.
A trend in the anime industry in general is their apparently love over Apple products. I am not one of the swooners. I have a Windows PC, a Zune HD, a Samsung Mesmerize, and a 1st Gen iPod Shuffle. Very little Apple stuff in there. Yet Viz is appealing to, granted, their biggest audience by having their mobile apps only on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. I have absolutely no problem with this, but I have also heard no word from Viz that they’re planning on releasing non-Apple app equivalent for us non-Apple users. I do have a problem with that, if it turns out to be true (which I am hard pressed to believe). I would gladly pay a few bucks for it, if they wanted it. Preferably free, but that’s really how all of us are. And I would buy the hell out of manga if I could get it right to my phone.
Of course I see what Viz is trying to do here. Shonen Jump Alpha is a huge step toward stomping out manga piracy, and nothing up until Shonen Jump Alpha had really been done to stop it or slow it down. You can call shutting down One Manga a step in the right direction, but more sites can just pop up.
But until you get to the point where you’re getting the release same week as Japan and your service is just as good or better than the scanlation sites, you’re still running behind. Someone like me that wants to support the industry will buy the subscription, but the run-in-the-mill anime fan wants their stuff for free and they want it now. The best and easiest way to get that is undoubtedly the scanlation sites.
Anyway, Manga Stream (an illegal manga viewing site) just shut down every Viz translation they had up on their site. Which means One Piece, Naruto, and BLEACH, most notably, are now off their site. I know this because, up until now, I had been using their site to read those three manga because I was A. cheap, B. poor, and C. too lazy to get a Shonen Jump Alpha subscription. Well, the first two haven’t really changed, but I can always find enough money for anime or manga in my wallet. And the laziness changed when Viz shut down the Viz manga from Manga Stream.
I’m going to first talk about Manga Stream, then move on to Shonen Jump Alpha, as I have problems with both of them.
First, Manga Stream, when I started reading it back when One Manga was still a thing, was in support of legal translations. They had a banner on their archive page (which went back about four weeks) that said they only had the last four weeks because they encouraged buying the manga. Now what do they have? “Manga Stream translations are spoilers, we don't archive any older chapters.” I have no idea when they changed their “mission statement,” but it’s clear they don’t care about legal translations anymore.
This is the latest volume of Shonen Jump Alpha. Its comments have exploded with people complaining about Manga Stream’s Viz titles being shut down. One comment in particular has both greatly amused and annoyed me.
“What the crap is this? i paid 26 bucks for a 1 year membership only because Vis decided to be turds toward the fan-based scanlation sites, only to find out that the current issue is the one i read 3 weeks ago? and not only is it 3 weeks behind what the fan sites already did, the translations are crap and the site is nowhere near my definition of user friendly.... your company is putting out a shoddy product and (as a paying customer), I'm unhappy.”
Wow. Really? All of this information was clearly defined when they had the press release for Shonen Jump Alpha months ago. So you just said to yourself, “Hey. No more Manga Stream, better buy it then. Jesus…Oh? What the hell is this? This is outrageous! Blaraaaaaaarg.” If I didn’t know anything about Shonen Jump Alpha, I would do a bit of research before dropping 26 bucks on it. Fortunately, I dropped 26 bucks on it having done lots of research.
One comment by username “Vizsucks” simply says, get this, “Viz sucks”. That entertains my greatly. But before I talk about their business model, I’ll complain a little about Viz myself.
A trend in the anime industry in general is their apparently love over Apple products. I am not one of the swooners. I have a Windows PC, a Zune HD, a Samsung Mesmerize, and a 1st Gen iPod Shuffle. Very little Apple stuff in there. Yet Viz is appealing to, granted, their biggest audience by having their mobile apps only on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. I have absolutely no problem with this, but I have also heard no word from Viz that they’re planning on releasing non-Apple app equivalent for us non-Apple users. I do have a problem with that, if it turns out to be true (which I am hard pressed to believe). I would gladly pay a few bucks for it, if they wanted it. Preferably free, but that’s really how all of us are. And I would buy the hell out of manga if I could get it right to my phone.
