Bethel Park Anime #21--Anime News Network

Hello to all my devoted readers! ...or my occasional viewers. Either way, you're great for taking time to look here. Leave a comment if you're reading this!

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. I went to Australia and had my wisdom teeth out, among other things. Which is why I also want to apologize for the topic of this article. It's kind of a cop-out on my part, since I don't feel like researching American "anime" and/or ComicCon, the other two topics I was working on. Instead, you get info about a place to distract yourself with until I post again.

Anime News Network is basically THE place for anime news in the English speaking world. ANN has very frequent, regular updates, and is conveniently RSS feed-able. They have columns, reviews, editorials, con reports, and more. Here are some of the more popular columns.

Hey Answerman

by Zac Bertschy
You got questions? He's got answers!

Shelf Life

by Bamboo Dong
Shelf Life takes a look at each week's releases and sorts them into shelf worthy, rental worthy, and perishable.

RIGHT TURN ONLY!!

by Carlo Santos
A look at recent and upcoming manga releases.

The Click

by Brian Hanson
Your weekly TV guide

Buried Treasure

by Justin Sevakis
Justin talks about old, rare anime.

The X Button

by Todd Ciolek
Todd looks at the world of Japanese and anime related video-games.

Spend a few days looking through ANN, and suddenly you'll find yourself a much more knowledgeable otaku.

That's all for now. More posts in the works, hopefully to be posted shortly. I recently had a very strong urge to finish all the AMVs I was working on, which resulted in two new videos, both of which can be found on the right-hand side of this webpage, under the heading "my videos".

Bethel Park Anime #20--Conventions

So, we know all about what happens at conventions thanks to Tekko 5 and Tekko 6, but Tekkoshocon isn't the only convention out there. Say you're on vacation this summer, and you're bored out of your mind. Your folks want to go to the beach, or look at some boring landscape or other tourist-y thing. And you're thinking, "boy, I wish there was some kind of anime thing around here".

Well, your wish may come true. I have here, thanks to wikipedia, a wonderful list of anime conventions all around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_anime_conventions

Of these, Anime Expo is by far the largest American anime convention, with more than 40,000 attendees last year! This year's current AX is being held at this very moment in Los Angeles, California! AX takes place on the July 4th weekend, and runs 4 days.

It's a fairly self-explanatory entry this week, so I'll leave it at that. Have a good holiday weekend everyone!

Reviews #2--Dramacon

Dramacon by Svetlana Chmakova.










A three-shot about a fictional North American anime convention. Chriss is a writer attending her first (and later second and third) convention, Yattacon. Tales of artist alley tables, hotel rooms, cute older boys, and crazy glomping cosplayers accurately portray the experience of a convention.

Volume 1
The three-shot begins. Chriss is being dragged to her first anime convention by her boyfriend who also happens to be her artist. Together, they write a comic that they're trying to sell in artist's alley. Derek, the boyfriend, is a complete jerk. He flirts with some girls and Chriss runs off crying to some random cute college guy that she happens to see. Shojo, anyone? Well, cute college guy tells her that boyfriend shouldn't be making her feel bad. But Chriss goes back to the jerk anyways. It's all quite frustrating, especially since all I care about is the convention. By this point it's quite obvious to me that the point of this manga is to get away from jerk boyfriend (I don't even care about his name anymore) and get to Matt, aka cute college guy. Through a series of extremely stupid actions on the boyfriend's part, Matt nearly beats him up, and Chriss winds up staying with Matt (and his friends and sister, and thankfully Matt takes the floor so I don't have to put up with any more fooling around in this volume)
Eh... it certainly wasn't my favorite. Matt's my favorite character for this volume, with Chriss a not-so-close 4th or 5th. Matt's sister, and probably the other girl at their table would beat her for likability.

