The local anime convention is Tekkoshocon, which takes place in April. But for otaku in the area, once a yaer is not enough. So, the great staff members of Tekkoshocon teamed up with Carnegie library to bring you Tekko 1/2!!! This year, Tekko 1/2 is on Saturday, October 27th at the Main branch of the Carnegie library. (It's in Oakland, right next to Pitt and down the street from the Art and Natural History museums) Hours are whenever the library is open that day, possibly 10-5.
Events include a game room, a video room, at least 1 panel room, a workshop room, and lots of manga to read. Cosplaying is encouraged, though it's not as big of a deal as the full-fledged Tekko. I, for example, am going to cosplay as Katsuya Jounouchi again, but I'm not going to wear my wig. (Most likely, I will be the only Katsuya Jounouchi) Picture taking is more than welcome, still. Just make sure you ask.
Check www.tekkoshocon.com for any updates on Tekko 1/2 info. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Bethel Park Anime #5--Fanart, Fanfiction, and AMVs
Odds are, you probably know what these things are already. When I was a beginning otaku, though, I didn't know any terms or anything. (you would not believe the number of fans who write fanfiction and say that they've written their "own episode".)
Once you get to a certain level of fandom, you start to want more than just whatever's in the series. You start thinking about pairings and what-ifs, and come up with alternate plotlines and episodes/chapters. Or maybe you just want to draw a really cool scene from your favorite anime. Or there's a good song on the radio, and it would be the perfect theme for your favorite character!
Well, you're in luck, because there's thousands of otaku who think the way you do. Fanart, as the name implies, is art drawn by fans. Fanart can be found on a variety of websites, including The Otakue, but my personal favorite place to look for art is DeviantArt. There's even such a thing as fan-comics, called doujinshis. The great manga-ka group CLAMP got their start as doujinshi authors. (In Japan, fan comics can even have their own magazines) A long doujinshi is usually made by multiple people, but there are some who make 1-page comics. Many nice artists on Devart will even take requests.
Fanfiction, as the name also suggests, is fiction written by fans. Bsically, you write whatever you want about whatever you want. The best place is probably fanfiction.net. When I was a newbie otaku, I didn't know what any fanfiction terms meant, so I'll post them for anyone else who doesn't know. (some terms are also linked to wikipedia for a more exact definition.)
One-shot: This one is so obvious once you know, but when I started reading fanfiction, I had no idea what it meant. ^_^;; It just means that a story is only one chapter long.
Shonen-ai: "shonen" means boy, and "ai" means love. ...I think you can figure it out... Very popular with girls. (Not me, though.)
Shojo-ai: "shojo" means girl, "ai" means love...
Yaoi: Graphic shonen-ai (though some writers simply use "yaoi" instead of shonen-ai, so it winds up not being graphic. Go by the ratings for this one.)
Yuri: Graphic shojo-ai
Lemon: BEWARE OF LEMONS. They're supposed to be rated 18+, but sometimes the author forgets... (I read a fic rated T that had a lemon in it, and I flamed the author. First and only time I've flamed.)
Lime: Almost a lemon. Second or third base. Should be rated 18+ too, or at the very least, older teen 16+.
Het: short for "heterosexual". Straight couples.
Slash: Gay couples.
AU: Alternate Universe. (example: I read a Rurouni Kenshin fic where the characters were at a modern Japanese high school.)
Deathfic: This one's kinda obvious. Someone (usually important) dies.
Songfic: Basically, you take a song, and put a story to it. A common way of doing this is to post some lyrics, write the part of the fic that correspionds to thoose lyrics, and repeat. Songfics are not allowed on fanfiction.net, but if you put the lyrics in, then they can't say anything.
Drabble: Very short fanfiction. (As short as 100 words!)
Flame: Really really bad reivew in which the reviewer does nothing but senselessly yell at the author. (example: UR FIC SUCXX!!1!) Usually written by stupid people. (I will say one thing in my defense, my flame was at least spelled correctly.)
Concrit: Constructive criticism
EDIT: Found a page on wikipedia with a huge list of fanfic terms! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction_terminology
AMVs
AMV stands for anime music videos. They have these for stuff that isn't anime, too, but to be honest, I don't know what they call those ones. ^_^; You take clips from your anime, and match them to a song. That's it. animemusicvideos.org, or just search youtube, dailymotion, veoh, etc.
Once you get to a certain level of fandom, you start to want more than just whatever's in the series. You start thinking about pairings and what-ifs, and come up with alternate plotlines and episodes/chapters. Or maybe you just want to draw a really cool scene from your favorite anime. Or there's a good song on the radio, and it would be the perfect theme for your favorite character!
Well, you're in luck, because there's thousands of otaku who think the way you do. Fanart, as the name implies, is art drawn by fans. Fanart can be found on a variety of websites, including The Otakue, but my personal favorite place to look for art is DeviantArt. There's even such a thing as fan-comics, called doujinshis. The great manga-ka group CLAMP got their start as doujinshi authors. (In Japan, fan comics can even have their own magazines) A long doujinshi is usually made by multiple people, but there are some who make 1-page comics. Many nice artists on Devart will even take requests.
