Archive for the Tokyo Journal Category


Tales of Osaka

November 7th, 2010

Time to back up to the beginning.

So, as you know, Bruce and I arrived in Tokyo, stayed in our nice room in Shinagawa, which is becoming an increasingly bad idea, as the hotel is so nice, every other hotel is awful in comparison.

The next morning, we hopped the Shinkansen out to Nagoya. On the way there, we failed to see the life-size Gundam that is in Shizuoka, (I thought they had dismantled it already!) and I’m very annoyed at myself that I didn’t look for it. ^_^;;

We arrived in Nagoya and managed to be found by William Flanagan, whom you may know as the translator of Lucky Star (the good one, that took over halfway), Tsubasa Chronicles, Code Breaker and many other manga. It was our pleasure to have met Bill last spring at Tokyo Anime Fair and he was nice enough to ask us to drop by for some local specialties if we were in the area. A local specialty happens to be katsu and it also happens to be one of my favorites meals, so when the stars aligned we had a really nice lunch, thanks Bill!

We eventually made it to Osaka, where we found that the hotel did not have our reservation. Always a good feeling. The hotel found us a room, where we tried to spend as little time as possible. The only reason I picked the hotel was its proximity to the theater and that was, in the end, the only good thing about it. ^_^;

We met up with Komatsu-san, who took us on a tour of Osaka, including the geek district. I really like Osaka, there’s a lot of energy and a LOT of food everywhere. But then, I finally crashed and burned and we went back to our rooms without even eating dinner. I had one rice ball and fell asleep by 9:30.

The next morning was the big day! Of course Bruce and I were awake very very early and we sat outside at the mall where the theater was. Eventually we were joined by Komatsu-san and we waited for the mall to open. Originally, we were first on line, but then two VERY motivated otaku came up and basically cut everyone off to be first. I didn’t fight them. It wasn’t worth it, so I was the #3 ticket. Now that we had tickets, we relaxed and went for a walk – to see the Heartcatch PreCure movie! Marimite was only being shown twice that day and the first showing was at 3:45, so we walked a bit to another mall (which had a very southwestern canyon look about it) and stood in line with a bunch of 4 year olds and their mothers (and a Dad or two). The girls got a little flashlight and a PreCure visor, I was apparently too old for such things. ^_^

Bruce, who is not watching PreCure, described the movie as a “High decibel fruit salad.” It takes place in Paris and while it had no original elements, it was still fun. Of course we all had to lend them the power of our heart flowers to help PreCure beat the bad guy. And in case you consider trying to be clever, no my heart flower is *not* a lily. So there, nyah. Bruce didn’t lend his power, because, he said, if all of Paris wasn’t enough to help, he didn’t think his would matter. What a meanie he is – we might have been destroyed because of him!

We had a ramen for lunch, with a side of fried garlic and happy, full and ready to be disappointed by the movie we made our way back to the theater. The two motivated Fanboys were first in line and they were let in first, then me, Komatsu-san and Bruce. The one Fanboy changed seats like three or four times, then sat there and fidgeted in a really creepy way, thus fulfilling every creepy otaku stereotype possible. The audience was split about 60/40 men/women, and mostly everyone was normal, with only about a half dozen really creepy otaku types. The two guys sitting next to me were both young and seemed kind of unlikely an audience. There were a number of younger women, as well, so overall, I was impressed with the crowd. Then the movie began….

…with an absolutely hilarious animated short voiced by Itou Miki and Ueda Kana about things we should not do while the movie is on. Yumi explained that we should not use our cell phones, take pictures, eat food loudly (illustrated by a picture of a bowl of ramen, because you know you might eat that in a theater…) or give rosaries to your soeur. Then Sachiko recapped and it was time for the movie.

Which was…really fun! They rewrote some bits, but I think it worked. The beginning was a scene in which Yumi comes into class and finds Miyuki crying tears of joy because she received a rosary. You remember Miyuki, right? She was one of the first Yoshino-wannabees in Yellow Rose Revolution. Total drama queen. This gives Yumi a chance to “explain” the soeur system to us. Also kind of fun was that *every time* Yumi comes into the school, she says the “walking slowly is preferred here” bit. Like she’s mentally preparing herself, or something. Oh, both Bruce and I loved the fact that the floors squeaked in the school. Like old wooden floors do.

Yumi and Sachiko actresses did a much better job than any of us expected. And then it started to dawn on me – every actress was picked for a specific reason. Yumi, because she could make her eyes big, Shimako for her smile. The voices were all very good, so the casting people were very mindful of what we wanted to hear and what we were used to. Kashiwagi was the worst choice, his body language was terrible, but his voice was really good. So, they were obviously thinking about it hard.

The rewrites were small, didn’t affect the major plot points, gave Yoshino lines she might otherwise not have had (poor Yoshino!) and by the end, all of us were right there with Yumi and Sachiko as Yumi and Sachiko.