Of course I see what Viz is trying to do here. Shonen Jump Alpha is a huge step toward stomping out manga piracy, and nothing up until Shonen Jump Alpha had really been done to stop it or slow it down. You can call shutting down One Manga a step in the right direction, but more sites can just pop up.
But until you get to the point where you’re getting the release same week as Japan and your service is just as good or better than the scanlation sites, you’re still running behind. Someone like me that wants to support the industry will buy the subscription, but the run-in-the-mill anime fan wants their stuff for free and they want it now. The best and easiest way to get that is undoubtedly the scanlation sites.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Science Fiction Anime
Science fiction anime is kind of a peculiarity. I’ve watched tons of anime that I would classify as science fiction, like Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and Appleseed. But there’s a distinct difference between what is classified as an anime sci fi and what’s classified as an American sci fi. American sci fi tends to focus more on the science. That is, what is considered the good sci fi in America is science fiction. What’s considered good sci fi in Japan is science fiction. The classification is taken from Nancy Kress, whose husband believed in science fiction whereas she believed in science fiction.
I am a stout believer in science fiction, as my background in anime and my short description might suggest.
Think back to something like Star Trek. It’s something I’m not very familiar with, but I have it on four Trekkie’s authorities that Star Trek is about science fiction. I have absolutely nothing wrong with this. The episode where Data is under trial for being considered property of the Federation or a new species was absolutely amazing.
However something like the Doctor Who episode “The Girl in the Fireplace” is also a great testament to sci fi, even though it had tons and tons of science and really no explanation. And as much as Russell T Davies isn’t as good as Steven Moffat, this Moffat-penned episode is just as brilliant as that Star Trek episode for putting the fiction in the science.
My point being that Star Trek is science fiction while Doctor Who, like anime, is science fiction.
What separates anime is that it has some subgenres that are acceptable to the greater anime watching culture. GitS is cyberpunk, Bebop is a space western, and Appleseed is utopia/dystopia. But to the general populace, I would bet that they would clump them all into the science fiction genre.
So what anime does, in its science fiction-yness, is focus on those subgenres. GitS doesn’t make me question whether androids and cyborgs deserve equal rights; rather, it makes me question whether I have free will. Way to turn things around on me Puppet Master.
Bebop focuses on the great characters of Spike and Jet, and later Faye and Ed and Ein, and their grand adventures of being forever broke.
Appleseed focuses on the politics. It questions whether there can be a perfect society and how that perfect society would be structured if it did exist. And how people in power become corrupt.
What these three anime have in common is they’re science fiction. They’re not focusing on the logistics of a fully cybernetic body, Section 9’s communication system, the Bebop’s inner workings or any of the other ships inner workings, anything about Red Eye, how a hovercar would work, how a cyborg would work, or how any of their machines work. They focus on their story and their character without cluttering itself with lengthy explanations of the science behind the fiction.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important to explain the science behind the fiction. But when it’s such an integrated part of society as it is in these shows, it’s hard to bring it up naturally and, in my opinion, not worth sacrificing the flow of the show just to give science nerds their needed explanations.
I am a stout believer in science fiction, as my background in anime and my short description might suggest.
Think back to something like Star Trek. It’s something I’m not very familiar with, but I have it on four Trekkie’s authorities that Star Trek is about science fiction. I have absolutely nothing wrong with this. The episode where Data is under trial for being considered property of the Federation or a new species was absolutely amazing.
However something like the Doctor Who episode “The Girl in the Fireplace” is also a great testament to sci fi, even though it had tons and tons of science and really no explanation. And as much as Russell T Davies isn’t as good as Steven Moffat, this Moffat-penned episode is just as brilliant as that Star Trek episode for putting the fiction in the science.
My point being that Star Trek is science fiction while Doctor Who, like anime, is science fiction.
What separates anime is that it has some subgenres that are acceptable to the greater anime watching culture. GitS is cyberpunk, Bebop is a space western, and Appleseed is utopia/dystopia. But to the general populace, I would bet that they would clump them all into the science fiction genre.
So what anime does, in its science fiction-yness, is focus on those subgenres. GitS doesn’t make me question whether androids and cyborgs deserve equal rights; rather, it makes me question whether I have free will. Way to turn things around on me Puppet Master.