Fanfiction, as the name also suggests, is fiction written by fans. Bsically, you write whatever you want about whatever you want. The best place is probably fanfiction.net. When I was a newbie otaku, I didn't know what any fanfiction terms meant, so I'll post them for anyone else who doesn't know. (some terms are also linked to wikipedia for a more exact definition.)
One-shot: This one is so obvious once you know, but when I started reading fanfiction, I had no idea what it meant. ^_^;; It just means that a story is only one chapter long.
Shonen-ai: "shonen" means boy, and "ai" means love. ...I think you can figure it out... Very popular with girls. (Not me, though.)
Shojo-ai: "shojo" means girl, "ai" means love...
Yaoi: Graphic shonen-ai (though some writers simply use "yaoi" instead of shonen-ai, so it winds up not being graphic. Go by the ratings for this one.)
Yuri: Graphic shojo-ai
Lemon: BEWARE OF LEMONS. They're supposed to be rated 18+, but sometimes the author forgets... (I read a fic rated T that had a lemon in it, and I flamed the author. First and only time I've flamed.)
Lime: Almost a lemon. Second or third base. Should be rated 18+ too, or at the very least, older teen 16+.
Het: short for "heterosexual". Straight couples.
Slash: Gay couples.
AU: Alternate Universe. (example: I read a Rurouni Kenshin fic where the characters were at a modern Japanese high school.)
Deathfic: This one's kinda obvious. Someone (usually important) dies.
Songfic: Basically, you take a song, and put a story to it. A common way of doing this is to post some lyrics, write the part of the fic that correspionds to thoose lyrics, and repeat. Songfics are not allowed on fanfiction.net, but if you put the lyrics in, then they can't say anything.
Drabble: Very short fanfiction. (As short as 100 words!)
Flame: Really really bad reivew in which the reviewer does nothing but senselessly yell at the author. (example: UR FIC SUCXX!!1!) Usually written by stupid people. (I will say one thing in my defense, my flame was at least spelled correctly.)
Concrit: Constructive criticism
EDIT: Found a page on wikipedia with a huge list of fanfic terms! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction_terminology
AMVs
AMV stands for anime music videos. They have these for stuff that isn't anime, too, but to be honest, I don't know what they call those ones. ^_^; You take clips from your anime, and match them to a song. That's it. animemusicvideos.org, or just search youtube, dailymotion, veoh, etc.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Bethel Park Anime #4--Nihongo Lesson
Hi everyone! I've finally got this week's article. (Is anyone actually reading this? Please comment if you are!) We'll be talking about common Japanese words this time. Let's start with the title of the blog. "Nihongo" is Japanese for... well, Japanese. (Ninhon is Japanese for Japan)
Anime, as you may have figured out, is also a Japanese word. Literally, it means a cartoon, and in Japan, refers to ANY cartoon. (inclusing those brought in from America, i.e. Batman, Tom and Jerry, etc.) In America, anime means Japanese cartoon.
Manga is another term most anime fans know, and it roughly means comic. (literally, it's something like "random imaginative drawings") So, manga is a comic book. (the more accurate term is "graphic novel", though)
Now, some common Japanese words you will hear watching Japanese anime:
Baka--Idiot, fool, moron, etc.
Chiksho--Darn!
Boku/Watashi--I, me (Boku is for guys, watashi for girls.)
Nani?--What?
Nan desu ka?--What is it?
Sugoi!--Cool/Awesome/Wow
Kawaii!--Cute/Cool!
Hai--Yes/Right
Iie--No (sounds something like "ee-eh")
Chibi--Pipsqueak/small (you'll hear that one in FMA a lot)
Honorifics
Honorifics are added to the end of names, and mean different things.
-dono
Used in feudal times, it's derived from the word for "lord". Mostly you'll hear this in period pieces like Rurouni Kenshin.
-sama
One level higher than -san, this denotes great respect.
-san
The all-purpose honorific. Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.
-kun
What you would use to refer to a male friend of similar age.
-chan
Like -kun, only for girls and small children.
These honorifics can be used with or without a name.
-sensei
Master, teacher, etc. You would call anyone who is an expert in their field, "sensei". (example, "Miyazaki-sensei".)
-senpai
Upperclassman.
-kohai
Underclassman.
-bozu
Kid, squirt, etc. Not very flattering.
-( )lack of honorific
In textbooks, no honorific means one of two things. Either you really really like someone (or know them very well, like childhood friends) or you really DON'T like them. But, you'll find that anime characters don't always follow this rule. Anyone with even a slightly rude speech pattern will slack off in the honorific department.
Family
Older Brother/Sister/Cousin--Ni
Mother/Aunt/anyone in your mother's generation--Ka
Father/Uncle/anyone in your father's generation--Ji
Grandmother--Kaa
Grandfather--Jii
After you get the base word, you need to add an honorific. 95% of honorifics used on
family names are either "san" or "chan". Occasionally, if a younger sibling really looks up to an older sibling, they'll use "sama". But that's pretty rare.
So, some examples...
Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) says "ni-san" to his older brother Ed. Al also calls Scar, "Scar-san". Ed's more rude, and doesn't use honorifics for anyone, as far I know.
