Almost — Page 3

Almost Otaku: Who is Anime's #1 Character?

by Pokémaster on September 7, 2010

Might speedo and knee-highs be keeping Astro Boy from keeping hip to the times?

Frieza: Comic books have Superman. When it comes to anime/manga, what 1 character has had an impact upon japanese manga/anime like Superman had to American comic books? Two that come to mind, when I think about this, are Astro Boy and Goku, but perhaps they aren’t the ones who have had the biggest impact upon japanese anime/manga. Who do you think has?

Every field always has its “big man,” its figurehead, its originator. Rock has Elvis, wrestling has Hulk Hogan, video games have Mario and, yeah, comics have Superman. They might not have been the first (or even the greatest in a lot of people’s eyes) but they’re the ones everybody thinks of first.

Astro Boy would seem like the logical choice. You can’t get much more “#1″ then the creation of the “god of manga.” He was even the star of the very first anime TV show, right? And he’s inspired however many imitators and tributes (I’m looking at your, Mega Man!) I also wonder if the dominance of mecha in this field might have a lot to with the kid’s robotic nature.

But that ASTRO BOY movie last year didn’t do too well, even in Japan. Maybe this is more of a generational thing?

I’m not done YETTTTTTT!!!

See, I might’ve said Goku. He basically is Japan’s answer to Superman, anyway. An orphaned, exiled, absurdly-powerful alien who’s raised on Earth and defends from his fellow, evil refuges? Which one am I describing there, you know? The moving movement’s certainly faster than a speeding bullet and the kamamaya’s certainly as powerful as locomotive. And, lord knows, he’s famous the world over.

But I wonder if this might also be a generational thing. Sure, he’s big in the eyes of guys my age, but how relevant is DBZ to kids these days? Say, anybody born after ’95? Has KAI been doing a good job of keeping it relevant? Has Goku been eclipsed by Pikachu?

I bring that up, because I’m sure some older fans would really want to give Speed Racer as an answer – - and they might have had a point at one point – - but I’m sure most of you are going to disagree. His hour may have passed, just Astro Boy and Goku’s may have.

Anyway, keep the questions coming. Seriously, I’ll answer anything you ask me in this column.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: Do Anime Characters Look Too "American?"

by Pokémaster on September 4, 2010

The resemblance is pretty striking.

AgentJ: Something that gets brought up frequently, and surprisingly, with a lot of emotion, is that many anime (and video game) characters that come out of Japan don’t look “japanese”. The idea is that it is common for characters to have facial structures or hair colors more closely resembling the west. What are your thoughts on this?

I also got a PM from Nanashi about this. Apparently it’s the topic du jour on the internet? Obviously, this is a sensitive topic. I’m going to tread carefully…

Years ago, when I first got interested in watching anime as a teenager, I read one of those “primers for newbies” in some magazine. I don’t remember what the name was, but I do remember that it ascribed anime’s crazy, rainbow-colored hair to the Japanese wanting to differentiate the characters – - even if giving them all the same hair color was more realistic. I accepted that explanation at face value until my sister asked me the same “crazy hair” question a few years later. When I repeated that explanation, she snorted, “What, are you saying all Japanese people look the same?”

It’s a thorny thicket to get into, saying how races should look in art.

This cartoon resembles billions of people.

I think an answer may lie in the fact that the more you abstract a human form (or “cartoonize” it, if you prefer) the more people it resembles. Scott McCloud actually had a whole chapter about this in his theory book, UNDERSTANDING COMICS. Basically, a smiley face looks like everybody on the planet. Two eyes and a mouth; that describes every person you know. A photograph of me only looks like one person on Earth – - me. In between the two, you have all degrees of abstraction and similarities.

Light Yagami’s supposed to be a Japanese student. Does he look white because he’s got sandy blond hair? A lot of people say he looks like Zac Efron. Sure, I agree, but doesn’t Light also look like Tatsuya Fujiwara, the actor who played him in the DEATH NOTE movie? The resemblance between the real life guys might not be that great, because they’re human beings with thousands of distinct details, but they both resemble the cartoon, because it’s an abstraction that’s much more open to interpreation.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve all got stronger and better-informed opinions about this than I do, so go ahead and discuss. Also, keep coming with the questions. I’ll answer anything here in this column.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: Does the Music Make the Anime?

by Pokémaster on September 2, 2010

*SNIFF * There really is no need for promise.

sotyfan: Can the soundtrack make the anime? From what you have seen and heard does the music impact your thoughts on the anime? What’s your favorite anime song and what series has the best score in your opinion?

