Otaku News

At any point in time have you ever asked yourself ‘am I really addicted to this?’

Well of course you have! Who hasn’t?

Now how about this? ‘How addicted to this am I?’

Okay maybe lesser people asked this to themselves, but we still have a high count.

How about looking up to the heavens and proclaim to the world ‘Yeah I’m an anime addict. Got a problem with that?’ Now that my friends, are my kind of people.

There are a lot out there who are anime addicts, like myself, but are quite shy to admit it. I don’t know why and I don’t bother to ask. It’s their life not mine. But I’ve also seen some hard core addicts, even more so than myself, that they actually wouldn’t mind suffering hours upon hours of sweating in their massive costumes just for fun.

Yes, I mean cosplay, and not just those ordinary otaku that all they have to do is put on their desired costume(i.e. sailor-fuku), grab a wig and trot around mingling with other otaku’s. I mean those that goes the extra length of planning months ahead, spending their allowances on the cloth(which are quite expensive) and the service(tailor) and on the awaited day haul their costumes in the restroom and then come out looking like… DOMO-KUN!

When asked, ‘is it hot in there?’ he replied ‘uh… yeah, but no sweat I could do this all day’.  Seriously? Yes seriously. Insane? Yes, but with them around you can be sure it’s going to be one hell of a day.

Man! Talk about first-class otaku. I could even get myself to cosplay a simple character(since I’m pretty much stingy when it comes to cash) let alone one that would probably kill me due to dehydration.

But still whether one likes to cosplay, collect figurines and mangas or not, an otaku is an otaku. Much like a doctor, no matter what he/she specializes in is still a doctor. You can’t argue with that fact.

Note: Ehe… just suddenly thought of this, don’t mind me.

Yunaginomachi out. >=3

Overview

Welcome to the first weekly Gintama article! (The Sket Dance X Gintama episode did not count). Why I'm doing this? I got the Gintama fever after watching both crossover episodes. Though I won't able to work on Gintama because my wiki love belongs to Sket Dance and Beelzebub right now. These weekly reports will try to convince people out there to work on the Gintama pages. I have a partner, MohsinMan99, who's going to work on episode 230's report. Give him some recognitions.

I would love to work on it, but it's suicidal to work on a long shonen series at the same time that I'm working on these two projects. We need a team on this franchise.

This report covers episode 228: Love is Neither Plus or Minus and episode 229: Making It Through.

*I'm new to this series, so please bear with me as I butcher the names of characters who are not Gintoki, Kagura, and Shinpachi.

Plot

An Otaku and his Virtual Girlfriend

Shinpachi has a new girlfriend and his sister, Tae, thinks he finally has one. When Shinpachi pulls his girlfriend, he pulls out a portable handheld game that has a girl saying hello. As Tae calls Gintoki and Kagura to help her obsessed brother, Gorilla has Gintoki enter the SIM world, Love Choris, in order to save Shinpachi. However, Gintoki gets himself involved in the My Life World Tournament against his will.

Will Gintoki survive in the tournament or will Gintoki and Shinpachi become total addicts to SIM games?

Rules of Love Choris

• The main character has to love his heroine.
• They cannot shut the game without saving, or their heroine will not love them.
• Players can customize their heroines like barbie dolls.

Verdict

Good

We got a new opening theme! It has a nice serious tone and a city theme. Too bad, it was misleading.

Gintoki has a big female audience

As a new Gintama fan, Gintoki has a lot of girls, so I was wondering about the significance. I find out soon enough as I watch these episodes.

Speaking of characters, this story has three heroines in the SIM game.

Three Heroines
Momo Anigasaki Momo is older than the main character in the game, and she is the older sister type of a woman.
Sayaka Otakai Sayaka is the captain of the railroad club. She is Isao Kondo's girlfriend, and the main character is in the same club as her.
Pinko Shiramizuu Pinko is the owner of a Chinese restaurant and the widow of Takuzo. The main character happens to be her frequent customer.

On with the good stuff for these two episodes.

• I feel bad that Gintoki has to suffer cruel humiliation as he has to interact with Pinko. Because Gorilla forces Gintoki to pick the ugliest heroine, it reminds me of Beauty and the Beast concept and Beauty is only Skin Deep concepts.