In the end, Bruce, Komatsu-san and I all gave it a 9 out of 10.

Then we made Komatsu-san take us for okonomiyaki, because we were in Osaka and since neither Komatsu-san nor I like takoyaki, we had to do *something* typical! Dinner was delicious (of course,) then we went on a nice, wandering long walk around Osaka Shinsaibashi/Nihonbashi area. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful night and the company was pleasant. It was perfect.

The next morning we met up for breakfast (a little challenging on Sunday AM) then we parted with many thanks. I know I thanked you many times Komatsu-san, but once more – thank you so very, very much for everything! We both had a wonderful time. Here’s a link to the pictures I took, which include some of Komatsu-san and Osaka.

The train ride to Tokyo was long, the subway ride to Ikebukuro was long, the walk to the hotel was long, but here we are! Today, we meet up with my commanding officer, Ana, and do some shopping! See you later!





Hot Time at the Old Jinja

November 7th, 2010

Before I start to tell you about today, I want to apologize to my wife, who will never speak to me again after reading this. ^_^;;

After two great days in Osaka, we hit Tokyo with a heavy sigh of relief to be somewhere for a few nights. We ran out really quickly, bought most of my wife’s shopping list, came back to the room for a rest and we were off!

Where to? To the Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku (for the otaku moment counters, this was featured in Hana no Asuka-gumi  and we’re staying in Ikebukuro, home to Durarara.) The Hanazono shrine was having a harvest festival, a festival to promote good business fortune. Bruce, myself, Rica Takashima, her friend Takami and Ana Moreno all wandered the crowded grounds, prayed to the local god, and bought things we didn’t need, then sat down to have Japanese festival food.

As we finished up our oden, yakisoba and agemono, a couple of happy drunk guys sat at our table. Minou-san and Shimpei-san and their friend were, of all things, animators. They asked why we were there and of course, we told them and they laughed and laughed and we were all friends. What an amazing conversation, everyone at the table had a little of both languages and several had a lot of both and the conversation kept switching back and forth. It was a party, let me tell you! And when the guys learned about Yuricon..you can imagine the “wow!”s that were raised on high. “Yuri saikou!” Minou-san-tachi’s animation is on Youtube, it’s freaking *adorable*. I got a pile of pictures, but am seriously too tired to even upload them.

We all parted and Rica made us play games and eat food including anzu, which is a pickled, salted apricot rolled in simple syrup, then laid on ice to solidify. It was…interesting. I played a game and won 20 wafers with custard and, by giving Takami about 10 of them, managed to make my way through them.

We parted at Shinjuku station and Bruce and I dragged our exhausted asses back to the hotel. It was a perfect evening. Thank you Rica!

On the way back, I was once again blown away by the people I have met because of Yuricon. Komatsu-san, Ana, Rica, Bruce, and so many others. Hanazono no Kami-sama, arigatou gozaimasu.

Tomorrow AM, if I have any energy at all, I’ll finally tell you the story of our wonderful days in Osaka and share some pictures.

Oh…and we found the theater Marimite is playing in here. We are considering watching it once again. ^_^





Marimite Movie (and PreCure) movie report – short version

November 7th, 2010

Sorry I was offline the last few days, the hotel in Osaka kind of sucked. BUT! The movies were great.

PreCure movie was a long, random episode with way more explosions than I would expect. And I think the French government might have issues with Mont St Michel being leveled that way.

Totally related to that last comment, but inexplicable until you see the movie, the trip mascot this time is clearly Loup Garou. I’ll explain later.

The Marimite movie was unexpectedly excellent! I really enjoyed it, and I felt that the actresses did a much better job than I anticipated. Hardly any explosions, though.

Many, many thanks to Bill Flanagan and to Komatsu-san, for shepherding us through the first half of our trip and to Himekawa Akira-san, for the lovely books, thank you all so very much!

Tonight we are handing over ourselves to the care of two of the most evil women I know. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, it’s their fault. ^_^





Nice to See Movie List

November 4th, 2010

When the flight is 15 hours, one naturally watches at least a movie or two. This time I watched Red Cliff, the recent John Woo-directed spectacular about the decisive battle from the Romance of the Three Kindgoms. As you know, I am on a quest to make the story work, eventually, but only by using mass media, comics, anime and other inappropriate means. (I read the book, way back, but it’s so much more fun trying to do this the worst way possible.) The movie is totally carried by Tony Leung’s prettiness. Recommended.

I also watched a movie called Raise the Castle in which the spirits of dead samurai return to bring an old, lost castle back to life. It was an extremely clever movie, and had some fun. The first two scenes or so are dire, so just hold your nose and get past the “funny” doofus-y guy being a doofus. After that, it’s great.