Bebop focuses on the great characters of Spike and Jet, and later Faye and Ed and Ein, and their grand adventures of being forever broke.
Appleseed focuses on the politics. It questions whether there can be a perfect society and how that perfect society would be structured if it did exist. And how people in power become corrupt.
What these three anime have in common is they’re science fiction. They’re not focusing on the logistics of a fully cybernetic body, Section 9’s communication system, the Bebop’s inner workings or any of the other ships inner workings, anything about Red Eye, how a hovercar would work, how a cyborg would work, or how any of their machines work. They focus on their story and their character without cluttering itself with lengthy explanations of the science behind the fiction.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important to explain the science behind the fiction. But when it’s such an integrated part of society as it is in these shows, it’s hard to bring it up naturally and, in my opinion, not worth sacrificing the flow of the show just to give science nerds their needed explanations.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wandering Son Graphic Novel Volume 2 Review
Last week, I reviewed Wandering Son volume 1. I have equally high praise for volume 2. Spoilers ahead, as I'm assuming that, by now, you have read both volume 1 and volume 2 of the great series that is Wandering Son.
In volume 2, I realize that the pacing of this series is incredibly slow. I didn't really realize this in the last volume or while watching the anime since I blasted through the anime at breakneck speed and reading the manga didn't really give me enough material to work with to make that conclusion. I'm not saying that the pacing of the series is bad. In fact, I praise it for being paced so slowly and keeping my interest like it's Fairy Tail or One Piece (which seem to go by really quickly when I'm watching or reading them).
Volume 2 does introduce a few new characters. Nakazawa-sensei, Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san's 6th grade teacher. And it finally gets into Yuki-san and Shii-chan's story.
First, Nakazawa-sensei. You didn't get much of a look of her in the volume, but you can tell she's a little innocent and she's new at this teaching thing. She provides a good role model figure to contrast with Yuki-san, who is very relateable for Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san, but maybe not the best role model. Past that, I can't really give much of a judgment on the character given how much screen time she had in the volume. I'm looking forward to seeing how she works into the rest of the story.
And, again, we finally get a look into Yuki-san. She is one of the best characters for Shimura-sensei to put into the manga. Yuki-san is a transgendered person who was born a male and had surgery to become a female. It's a little far-fetched at how they met Yuki-san (or, more accurately, how Takatsuki-san met Yuki-san), but go with it. Chance encounters and all.
What it does for both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san is give them someone who is going through the same or a similar thing as they're going through right now. Their parents can't really help them and the only people they have is each other. Yuki-san provides the teacher-figure for them in the story (or really the cool but weird aunt). It's really important for these kids to have someone like that that they can look up to when they're going through not only puberty, but gender confusion.
Now for the main characters. Chiba-san and the newly named Sasa-san realize they're kind of being ousted by Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san. And Maho has found a new love.
But they're trouble in paradise, her new love has a crush on (wait for it)...you guessed it, Nitori-kun, who was dressed as a girl at the time. This is kind of a brilliant move on the part of Shimura-sensei. It shows that Maho is kind of dense (or at least slow on the uptake) and that Nitori-kun really does look like a girl when he's all doidled up. It also provides a little look into how shallow Maho can be at times.
But Maho isn't the only shallow character. Chiba-san has her own dark side. And she's a little peppy when it comes to defending herself and her friends. She dropped a tray of food on a guy for calling Nitori-kun a faggot. Granted, he called Nitori-kun a faggot. Still, what a waste of food. Sanji would be disappointed.
This volume also provides a little insight into Sasa-san. She's an innocent little girl, and a little scatterbrained. Not much is known about her yet, but from my recollection of the anime, she gets deeper and more interesting. Just wait for it, or watch the anime like I did.
But the main characters. Oh the main characters. It's been barely a few months and it feels like they're growing up so fast. Both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san are getting into the roles of girl and boy respectively so well. And they even made an adult friend in Yuki-san, who was fooled by their disguises and thought they really were a girl and a boy respectively. Oh, how the fleeting lives of youth do go.