A hybrid PSP and Nintendo DS

• For Gintama fan girls, Gintoki strips in this episode. I don't have the image yet.
• The handheld game is similar to the Nintendo DS and a PSP.

Bad

A Joke/ Fetish gone wrong

• Sometimes, jokes can go too far. For example, a character named Sogo has Sayaka become his obedient love slave. He does cruel things to her while Sayaka keeps saying that she loves him. In the end, Sogo gets bitch slap by karma.

Bizarre

• According to Gintoki, Shinpachi likes women older than him.
• There was a character who likes Pinko in Kyuubei's dress, and Sarutobi who bases her Pinko on Gintoki. That was hilarious.

Custom Pinko

Anime References

• That's not how you play the Game!!!

  
• Gorilla's Quote: "A person who hasn't reached the Love Choris Hole is like a Soul Reaper in the Soul Society who can't do Bankai."

Overall, this story is bizarre and hilarious yet disturbing. I'm still looking forward to the action packed Gintama stuff.

Thanks

I like thank Mohsinman99 and my team for sticking by me, and I thank you guys for reading this. Hopefully, we get some Gintama love.

My Team's Weekly Articles and Blogs This Week

• Sket Dance 28: Shinba Michiru's Elegant Cooking by KuroNekoXIII
• Beelzebub 37: That Man Was A Teacher by Taka

Last Week's Reports

• Sket Dance 27: Clumsy Idol and Switch's Inventions
• Blue Exorcist 25: Finale
• Beelzebub 36: Viper Revenge
• Last Week of September: Blue Exorcist 24, Beelzebub 35, Sket Dance X Gintama

Last Week's Miscellaneous Blogs from Teammates

• Beginner Guide to Shaman King by Takashichea
• Massive Projects V1: Sora no Otoshimono by ShadowKnight508
• Why I can't Stop Replaying This Episode by KuroNekoXIII

Takashichea

Member of Team W.I.K.I Nation, Team Beelzebub, and Team Fairy Tail

Oreimo

You can win an all-expenses-paid tour trip to Japan! A contest is currently going on through ANN for two different trips appealing to two

 
different types of fans of two different types of shows. Deal is that fans must provide a 600x800 JPEG image with a working URL that  
 
meets the criteria based on which show the applicant likes. But, applicants may upload multiple images for both shows as long as  
 
each is original.The trips take place March and and May of 2011 and only 18+ US and Canadian residents are eligible (sorry y'all from  
 
the UK). Applications must be turned in by December 5, 2010. Accepted applications will be posted two weeks after the deadline and  

togainu no chi - Bloody Curs

winners about a month after the dealine. Which will it be of the two series on the right?! Will you pick My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute  
 
or "True Blood"...or both? I'd love to do this and win a beautiful and glorious trip to Japan but I won't be applying. However, I do  
 
plan/hope to make a trip to Japan sometime in my life. The link to the article and rules can be found here.

Included here is a paper I wrote for my English class. It's memoir-esc. I describe my experiences with anime (both personally and socially). If you are curious about what I mean by anything feel free to ask. 

Shō shi-jū-kyū: Amerika no otaku no monowarai no tane

                A long time ago-1998, or the year Google was founded, Clinton was impeached, and Titanic made a killing in theaters-I lived in my own little world where watching cartoons was the most exciting part of the day. Everything I saw on tv I thought came from the US. Little did I know, however, some of my favorite shows were actually from Japan and were referred to as “anime” in America. I had a friend-Ian-at the time who enjoyed anime as well and we conversed on a daily basis about our likes, dislikes, and ideas of what would happen next-that fell through when I quit Tae Kwon Do-but it was a very fun couple of years as he was the first person to understand what I was talking about. I continued watching the shows until they weren’t on tv anymore and by that time I was in high school. High school was a time where anime went on hiatus and the glorious pitfalls and uprisings of being a teenager took place.

*

                2007 was a very happy and disturbing year in my life. With the help of eBay I started my anime collection during the precious time between high school and college. With all the time I had to myself Freshman year I found out a little more about anime and what it was while watching the couple of boxsets I owned. I even found out that not all anime is in English! Each one actually is done in Japanese and gets English subtitles before being dubbed to English.