Shizuka Kawai (Yugioh) says "oni-chan" to her older brother, Katsuya Jounouchi.
Kagura (Fruits Basket) says "Shigure-ni" to her older cousin, Shigure.
Kisa (Fruits Basket) says "oni-chan" to Tohru, who has no relation to her, but Kisa really looks up to Tohru.
Yuki (Fruits Basket) calls his older brother, Ayame, "ni-san".
Shigure (and most of the Sohma family) calls Ritsuka "Rit-chan". (Tohru mistunderstands that Rit-chan is a nickname and calls him "Ritchan-san".)
(since Fruits Basket has a large complex family AND characters that are polite enough to reguarly use honorifics, there's lots of good examples there.)
Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) calls everyone "-dono" (Kaorou-dono, Megumi-dono, etc.) because he's really polite, and it takes place in 1876.
Kaoru (Rurouni Kenshin) says "Megumi-san" to Megumi, even though she doesn't like her that much.
There is one instance that is very different from this format, from a very popular anime. Karin from Bleach refers to her older brother, Ichigo, as "Ichi-ni". "Ichi", while being part of his name, also means "one" or "first" and I think "protector".
So there's a basic rundown of honorifics for you. Questions, comments, suggestions, random stuff, whatever, put it in the comments. Till next time! ^_^
Anime, as you may have figured out, is also a Japanese word. Literally, it means a cartoon, and in Japan, refers to ANY cartoon. (inclusing those brought in from America, i.e. Batman, Tom and Jerry, etc.) In America, anime means Japanese cartoon.
Manga is another term most anime fans know, and it roughly means comic. (literally, it's something like "random imaginative drawings") So, manga is a comic book. (the more accurate term is "graphic novel", though)
Now, some common Japanese words you will hear watching Japanese anime:
Baka--Idiot, fool, moron, etc.
Chiksho--Darn!
Boku/Watashi--I, me (Boku is for guys, watashi for girls.)
Nani?--What?
Nan desu ka?--What is it?
Sugoi!--Cool/Awesome/Wow
Kawaii!--Cute/Cool!
Hai--Yes/Right
Iie--No (sounds something like "ee-eh")
Chibi--Pipsqueak/small (you'll hear that one in FMA a lot)
Honorifics
Honorifics are added to the end of names, and mean different things.
-dono
Used in feudal times, it's derived from the word for "lord". Mostly you'll hear this in period pieces like Rurouni Kenshin.
-sama
One level higher than -san, this denotes great respect.
-san
The all-purpose honorific. Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.
-kun
What you would use to refer to a male friend of similar age.
-chan
Like -kun, only for girls and small children.
These honorifics can be used with or without a name.
-sensei
Master, teacher, etc. You would call anyone who is an expert in their field, "sensei". (example, "Miyazaki-sensei".)
-senpai
Upperclassman.
-kohai
Underclassman.
-bozu
Kid, squirt, etc. Not very flattering.
-( )lack of honorific
In textbooks, no honorific means one of two things. Either you really really like someone (or know them very well, like childhood friends) or you really DON'T like them. But, you'll find that anime characters don't always follow this rule. Anyone with even a slightly rude speech pattern will slack off in the honorific department.
Family
Older Brother/Sister/Cousin--Ni
Mother/Aunt/anyone in your mother's generation--Ka
Father/Uncle/anyone in your father's generation--Ji
Grandmother--Kaa
Grandfather--Jii
After you get the base word, you need to add an honorific. 95% of honorifics used on
family names are either "san" or "chan". Occasionally, if a younger sibling really looks up to an older sibling, they'll use "sama". But that's pretty rare.
So, some examples...
Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) says "ni-san" to his older brother Ed. Al also calls Scar, "Scar-san". Ed's more rude, and doesn't use honorifics for anyone, as far I know.
Shizuka Kawai (Yugioh) says "oni-chan" to her older brother, Katsuya Jounouchi.
Kagura (Fruits Basket) says "Shigure-ni" to her older cousin, Shigure.
Kisa (Fruits Basket) says "oni-chan" to Tohru, who has no relation to her, but Kisa really looks up to Tohru.
Yuki (Fruits Basket) calls his older brother, Ayame, "ni-san".
Shigure (and most of the Sohma family) calls Ritsuka "Rit-chan". (Tohru mistunderstands that Rit-chan is a nickname and calls him "Ritchan-san".)
(since Fruits Basket has a large complex family AND characters that are polite enough to reguarly use honorifics, there's lots of good examples there.)
Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) calls everyone "-dono" (Kaorou-dono, Megumi-dono, etc.) because he's really polite, and it takes place in 1876.
Kaoru (Rurouni Kenshin) says "Megumi-san" to Megumi, even though she doesn't like her that much.
There is one instance that is very different from this format, from a very popular anime. Karin from Bleach refers to her older brother, Ichigo, as "Ichi-ni". "Ichi", while being part of his name, also means "one" or "first" and I think "protector".
So there's a basic rundown of honorifics for you. Questions, comments, suggestions, random stuff, whatever, put it in the comments. Till next time! ^_^
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