Today, we head out to Osaka, with a short stop in Nagoya (not to see the castle, tough.) There’s a chance I may not be online for a few, but I’ll try to twitter. :)





Japan Trip Wrap-up

March 28th, 2010

It was a whirlwind tour as always, interspersed with a lot of shopping.

We visited most of the things we wanted to do, with a few exceptions. Mostly because my wife’s foot is still broken and my feet plain old suck, we just didn’t have time to get to the Sanjusangendo in Kyoto or the Benten or Inari shrines we like in Tokyo. Other than those, we got to every other shrine (and store) we wanted to, as well as several we stumbled upon randomly. My wife got herself a book for shrine stamps and had fun amassing a collection of shrine stamps and calligraphy. Tangentially, I find that calligraphy really bugs me. In both Western and Eastern characters. Dear calligraphers – just because it’s unreadable, doesn’t make it “artistic.” Humph.

Based on what I saw shopping and at TAF, anime merchandising remains the only profitable bit of the industry. Genres that are doing well are still Action, Moe and Boy’s Love, retreads of already successful series – and monster/youkai stories are having another revival. When Mizuki Shigeru is on TV, you know it’s time for more monsters. The wife and I are totally down with that. And what an interesting guy Mizuki is! I was so exhausted when the interview with him was on, but wanted to stay up and keep watching. Maybe next time we go back, we’ll make it out to Sakaiminato to see the town’s celebration of his work. (Also next time, Kamakura, not for Aoi Hana, but for Yoshiya Nobuko’s house, which is now a museum. It’s time to thank her personally.) Given the amount of people at TAF on the industry day, things are still slow. Western fans may think that scans and subs are great, but when there is no more anime industry in Japan – what are they gonna sub? This is not a rhetorical question, but a real possibility. And young people who say they want to get into the industry are honestly not prepared to do any such thing. The crushing hours and low pay is not glamorous or cool – and it doesn’t get better as you rise in the ranks.

On the other hand, manga seems to be slowly getting more independent and intelligent. Sure, there was a lot of same old same old, but magazines like Ikki, Comic Beam, Morning and Morning 2 are really making a mark in the “Whatever we feel like” category of publishing – the genre I like best. :-) Also, small publishers are doing surprising and strange things. It almost seems that the moe craze is more confined to stuff that comes from games than the purely manga stuff, but maybe I’m projecting. Certainly there’s still plenty of moe to be had.

Based only on what I saw and what I’m guessing, Yuri/GL is holding steady, maybe slowly gaining. It’s a small genre still, and will probably remain a small genre for some time to come. I foresee the trend we’ve seen to continue – once every few years, we’ll get a popular series or two that pushes GL up in popularity, then it will sink back slightly as people move on. Basically – Yuri trending up every other year, then a steady year, with a “gateway” series every 5 years or so.

More people than ever before spoke English. In Kyoto there was nowhere we went where people did not, even at the shrines; and in Tokyo, it was only one or two restaurants where no one did. I still need to be learn to say “Ginger Ale” better. It was a little vexing, because I’d try and order in Japanese, (or ask directions, or whatever) and would get an answer in English. Geez, folks, I need to practice, could you help me out here? As always, I was just getting into the rhythm of comprehending most of what I heard about the time we were headed home. Also noticeable – people are significantly taller in Tokyo than they were even in 2002. When I first went, I was about average height among women, now I’m just as short as I am in New York. It’s not just heel height either. Both the wife and Bruce noticed it too.

As usual, we didn’t have a bad meal the entire time. Can’t understand people who can’t find something to eat in a *city*. When you travel, have a open mind. Just try stuff. If you don’t like it, don’t have any more. If you’re gonna insist on food you eat at home, why travel?

And lastly, I think that if the Japanese anime industry was smart, they’d just do their own multi-language translations, stream the anime and cut out the foreign companies completely. Overseas fandom would get what they want, and companies could market their merchandise directly with advertisements on the site and in the stream (y’know, like on commercial TV,) and sell DVDs directly. It wouldn’t be hard to have several language tracks for DVDs and it would avoid tedious, time- and money-consuming negotiations with foreign countries. If they streamed for free, fans wouldn’t be able to complain and those who will cough up for DVDs could buy multi-language track versions. It would suck for foreign distributors, but it might save the Japanese anime industry.

My sincere thanks to translator Ana Moreno and the Pixel Maritan crew, Rob Pereyda of Crunchyroll, Bill Flanagan, Komatsu-san and Kazami-san, for your kindness and generosity. Extra special thanks to translator extraordinaire Mari Morimoto and my unending thanks to Bruce. My wife and I had a great time and we thank you all!

I’ve got piles and piles of stuff to read and watch, so I think that’s it for this Yuri Empress. :-)

Pictures of the trip live here, here and here.