Funnily enough, I actually just wrote something about this at Comic Vine. I think music’s crucially important but, given the lack of memorable scores at the movies these days, it seems like something that’s easy to neglect. Yes, the soundtrack makes the anime, as it makes every movie. Just compare the versions of DEATH NOTE. The show had these great, minimalist, hypnotic piano leitmotifs that added undercurrents of dread, suspense and obsession to everything. More importantly, they immediately reminded you who these characters were. The movie? You had a pretty forgettable score and then two RCHP songs which, while great on their own, seemed pretty slapdash in their inclusion. Musically and lyrically, they had nothing to do with the story.

In short… you can have a great plot, but it’s a good score that gives it pathos.

My favorite anime song? Hmmm… some of these might be embarrassing.

I’ll fess up. “No Need for Promise”, the theme to VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE, gets me all mushy inside.

I’d say that the score for that whole show stands out as probably the best in total of anything I remember. It’s been almost ten years since I’ve watched it and the “ES-CA-FLO-NE!” choral chant and Falken’s violin theme is still stuck in my head. It’ll be there forever!

PRINCESS MONONOKE’s score did wonders to add a sense of timelessness and grandeur.

If you count it, I have to add all of INTERSTELLA 5555 because Daft Punk’s DISCOVERY is so rad.

As always, keep the questions coming. I’ll answer anything in this column. Well, within reason.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Preposterone

by Pokémaster on September 1, 2010

All this time… it was the preposterone that made the Saiyans super.

SamJaz: Which do you prefer best, Deconstruction (If this fictional element were real, why would it suck ?), Reconstruction ( This is why you enjoyed the stuff that waa Deconstructed, remember?), or a straight-up Preposterone (PREPOSTEROUS AMOUNTS OF TESTOSTERONE!!), in terms of viewing pleasure, after-thoughts, or enjoyment? For reference, see Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, and DragonBall Z respectively, though Gurren Lagann also qualifies for Preposterone.

We might not be on the same page about the definition of these terms, but I definitely like the ring of “preposterone.” That’s a neologism I’ll definitely be using from here on out.

Variety’s a big part of what I look for in my entertainment. I can enjoy the earnestly-simple or the sophisticatedly-ironic depending on what mood I’m in. So I really don’t have a preference for any one of these sub-genres… provided that they’re being done intentionally.

What does that mean?

Isn’t ALL mecha deconstructionist, anyway? It’s about giant robots deconstructing cities.

As I’ve said before, part of the fun of writing for this site is that it’s allowed me to see commonalities I might’ve missed without the broader perspective I’ve gotten here. To that end, I know that I’ve seen Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Preposterone like in Westerns, in spy movies and even in rock. I think CountZero even drew a comparisons to superhero comics, describing EVANGELION and GURREN LAGANN as mecha’s answer to WATCHMEN and KINGDOM COME, respectively. So these “stylistic concerns” apply pretty broadly. I think it all breaks down to the importance of not falling into habit. Tradition’s all well and good, but if you do it long enough that you’ve lost sight of why you’re doing it, it becomes a hindrance.

Alan Moore wrote an essay about audiences demanding more of their myths as the years go on. So if you have several decades of straight-forward mecha, eventually you want to pick apart the old clichés and tropes, you get EVANGELION (right?) However, if people follow those inversions until they become cliché in themselves, then you need to rebel againt them by, ironically going back to the roots. You can see the Bond movies often going through a cycle of things getting too ridiculous (invisible planes, outer space battles and what not) so they have to go back-to-basics, until things get too serious and dramatic and they decide they need to lighten things up again. And so the cycle repeats.

These have all been great questions, so please, keep them coming, Anime Vice community! I will answer whatever’s asked.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: What's Weird About Manga?

by Pokémaster on August 29, 2010

I’ve been meaning to read the rest of this for years. I heard it’s even crazier than the movie.

lizcat: What’s your experience with manga? Have you read any? What have you read? Does anything in particular about manga seem really strange to you or scare you away?