*

Even with my rising knowledge of Japanese anime in America I was not prepared for the frantic typhoon of goodness to come my way in 2008. I changed work schedules during the summer and therefore had a lot of time to be bored at home and nothing to do but play video games all night, or so I thought. My friend Jon called me up to see if I wanted to hang out sometime. Jon and I were friends in high school but he was 2 years ahead of me so we lost contact after he graduated. Jon was the last piece to the foundation of my anime fandom and I regret nothing. I had come into college only knowing that I wanted to study business but anime had given me a goal to work toward after graduation. I cannot exactly say what fully drew me in with concern to anime. I loved that constant action and good vs. evil of shōnen anime, the fanservice and constant comedy of harems, the originality and flow of stories, and of course the combined use of music, animation style, and anime’s distinguishing characteristics. Japan’s anime was, and is, better than American cartoons as with American cartoons a viewer can jump in at any point and know what is going on because there is almost no semblance of a story. If you don’t watch anime in order you can end up being thoroughly confused-though some anime are just complete mindfucks anyways; such as Ergo Proxy and Neon Genesis Evangelion-and I like having cogent storylines.

                That summer Jon and I spent night after night glued to the computer or tv screen with Marlboros in one hand and Bud Lights in the other. We blazed through popular anime like Rosario + Vampire, Spice and Wolf, Kanokon, and Linebarrels of Iron in seemingly record time. In contrast, the real speed work happened when we didn’t meet up because we would spend 8+ hours watching different anime that we took separate interest in. With so much dedication we could watch an entire season in one night! The feat is possible because anime generally runs 22 minutes long with seasons being 12-13 or 24-26 episodes (with some exceptions).

                Jon and I’s time together didn’t take long to foster thoughts that we wanted to do more than just watch and enjoy anime and manga-usually the source material of anime and Japan’s version of American comics. Jon and I wanted to create an anime. But not just any anime; we wanted to be almost entirely original because we felt there were some storylines that seemed too overused and themes that had become clichéd. He and I racked out brains for about a week until it finally dawned on me on where to look for influence. That spark of ingenuity came from Eoin Colfer’s intelligent and exciting Artemis Fowl book series.

                “So what do you think?”, I said in muffled tones as I lit another cigarette.

                “It could work.” Jon replied as he too lit up while offering me his computer chair. That’s right, we smoked inside his house but I got used to the pungent and restricting smell of the air easy enough. “Sounds original to me,” he continued. “But where do you want to go with the story? You kind of need characters, too.” All the while he stroked his beard in time with pacing the wooden floor.

                “About that…” I began, taking a deep drag to ensure the cancer agents do their job before exhaling a plume of smoke that lingered in Jon’s face without a minute change in demeanor. “I want the story to be about this really smart kid from a wealthy family. But the kicker is that he has a pretty and badass bodyguard with him while he travels the world in search for a bride. And since we don’t care much for kiddy shows this thing will have language, some violence, and a whole lot of innuendo and nudity. There’s no anime like that! Well, not that I’ve seen or heard of. As for the characters, we can do that right now.”

So our amateur-but-seemingly-semi-expert-creative process began. We came up with a plot summary, very odd named main characters-even by Japanese standards, and what we believe to be the opening scene of the first episode. We were more than just excited. Jon and I were joyous and exuberant in throwing our dream into a Word document.

Jon certainly was a downer about the project from time to time, though. He had positive thoughts but despite my support he felt consistently negative about our chances of learning Japanese, going to Japan, and completing our (let’s face it, my) brainchild. I got pissed off, too. He even wasted the money to go back to school only to get tired of intro classes that he had to put up with. I’ve been on my own with the story and not a lick of progress was made for the rest of my college days. I blame my non-anime enticing environment and excellent-maybe haphazard-procrastination skills.

*

                The summers of 2008 and 2009 saw me doing jack shit except watch anime, work, hang out with Jon, and golf. At least once a month I was on eBay or at Best Buy buying another boxset or video game. Despite such fact I still wonder where all my money went.

                My family was-and still is-supporting of my anime hobby. They didn’t know much when I talked about it but they always heard me out and I was able to put some shows on my birthday and Christmas lists. Why would I get my family involved in buying boxsets to support my ever-growing interest? The answer is simply because boxsets are expensive-generally $30 is cheap as most sell for $60-and prices don’t go down.

                Sounds like anime and I have done pretty well for each other, no? Well, yes, the experiences I’ve gained have been-and continue to be-great. But there is another side to my acculturation. Like anything foreign, though, there are supporters and haters, and I happened to live with one of those conceited and misconstruing pricks for 2 years.