What this, of course, breaks down to is a character study of gender roles and gender confusion, not only in Japan, but throughout the world. And specifically a character study of Nitori-kun and of Takatsuki-san. It's written beautifully and the content is still as fresh as it ever was. It's eye opening and amazing to be able to read about something this deep and this sophisticated in a manga format. It continues to touch on the subject of gender roles in a touching and innocent fashion while keeping a childhood naiveté and incorporating a little bit of puberty all the while. All of it is woven together into a beautiful narrative that I will continue to highly suggest to anyone willing to read or watch it.
To reiterate, Amazon and Right Stuf have the first volume for sale while Crunchyroll has the series subbed on its website. Check it out.
In volume 2, I realize that the pacing of this series is incredibly slow. I didn't really realize this in the last volume or while watching the anime since I blasted through the anime at breakneck speed and reading the manga didn't really give me enough material to work with to make that conclusion. I'm not saying that the pacing of the series is bad. In fact, I praise it for being paced so slowly and keeping my interest like it's Fairy Tail or One Piece (which seem to go by really quickly when I'm watching or reading them).
Volume 2 does introduce a few new characters. Nakazawa-sensei, Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san's 6th grade teacher. And it finally gets into Yuki-san and Shii-chan's story.
First, Nakazawa-sensei. You didn't get much of a look of her in the volume, but you can tell she's a little innocent and she's new at this teaching thing. She provides a good role model figure to contrast with Yuki-san, who is very relateable for Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san, but maybe not the best role model. Past that, I can't really give much of a judgment on the character given how much screen time she had in the volume. I'm looking forward to seeing how she works into the rest of the story.
And, again, we finally get a look into Yuki-san. She is one of the best characters for Shimura-sensei to put into the manga. Yuki-san is a transgendered person who was born a male and had surgery to become a female. It's a little far-fetched at how they met Yuki-san (or, more accurately, how Takatsuki-san met Yuki-san), but go with it. Chance encounters and all.
What it does for both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san is give them someone who is going through the same or a similar thing as they're going through right now. Their parents can't really help them and the only people they have is each other. Yuki-san provides the teacher-figure for them in the story (or really the cool but weird aunt). It's really important for these kids to have someone like that that they can look up to when they're going through not only puberty, but gender confusion.
Now for the main characters. Chiba-san and the newly named Sasa-san realize they're kind of being ousted by Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san. And Maho has found a new love.
But they're trouble in paradise, her new love has a crush on (wait for it)...you guessed it, Nitori-kun, who was dressed as a girl at the time. This is kind of a brilliant move on the part of Shimura-sensei. It shows that Maho is kind of dense (or at least slow on the uptake) and that Nitori-kun really does look like a girl when he's all doidled up. It also provides a little look into how shallow Maho can be at times.
But Maho isn't the only shallow character. Chiba-san has her own dark side. And she's a little peppy when it comes to defending herself and her friends. She dropped a tray of food on a guy for calling Nitori-kun a faggot. Granted, he called Nitori-kun a faggot. Still, what a waste of food. Sanji would be disappointed.
This volume also provides a little insight into Sasa-san. She's an innocent little girl, and a little scatterbrained. Not much is known about her yet, but from my recollection of the anime, she gets deeper and more interesting. Just wait for it, or watch the anime like I did.
But the main characters. Oh the main characters. It's been barely a few months and it feels like they're growing up so fast. Both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san are getting into the roles of girl and boy respectively so well. And they even made an adult friend in Yuki-san, who was fooled by their disguises and thought they really were a girl and a boy respectively. Oh, how the fleeting lives of youth do go.
What this, of course, breaks down to is a character study of gender roles and gender confusion, not only in Japan, but throughout the world. And specifically a character study of Nitori-kun and of Takatsuki-san. It's written beautifully and the content is still as fresh as it ever was. It's eye opening and amazing to be able to read about something this deep and this sophisticated in a manga format. It continues to touch on the subject of gender roles in a touching and innocent fashion while keeping a childhood naiveté and incorporating a little bit of puberty all the while. All of it is woven together into a beautiful narrative that I will continue to highly suggest to anyone willing to read or watch it.
To reiterate, Amazon and Right Stuf have the first volume for sale while Crunchyroll has the series subbed on its website. Check it out.
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