Volume 2
Chriss is back for a second year of Yattacon, this time with a new artist. Matt is also back, with a new girlfriend. Chriss in understandably upset by this, but I still don't care that much. Beth, the artist, definitely was my favorite character. Also, we get to see a little more of Lida, the artist that everyone adores. (except for some obnoxious kid who I did not appreciate--why on earth would a kid wearing an alternate reality yuugiou shirt be so picky about manga? It's not like anyone who's a fan of something dubbed by 4kids is going to know much about anime) Masquerade is still not shown, but we get to see a little of the dance. So far, all of the details coincide with my con expereince. (except of course for the jerk boyfriend and the random college guy) Yes, it is PACKED in the dance/rave, and yes, people glowstick. (and wear ridiculous outfits!)

Volume 3
The end of the trilogy. Chriss and Beth stay friends with Raj and the cat girls, and they all stay together this year. More drama with Matt and Chriss, only now there's nothing holding them back except their own--mostly Chriss's--stupidity. Beth and Raj become the cat girl's OTP, and we meet Beth's family. Her mom is even crazier than they made her out to be, but her aunt and cousins are cool. (quoth her aunt's son "I want to be a ninja when I grow up!")
By this point, I'm really sick of Matt and Chriss because a) they start making out all over the room with absolutely no control over themselves (quote Chriss "we were soooo far gone") Sorry if I don't find that romantic. Then, Matt's a sardonic, sarcastic, funny-in-a-mean way kind of guy. We've known that since the beginning. So why does Chriss NOW have such a problem with it? Then, I totally agreed with Matt when he clawed the wall and demanded that she stop playing games. What's her problem? She was the one drooling over him the last two volumes--suddenly she gets mad at him when he says they're going out? Didn't like it one bit.
Beth and Raj on the other hand, were very cute. Beth just totally kicks Chriss's butt in every way a character can.

Overall, I'd recommend it just for the accurate portrayal of conventions and the cute and/or funny bits. The artwork was good and clear, especially backgrounds, which is always nice in a shojo. I'd give it a solid C. I've read better, and I've read worse. More better than worse.

BPA Reviews #1--My Favorites

I was going to switch my blog topics over to just reviews of anime/manga, but I keep thinking of other general topics that I want to address, so behold a new category of blogs: BPA (Bethel Park Anime) Reviews!

I realize that I never have really talked about my personal favorite animes, so in this first post, I'll list some of my favs, how I got into them, and what I like about them. Since I like them, that means I assume that other people should like them, and so I recommend these titles to anyone who reads this post.

Fullmetal Alchemist--I read the first two volumes of manga in November or December 2005, and I was hooked. I quickly read the next two volumes, and started getting the anime from the library. Almost any anime fan, and a good number of non-anime fans who have just seen it will tell you that FMA is one of the best animes in existence. Dubbed by FUNimation, it has one of the best dub voice casts that I've ever heard, which many fans claim is better even than the original Japanese. Vic Mignogna, Aaron Dismuke, Caitlin Glass, Travis Willingham, Scott McNeil, and many others star in this amazing show. (the first three of which I actually MET) Two of my favorite anime pairings are in this show, Ed/Winry and Roy/Riza.


Chrono Crusade - This is one of those titles I picked up off the library shelf just because it was anime, and I'd never seen it before. It was one of those rare cases where I wound up loving it to death. Due to the lack of library DVDs, I was forced to watch it online, but I own all the manga, so I don't feel so guilty about it. ^_^;; It's also a drastic misrepresentation of whatever church it's supposed to represent (they're dressed as nuns, but supposedly they're actually Protestant in the Japanese? I have no idea, but it's awesome, so I don't care) Chrono/Rosette is my favorite pairing from that one, but Satella is my favorite character. Read the manga if you don't like how things end with her in the anime.


Monster - This is yet another manga series I just picked up off the shelf because I was bored. It is, quite possibly, the best manga series I have ever read. No favorite pairings in this one, which ought to tell you how awesome it is, because almost all my favs have a pairing that I like. Definitely a series aimed at adults, and violent on top of that, so it's older teen rating is deserved. But if you're over 16, one of the best series I have ever, or will ever read. And not in a "ooh, it's so cute/it's a childhood favorite/it's a popular title". It's just GOOD.