The funny thing is that I’ve read lot of “comics theory” articles relating to manga, but not much of the actual stuff. I’ve read one of the EVANGELION manga volumes, some parts of the first volume of AKIRA and some of that DIAMOND GIRL one we got a while back. Actually, now that I think about it, when I was living in Singapore as a little boy, I remember reading some OLD MASTER Q collections while I’d wait for a haircut at the barbershops. Though, that was actually manhua. Have any of you heard of it? I don’t know how popular it is out Hong Kong and other Chinese nations.

Do I find anything strange about manga? I still think some publisher’s refusal to flip the pages so you can read them left-to-right is a little unreasonable. Sure, I know there are purists. Sure, maybe it costs more to the do the flipping. Sure, a lot of you have said you get used to it. But I just had the hardest time trying to reverse my way of processing information.

The pole on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Aside from that, the kind of stuff I was put-off about when I was a teenager have been assuaged by what I hope is a broader perspective. There’s actually been a lot of cross-polination in the comics world, anyway. A lot of American creators have been consciously adopted “decompressed storytelling” to follow some examples from Manga.

My own theory, cobbled from Scott McCloud’s theory book UNDERSTANDING COMICS is that American comics lie between the two poles of manga and European comics. Manga’s super-decompressed, with a lot more space afforded to give the story breathing room, to focus on individual moments, et cetera. Euro comics are super-compressed, whether they’re limited by space in anthologies like JUDGE DREDD in 2000AD or because of they’ve got bigger album pages for more panels like Jodorosky’s INCAL and METABARONS. Hence, the pacing is usually wonderfully fast. One is not better than other, just different.

I might start reading manga for this some time. I’m pretty busy, as is, watching all this anime!

Anyway, keep the questions coming! Post them in the talkback and I will answer them.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: What Have You Watched? What Should You Watch Next?

by Pokémaster on August 27, 2010

Yes, I watched DORAEMON as a kid, even though I didn’t understand what the HELL the cat was saying.

AgentJ: Could we get a list of what you’ve already seen?

For this site, I’ve watched DEATH NOTE, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, FLCL, the first two BLEACH movies and, currently, some mix of GURREN LAGANN, COWBOY BEBOP and FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD. There was also that month-long period where I watched maybe 30 or 40 pilot episodes of random shows. I’ve forgotten which ones, though. Outside of the site, I’ve watched VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE, RECORD OF LODOSS WAR, AKIRA, METROPOLIS, MEMORIES, CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO, PRINCESS MONONOKE, GHOST IN THE SHELL, JIN-ROH, both VAMPIRE HUNTER D movies, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and * SHUDDER * FINAL FANTASY: ADVENT CHILDREN. I’m probably forgetting some. When I was a kid, I watched odd episodes of DORAEMON, CAPTAIN HARLOCK and, of course, DRAGONBALL Z.

Do I still qualify as a neophyte?

So is this any good?

AgentJ: Based on what you have heard from friends and Animevice users, what show or series are you most excited to dive into in the future?

Sheesh… three long-form shows are keeping my mind pretty occupied as is. There hasn’t been enough room to even think about what’s coming next. There is no tomorrow!

You’ve recommend BECK and a number of users have recommend CODE GEASS and BLACK LAGOON pretty insistently. I’d like to eventually delve a little deeper into Miyazaki’s filmography. I don’t know… what do you Anime Vice lunatics think I need to see?

AgentJ: You mentioned that western entertainment is often predictable and over-developed. What are your favorite aspects of Japanese comics that diverge from what you are used to in American Comics?

American comics aren’t really what I have an issue with. I love American Comics. I write American Comics. And I haven’t actually been reading manga for this site, just watching anime. It’s just that I’ve been reading superhero comics since I was a kid – - they’re familiar to me – - and these shows have fully-developed universes that are new territory to me. I don’t know what to expect and I can’t predict what’s coming at me, so the experience is a bit more genuine. I’m surprised by the twists, I’m intrigued by the mythologies, I get behind the characters because they’re like new friends. It’s a bit more stimulating because my viewing experience is much more like it was when I was a kid and I wasn’t so savy about my entertainment.

But I do think that Western live-action entertainment is what’s over-developed in comparison. The mass audiences are so much more constipated about fitting things into boxes. This character has to be the hero, this character has to be sympathetic, you can’t mix these genres and so on… so it’s refreshing to seeing a place where all these square peg concepts and characters can not only exist, but also thrive. Where you can have an entire series about a detestable villain, like DEATH NOTE.