                My roommate Jesse gave me a lot of shit about anime. He was born in New Jersey and took every opportunity to be the “cool badass motherfucker”. I never really liked him-even if I was his neighbor at home and we went to the same high school. Jesse wasn’t too bad with the jibes while he was sober. Hell, I even got him to WATCH an anime! When Jesse was drunk, however, he would break up each conversation I was having with a girl to brazenly state that I watched anime and ipso facto I’m a freak-and the general American idea of anime is that it is animated porn (which is correctly termed “hentai”)-thus leaving me standing by myself. Jesse was an asshole.

                One night Jesse and I were at a mutual friend’s party having a good time until he patently stopped a chat of mine. That time I did not take so kindly to his action and confronted him about it in the kitchen. He kept with his idea that anime was gay and that I was creepy and blah blah fuckin’ blah. I pointed out some flaws of his and how he was just like our old neighbor who dropped out of school. I struck a chord because to “defend” himself Jesse escalated the situation to swapping blows. We were broken up quickly so there was no clear winner.

                Jesse was my trial of faith, so to speak, and I learned from my time with him that I don’t take shit from people knocking on anime. I quickly correct(ed) people when they are wrong, ignore those who are ignorant, and embrace those who understand and are willing to learn about anime and how American Media’s portrayals are wrong.

Super Duper Mini Review

 Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

 Haruka on the left and Milan from seeason 2.

Genres:

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu centers around Yūto Ayase and Haruka Nogizaka. Yūto is seemingly ordinary, but Haruka is attractive, intelligent, and rich, which prompts other students to idolize her and even give her French nicknames like "Nuit Étoile" (The Silver Star of the Night) and "Lumière du Clavier" (The Shining Princess on the Piano). One day, Yūto wanders into the school library in order to return a book and accidentally stumbles upon Haruka's deepest, darkest secret: she is a diehard fan of anime and manga, in other words, a regular otaku. Promising Haruka to keep this a secret, Yūto becomes her advisor and confidente of some sort and hangs out with her more, though earning some viciously envious glares from his fellow schoolmates.

• A really bright and colorful world.
  
• A very cute/charming/fun tone to the show.
• A lot of the cast are common character types, but that doesn't mean the cast isn't enjoyable.
• Enjoyed the lighthearted take on the otaku world.
• Speaking of otakus, some references to other anime like Evangelion and Shakugan no Shana.

• Some of the episodes are from the romantic comedy/harem check list.  Hot spring episode?  Check.  Beach episode?  Check.  School festival episode?  Check.
• The animation can be stiff a times.  It could have been a little better.
• The ending has no real conclusion.
  

 ................moe!

What's a Super Duper Mini Review? Well, since I'm taking a break from written reviews, I decided to put a short list of what I liked and didn't like about the shows I review and from time to time, put down some notes and fun facts. For some info about the show like genre, plot summary, etc., I borrow some info from Anime News Network, Wikipedia, and of course our wiki here on Anime Vice.

Super Duper Mini Review

Genshiken

This is the story of college freshman Kanji Sasahara and his fellow members of the college club he joins, The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture (aka Genshiken), as he goes shopping for doujinshi, attends conventions and slowly but surely makes his way down the road to fandom.

• A fantastic cast of characters.
• The slice of life aspect is very well done.
• Since the show does have an otaku theme, lots of reference to games, anime, manga.  Since the first season was co-produced by Sega Sammy Holdings, they should gameplay from Guilty Gear and Puyo Pop which was a nice treat.
  
• The comedy is very well done and affective.
• Love the really long episode titles in the first season.  Really wish the second season did it as well.
• During the credits of the first season, it shows the members in the club room and it shows what happened in that episode.  While the second season didn't do it, it did change their clothes with the current season in the show.
  

• After the first season, the quality of the OVAs went down from the first season, but it got a little better with the second season.  I guess changing production companies isn't always a good thing.
• The ends with no really conclusion.  It just stops.  I guess it's better then some crappy filler ending.
  

Hey, you got your Gurren Lagann in my Genshiken.

What's a Super Duper Mini Review? Well, since I'm taking a break from written reviews, I decided to put a short list of what I liked and didn't like about the shows I review and put down some notes and fun facts as well. For some info about the show like genre, plot summary, etc., I borrow some info from Anime News Network, Wikipedia, and of course our wiki here on Anime Vice.