D.Gray-Man - I don't quite remember why I started reading this. It was either another random shelf pick or a friend recommended it. I'm actually starting to lose interest in this one for some reason. For some reason, I really don't like Lavi as a character. Which is extremely odd, because I usually LOVE his type! (I went to Tekko as Jounouchi!) There's just something... I dunno, I don't like. Kanda also bugs me, but I always hate his type, so that's to be expected. Allen was the character that drew me to it, and Lenalee kept me reading. (which is maybe why I don't like Lavi--he's so obviously attracted to Lenalee, and I'm an Allen/Lenalee shipper) Anyway, Allen and Lenalee is my fav pairing from this one.


Cowboy Bebop - This one's a classic. It came up on tv.com in the "you might like this..." place when I was fav'ing FMA or something like that, and all the reviews RAVED, so I ordered the first DVD from the library. Didn't like it. Ordered the second DVD. Liked it much, much more. That summer, I wound up watching the entire series, and now I loved it. It's classic. I'm a big fan of Spike/Faye, but Bebop isn't the kind of thing where I'd want to mess with canon, so I don't pursue it too much. Dumb stuff like YGO, Bleach, Naruto, I'll make up whatever pairing I darned well feel like, but Bebop, FMA, Haruhi... I don't mess with stuff like that.


Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - A friend of mine showed me the Hare Hare Yuaki, and when I found out what it was from, I realized I'd heard of it, and had nothing better to do. I watched it in about a week. While I was supposed to be writing a paper. That's how good it was. Short, but good. As for pairings, I'm still deciding. Nagato, IMO, is AWESOME, but I can't really picture Kyon with her. Haruhi, is... well, Haruhi, but I most certainly CAN and enjoy picturing Kyon with her. Haruhi is practically canon, so I guess she wins. As I said in my other blog, do not watch these in chronological order! At the very least, do not watch episode 14 last!! It ruins the entire series if you do it that way. I LOVE the dub and all the special features, but I despise that they don't have a "Kyon order" release. Some people think the out-of-chronological order episodes is just a sales gimmick, but that's only because the episodes are number chronologically. If the show was presented non-linear but with chronological episode numbers, you'd have the same experience and no one would complain. I prefer the non-linear order because the pacing is better.


Hellsing - We watched this one time at anime. I spent about 3 episodes thinking Integra was a man, and the only thing I really liked was the violence. Now I've read all the manga, and I love it! Classic series, and a very nice NON-SHOJO take on vampires. (Kaname, meet Alucard. Alucard, meet the vampire that you're about to turn into a corpse) The anime is different from the manga, but Hellsing Ultimate (volume 1 cover featured to the left) is an OVA (original video animation) that follows the manga to a T. But warning: violence! Please, do not read/watch unless you're over 16. Seriously, it's violent. Really violent.

Shonen Jump - I'm going to lump most of these together, because found them all the same way. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and Hikaru No Go are some of my favorite Shonen Jump manga titles. They're all very common titles as well, which you can watch any old time on CN, so I'll skip the summaries, too. I love everything about the Bleach manga (except Chizuru and those random scenes with Orihime and Rangiku) but the anime is definitely lacking. First off, it seems like the anime never properly captures the style of the manga. Then, the episodes take entirely too long (an entire episode for the fight with Jidanbo?!) and the SCRIPT! The dub script of Bleach is the single worst non-4kids script I've ever heard. >_> "So what the heck exactly is this thing that you want to show to me?" I know that translations don't match the mouthflaps. Obviously. That's why you get scriptwriters, to adapt the translations into conversational dialogue. Part of the problem might be the time, too. I imagine Bleach is very much in demand, and they probably want it out very quickly.
I don't even watch the animes for the others any more. I don't get CN, and I have no reason to spend all that time watching something that I read anyway. Bleach I only watched because I wanted to see how it was changed.