Anyway, keep those questions coming, Anime Vice community! I WILL answer them, so don’t hold back!

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: Who're YOUR Favorite Characters?

by Pokémaster on August 25, 2010

You got to love a guy who fidgets this much.

Today’s question is such a fundamental one, I’m shocked that it’s never come up before. Kudos to AgentJ for cutting to the quick!

AgentJ: What characters in particular have you either enjoyed unfolding or related to the most?

Big surprise – - the first one the pops into my mind is L. There’s the obvious stuff about him being brilliant and always five steps ahead of everybody else… but what I enjoyed the most about him is that he’s depicted as he really would be rather than like any of the throngs of charming, dashing master detectives in fiction have been.

You see these eyes? These eyes are unclouded by hate.

L’s socially awkward, he’s awfully pedantic, willfully disregards rules of dining, dress and etituqe and his relationship to regular people verges on Asperger’s. Even comic relief moments like his brief bout of puppy dog infatuation with Misa and his random instances of pop culture knowledge subtly hint that this is a lonely young man who can’t really function outside of his work, grandiose though it may be. He’s one of those rare characters where you’d really almost want to see an interview with him, just to hear his take on the world.

Just don’t ask her about Daddy.

Digging a little deeper, I’d also include Ashitaka from PRINCESS MONONOKE. He’s a leading man who you experience the plot through, yeah, but he’s got an unique, virtuous innocence. His philosophy’s almost akin to a shaolin monk’s in that he isn’t ignorant of moral temptations, he’s just immune to them. He uses violence, and he’s an adept killer, simply because he knows that’s the way of the world. He’s at peace with it, but he never relishes in it. His romance with San’s really puts this into focus. She’s just as baffled as you are about this man being free of corruption, even as his flesh is being corrupted by that disease.

And I’d have to include Misato. Sure, I haven’t crushed on a toon like her since Jessica Rabbit – - that’s a big reason – - but I also loved how she was so many charming, yet so screwed up. She’s as emotionally vulnerable and complicated as she is hard-minded and deadly. Plus, she looked good in a red leather jacket and beret!

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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Almost Otaku: Bootlegs, Live-Action & What Keeps Me Coming Back

by Pokémaster on August 20, 2010

A lot of you weren’t feeling this. And, coincidentally, this looks like an HK bootleg.

We’ve got a trifecta of questions this time…

Constanzadellarosa: How do you feel about live action adaptations (Japanese and American ones)?

This was something I actually covered a while back. My opinion’s maybe fluxuated a little bit after enjoying SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD so much. Generally, I’m a believer in medium-specific storytelling and I’d really rather see something new and original than something I’ve already seen before. I rarely get to the end of an anime and think, “Wow… I really need to see this in live action.” If it’s good enough as is, then what more do you need? That being said, this is really a case-by-case thing. There’s just many examples of two artistic visions meeting and producing something noteworthy as there are examples of somebody totally botching the translation.

I’m actually going to be watching the live-action DEATH NOTE movies on Blu-Ray over the weekend. I haven’t read the manga, but I’ll be curious how they compare to the show.

N15PCA Have you ever bought a Hong Kong DVDs of an anime before?

Like a bootleg? I did when I was kid living in Singapore. I didn’t know what was what back then. There were bootlegs of everything. Although, I’ve been noticing that they’ve been slowly getting phased out at conventions over the years (although you’ll still find them in abundance in China town.) I really don’t like to get boots, out of principal. Are HK DVDs a big deal? Please elaborate.

D34dM4n What is it about manga and anime that keeps bringing you back to it?

This question actually ties back to the first one. Watching and reviewing anime for this site has been a real breath of fresh air, creatively. What I’m really enjoying is that this is all relatively new ground for me. Western entertainment can all-too-often be predictable and over-developed, but everything I’ve watched so far has been a revelation because I simply can’t predict where it’ll go. None of these shows can fit into a box and, as I’ve said, the Japanese are generally less constipated about suspensions of disbelief.

That can be all the questions we have left. I’m sure you Anime Vice lunatics must have more. I’m sure you have hundreds, so keep the questions and topics flying. I’ll answer and address them here. C’mon… this is too much fun to stop. Keep going! Participate!

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.

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