Super Duper Mini Review - Manga Edition              (Added on September 25th, 2010)

Good ol' Lagoon Company

Alright, so my roommmate and I started the idea of having some circulating story about having a group or series following Black Lagoon. As far as the arc goes, things didn't start as I hoped as I didn't know how to react. 
  

Thoughts and Ideas

Ok, so I am certainly not sober and not prepared for this interaction on genetalia or converstaions of a reactionary series...My roommate and I started Black Lagoon with the first 4 eps (the first disc) and we both found out some interesting ideas about the series and its ideas about the use of alcohol, etc. 
 

My Roommate's First Reactions

 
The first part is my roommates stopping to watch anime in the earlier days in order to improve thier thoughts and ideas of what is important and gain knowledge from the diescussion. From the current perspective, the idea of stopping is as unhealthy as the idea of shooying or killing an anime. 
 

Disc 1:

First off, my buddy Blake (my roomie who has had no previous anime experience except for with Afro Samurai) was blown away by what Black Lagoon had to offer. He first started off with my Beginner's Guide and then (with my provocation) started with the series itself. At the end, first off, he didn't think the story was going to go into an arc about WWII and Nazis; he was wrong. The Lagoon Company being charged with finding a painting seemed to be different then what he figured Black Lagoon's story would be like and spawn off of. He really didn't think the arc would go anywhere but he is interested in seeing where the arc goes. He likes the surprise in each episode (even the globalization of the South China Sea (as we are both business Majors)) but was not deterred by the semi-slow first 2 eps. He found the modern-day Nazi story random but is curious as to where the story goes. 

Bullet holes come standard.

In comparison, he found Afro Samurai to be more exiciting the whole time (as to be expected with a series that's only the length of a movie). He finds Afro as finding as a "one note" series, if you will, and feels Black Lagoon is moving with more story lines. He thought a totally different line of plot and thought took place and different themes are taking place just within Lagoon Company so early in the series and it will be fun and interesting seeing how the current plot plays out (I find it great how he decuces so quickly about he series).  

Currently, Blake looks forward to seeing how Lagoon Company handles the situation and is even curious as to finding out what direction the story goes in with the Nazis. In a different direction, he doesn't know much about the difference between dub and sub but he feels a good job was done with the dub and is interested in seeing where the story goes from here on out. He points out from the article that he will be surprised about what will happen in the series and likes how the eps are different in how the story develops as it progresses. He thinks it will be interesing even for non-anime fans to watch just to see where the story goes and how everything plays out. From his perspective things are going in a different direction from arc to arc. As an American, he likes to see the different themes come into play. He's ready for another arc though as he feels checking out a sub version would be cool in order to get a better idea of how the story goes and see where the story goes from arc to arc. 
 
As for relation to another non-anime fan (from his experience) he feels Afro is easier to recommend as it has American voice actors along with the edgier plot and animation. He at first wasn't interested in Black Lagoon but grew to have interest as I showed him what the series had to offer. From what he has seen he thinks anime is interesting just in the animation itself as just in reference to Afro we talk about how impressive it is to have it entirely hand-drawn (but Black Lagoon is cool, too). 

To shoot or not to shoot..

As for what he likes about Black Lagoon, he feels the members are strong and is ready to find out more about their background. Mostly, he finds Revy exciting with her use of weapons and such. From reading the Beginner's Guide he is not exactly surprised from how the characters are but wants to know more with how the storytakes place in more then one direction. He is not deterred by the half-way intergections as seen in almost every anime (but he doesn't exactly like it either) and he feels it gives a good understanding as to how much of the ep is left. 
 
With the diection of Black Lagoon, he likes how the story has gone in different directions but is left confused. If he keeps watching the series everything is going to come together and then even an American audience could understand where everything is going. Compared to American animation he feels the series is on par but was more impressed with Afro (to be expected) and Black Lagoon is everything he expected it to be. With a series like Black Lagoon Blake feels Americans look for a high-octane and action-packed series such as this to fulfill their needs. 
 
Overall, Black Lagoon has gone different directions he didn't think the series would go but is excited to see how the story develops and how the characters grow. I think this experience went well and sorry about the sporatic directions this went. I can't wait for Blake's thoughts on the next disc!