Death Note - I thought this deserved a place of its own, because while I read it in SJ for the first time, I jumped on the fan wagon well before most of the country. Everyone loves Death Note now. What's not to love? It's an amazing series. (I finished it last summer, so feel free to comment with spoilers)




...and here comes the odd one... Yuugiou. Known better spelled Yu-Gi-Oh! here in the states. (yuugiou is the literal furigana translation, though) I was in about... what, 5th grade? My first thought on seeing the previews is "oh, this is going to be stupid". (and in retrospect, in some ways, it really was) So I never intended to watch it. One Saturday, there's nothing on, and I thought, "might as well check it out...". I remember that (at the time) I thought the theme song was really uber cool. So I kept watching. It was episode 6. (don't you love how much I remember about it? XD) Jouno-- erm, Joey vs. Mai. I watched the whole thing. I loved it. I also must not have paid much attention, because I remember having some very wrong ideas about the plotlines. Anyway, I watched intermittently throughout Duelist Kingdom, and became a serious fan around episode 20some, Yugi's duel with Kaiba. I didn't miss an episode till sometime in the third season. As of now, I've seen all 224 dub episodes and the dub movie. (...in theater...) The characters and plotlines drew me in, the card games kept my attention, and the pairings keep me a fan to this day. It's my "childhood" favorite. It's not that good of an anime series. I know that full well. But it's much better than the dub makes it out to be, and I HAVE seen worse. (the animation, though, at times is the worst I've ever seen--but at times is extremely well done.) Jounouchi/Mai is not only my favorite pairing from this anime, it's my all-time favorite pairing. Jou/Mai makes my life. Seriously. I don't care too much if you poke fun at Yuugiou, (especially the dub, it deserves to go die in a hole) but do not mess with my pairing. Picture to the left is the cover of volume 1 bunkoban, the manga re-release in Japan.

There's other series I'm fond of, like Fruits Basket, Shaman King, Eyeshield 21, Akira, and more, but I'll save those for individual reviews.

Bethel Park Anime #19--History of Anime

Aaah, I'm sorry it's been so long between updates! Especially since I know that there's people out there who actually read this! (Keep the comments coming! :D That's the only way I know if this is actually getting read)

I had a presentation about Japan for AP World Lit, and I chose to focus on anime. So, with my newfound knowledge, I'm going to briefly discuss the history of anime.

Anime in America is defined as "a style of animation originating in Japan that is characterized by stark colorful graphics depicting vibrant characters in action-filled plots often with fantastic or futuristic themes" (Cite). In Japan, anime is the word for all animation. Everything from Speed Racer to Superman to the latest Disney movie--those are all anime in Japan.

The Japanese have been writing long narratives with illustrations since the 12th century. Murasaki Shikubu's Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji) is (one of) the first novels ever written, and illustrated copies of it were circulating in the 1200s, some 200 years after she wrote it. Illustrated stories like Genji were called emakimono. Shorter, more comedic illustrated stories were called giga.

In the late 1800s, the British magazines Punch and Puck were very popular in Japan. They strongly influenced a couple of fellows whose names I don't currently remember. One of them created Tokyo Puck, a Japanese magazine similar to Puck, featuring comic strips. The other fellow founded an organization for professional comic writers. Together, those men (I'll update as soon as I can look at the book where I got the information originally) and other artists of the time invented word bubbles and sequential panels.

The earliest known Japanese animation was created in 1917. It was 3 seconds long, and consisted of a boy writing the kanji for "moving pictures" on a board, removing his hat, and saluting the audience. (Cite) Some extremely influntial animators of the 1910s and 20s were Shimokawa Oten and Kouchi Jun'ichi.

