Click on the image for the full size and have fun guessing. ^_^ As usual, the bags on the left are full of the wife’s stickers and paper goods, which would be excruciating to unpack/repack.

I had every intention of writing posts to let you follow me on my most recent trip to Japan, but Google decided it would NOT let me sign in from a foreign country and I didn’t have the time or energy to fight them, so…sorry, for the blog silence.

We’re home and I’ll do my best to report on Maiden’s Garden, Comitia and our other adventures as the week progresses. In the meantime, here’s what we bought this time, not yet unboxed or unbagged. ^_^

I know that those of you not in the NY/NJ area of the world are pretty much over Hurricane Sandy. As this cold morning dawns, many in NY and NJ are still without food, heat, power. Some of these are folks who simply do not know how to get help, and wait to be rescued. Some will have no homes to return to.

The Far Rockaways, Staten Island and parts of the NJ shore will take years to recover and rebuild.

This is my home. I’ve lived in NJ my whole life and I love it passionately. This summer I saw fireworks from the boardwalks of Seaside, Point Pleasant and Asbury Park. They are all now destroyed or damaged.

If you are somewhere in the US where you have heat and light and a few extra dollars, please consider donating $10 to the Community Foodbank of NJ by texting FEEDNJ to 80888 or consider donating to a reputable relief org like the Red Cross.

More importantly, please teach your family how to get help! Kids learn the emergency response number in school. Drill them what to call when they have no power or food. Learn where to go to get warm in your town, where to get a meal. You are never alone, so just keep a list of people/orgs/places to reach out to.

Thank you.

Sorry for the lack of updates here at Okazu. Some of you may be aware that we were hit by a massive hurricane here on the East coast of the US. This is not normal for us up here in NJ, so it was a bit nerve-wracking.

Here is a real picture of the storm, just to give you an idea of the size.

Here’s what it looked like from inside:

I’m kidding, of course. Jaws isn’t that big. ^_^ (Image from Jezebel)

I just want to take a moment and thank all of you and everyone on Twitter and Facebook, for your kindness, care and concern for me and my wife. Truly, you are all lovely people and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We’re fine and dandy, damage is minor and we were without power for less than one full day. We staved off cannibals, zombies and aliens successfully. All things being equal, reviews will resume shortly. ^_^

Thank you again and, if you are moved to do, consider sending a few dollars to to Red Cross or other reputable relief organizations – there are a lot of people who genuinely need the relief both in the US and in other countries hit by Sandy. Thank you again.

I have wanted to write about this since it popped up on my radar, but life got in the way. Now I’m going to linger over it: Veteran anime maker Masaaki Yuasa has turned to Kickstarter to fund a wholly original anime called Kick-Heart.
THIS IS WHAT CROWD-SOURCED FUNDING IS ABOUT FOLKS.

We all know that anime is about sales, and about reaching the largest possible audience who will buy stuff. That means that in the last 10 years we’ve seen multiple levels of simplification, in art, story, character and design. The audience for anime has effectively been shrunk down with every simplification. And those of us who love animation for itself, love it for the sheer fantasy playland of possibilities, have been kind of shunted onto the sidelines while baby-faced girls showing their underwear to big brother figures have overrun this art form.

Here is our chance to regain some of our dignity  – and, I say this without irony – I cannot think of a better way than with an anime about S&M pro-wrestling romance. This story is crazy, but it’s adult crazy, not eternally suspended at 12-years-old crazy.

Kickstarter isn’t a perfect solution, but it does change the playing field significantly. Imagine if animators could actually be in charge of their animation once more. Imagine if creators did not need to bow to market pressure to make materials that only appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator.  Imagine if we – we, the fans that love animation – can be the force for creating Art.

I backed Kick-Heart this week because I believe in it.  I hope you will consider backing it, but more importantly, I hope you will spread the word. Facebook, Twitter, wherever you are, you can make a difference. In return, the team is showing that they “get” a global, digital market – downloads are DRM-free, the DVDs/HDs are region free and they are covering shipping for overseas customers!

Production IG is at over 80% of their funding goal, but could really use help making that last 20%. If you have ever wanted to be a part of an anime project, here you go – this is your chance. Make anime happen!