Opinion: Anime #31--Otaku Identity

Being American and being a fan of Japanese animation has always been an interesting position. The animation is from a different culture, and those things from other cultures can appeal to us, who do not live in that culture. I believe every otaku has gone though a "Japanphile" phase. You buy a yukata, you pretend to celebrate a Japanese holiday, you eat sushi, you employ phrases picked up from watching things subbed, etc. When the interest in Japanese culture reaches the "everthing about Japan is amazing and Japan can do no wrong" phase, it has gone too far.
I think that part of it is a sort of rite of passage. If you know more about Japan than someone else, you're a better otaku. Makes sense, right? Until you start objectifying Japanese people's culture as a state in life that can be obtained by eating enough soba, watching enough fansubs, and calling everything you see "kawaii". For most, it's a stage of being a fan, and doesn't get to that nasty objectifying place. I certainly went through the "learn Japanese and spout words picked up from subs" phase. When it persists, that's not so good.
That isn't to say that wanting to know more about Japan is a bad thing. I have a sincere desire to learn Japanese now. I did a 40-minute long presentation on the history of anime and its cultural significance in Japan last year for World Literature. I'm interested in Japanese literature. I like knowing those little cultural things in series that Americans don't usually know. (example: just yesterday in Ouran High School Host Club, there was a scene where a character saw a tea stalk sticking up in his tea. In Japan, that's a sign of good luck.)

This was spawned by a commericial for Sakura-Con.


The commercial has sparked some heated debates between otaku, though most of it was two months ago when the commercial actually AIRED. ^_^;; But I was so sick of the debate, I never wanted to post it. I saw it in my unposted posts today, and felt I needed to address the topic. Rewatching the video, I don't think it's THAT bad. They were going for something like "we all like different aspects of anime culture! sakura-con has ALL those things! isn't that cool?" but came off more like "WE'RE OBSESSED JAPANAPHILES WHOO SAKURA-CON". Anime fans took offense. But it's over now, and not that big a deal anymore.

In summary, liking Japan = good. Japanaphile, Japan can do NO WRONG, Japan is better than everything else, spouting off random Japanese words means you can speak Japanese = BAD.

Anime #30--There She Is!!

No, it's not actually anime. But I've wanted to talk about it since February, only I didn't know if I should continue the blog when Ing moved to Shaler. It'll just be a Shaler AND Bethel Park blog now. ^^;;
"There She Is!!" is a flash video series by the Korean animating group SamBakZa. The first video, titled simply "There She Is!!", featuring the song "There She Is!!" by Witches, was released April 2003. It became popular in English speaking countries the following year when a version with English titles was released. The characters don't actually speak, so the videos can appeal to viewers from all around the world, though the songs that score the videos are in Korean. In a world of cats and rabbits, a female rabbit falls in love with a male cat. There are a few problems, though. The male cat isn't interested, and cat/rabbit relationships are prohibited. It's hilarious, cute, and amazingly animated.

Step 2, "Cake Dance" was released February 2005, and features the song "Happy Birthday to Me" by Bulldog Mansion. This is the only one of the songs from the videos that can be purchased on iTunes, which I have done. ^^;; I believe that more than one video was not originally intended, but because of the large amount of positive feedback, SamBakZa obliged with a second video. It's the rabbit's birthday, and the cat gets her a cake. The video follows his trip back with the cake, and the trouble he goes through to get it to the party safely. The "Jjinta set" or "moron set" is introduced in this step: they are a group of funny gangster rabbits who don't get along with the cat.

There are three more steps, which went into production after SamBakZa received funding from Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency (GDCA). However, because of that, they now have a hard time getting DVD and merchandise rights. I'm okay with that, though, because I love steps 3-5. Step three, "Doki and Nabi", features the song "3차성징" (Sam-cha Seong-jing, translating to "tertiary sex characteristic") by T.A.COPY. The character names are finally revealed! Doki is the rabbit, and Nabi is the cat. They go on their first date, in a world that is still against cat/rabbit relationships.

Step 4 - Paradise, was released August 20, 2008 and features the song "Wolsik" by Tabu. This is the darkest of the five videos. The world's anti cat/rabbit view makes things difficult for the dating Doki and Nabi. Conflict starts to build as groups of animals protest for the right to have inter-species relationships. One of the Jjinta set, Yi-ho (the eyepatch one) is among those protesters. Doki and Nabi's relationship reaches its dark moment, and all fans wait anxiously for step 5.

The final step certainly delivers. Featuring the song "Imagine" by Brunch (which is a direct response to John Lennon's "Imagine"), step 5 is easily my favorite of the series. It debuted just recently in December 2008. The ending is amazing. The song is amazing. I love everything about this video. Heck, I even transcribed the song, as chords/tabs/music/ANYTHING are nowhere to be found on the internet. Nabi finally proves his love, and we get everything from car chases, fights, those animals from steps 2-4, Doki's daydreams from step 1 (see left), and help from all characters seen in the series. (Jjinta set, Grey Rabbit, Hana, Pizza, and all the protesters) I couldn't imagine a better ending. XD (Ha ha... ha... okay, not funny.)

To view the videos, you'll have to go to the SamBakZa website, click "English", click "amalloc" and then pick your episodes. You can go to youtube or the like, but the quality is MUCH better on the actual website. (and you can download the flash to your computer, get a flash-to-video converter, and put it on your portable video player! ...like me... ^^;;)

It's not remotely close to anime, but it's animated in manwha style, which is Korean comic books/graphic novels/manga, which is related to anime by being related to manga. So... it kind of fits. But it's just a great set of videos that I recommend to everyone. (I am NOT going to comment on whatever kind of message the animators intend. I like the love story, I love the music, and I love the animation. I think it's supposed to make a statement about interracial marriage, but just in case it's something else, I am not endorsing anything.)