In the 1930s, Japan was preparing to go to war, and most animations were commisioned by the military. By 1937, all animations had to be approved by the military. All animations of this time were extremely patriotic and usually depicted the Japanese military defeating other countires. The first feature-length animation in Japan was Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors in 1945. You may know Momotaro as "peach boy", the classic Japanese folk tale of a boy who goes on a journey and meets a bird, a monkey, and a dog. Well, this "classic" was actually invented in the 20th century.

After the war, the animations were no longer censored by the military. In 1948, Toei Animations was founded. Toei produced the first color feature animation in Japan, The Tale of the White Serpent, and would go on to release some of the most popular anime of all time, including Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon.

Osamu Tezuka, who deserves his own article, came on the scene in the 1960s. Tezuka, known as "the godfather of anime", "the grandfather of anime", and, at the time, "the Disney of Japan" quite literally invented anime as we know it today. Tezuka founded a studio called Mushi Productions to rival Toei. His budget was extremely limited, however. To develop plot and show characters' emotions without having to animate long, expensive scenes, Tezuka gave his characters large, expressive eyes. He found that large eyes show emotion much more easily. Nowadays, anime studios have enough money to animate any way they want, but they continue to use Tezuka's style. Even Miyazaki-sensei, who has extremely realistic characters (as opposed to the majority of anime) uses the traditional anime eyes to an extent.

The other distincitve trait of anime is wild, spiky hair. This also came about because of a lack of money, but was developed by manga artists rather than animators. American comic characters could be easily recognized by colors (i.e. Archie and orange hair, Superman and his red/blue costume) but Japanese comics had three colors: black, white, and gray. To make their characters distinctive and memorable, artists would draw crazy hairstyles. Manga is still published in black and white, but the hairstyles carried over into anime simply out of habit. Again, another one of those things define anime.

The 1970s saw more anime series. Directors such as Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki-sensei made their first films and directed their first series in the 70s. Takahata is probably best known for Hols, Prince of the Sun, and Heidi, Girl of the Alps; Miyazaki, for Future Boy Conan and Lupin III. Miyazaki's first feature film would be Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

The 80s saw a huge wave of mecha (and subsequent super robot and real robot) series. Space Battleship Yamato (1974-75) and Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-80) paved the way for mecha in the late 70s, and they were followed by Macross and far too many Gundam series.

The first anime magazines, Animage and Newtype were released in the 80s. Former Animage editor Toshio Suzuki would later team up with Hayao Miyazaki to create Studio Ghibli, one of the best and most successful animation studios in existance today. Their first movie together was Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Ghibli was founded with the money made from Nausicaa, and its first film was Laputa: Castle in the Sky. For more info on Ghibli and Miyazaki-sensei, here's the entry I had about Studio Ghibli or check out nausicaa.net. A quick edit to the info imn my post, though: while Ghibli animated Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, they did not produce or release it.

OVAs or OAVs (original video animation or original animation video) started to come out in the 80s. Until that time, anime was either a TV series, a TV movie, or a feature film. OVAs are simply direct-to-video releases. (like Disney and their ridiculous sequels)

The famous film Akira was released in 1988. While it wasn't all that successful in Japan, it was a very good film, and started drawing attetion to Japan's animation industry. Nowadays, Akira is a classic anime film.

The 80s also saw many more Ghibli films, including Laputa, Totoro, Kiki, and Grave of the Fireflies. These films were some of the most successful of their time. Kiki was the top-grossing film of the year in 1989, and was seen by more than 2.6 million people.

The 90s brought one of the most celebrated mecha animes to date: Neon Genesis Evangelion. Its creator, Hideaki Anno, started off animating the god warrior in Miyazaki's Nausicaa. Besides Eva, other widely known anime series such as Dragonball, Sailor Moon, and of course, Pokémon came out in the 90s. Pokémon is actually based on a videogame, in case anyone wondered how they could get so many episodes off of a show with no plot. (yes, I'm a Digimon fan. Digimon was better than Pokémon in every way--plot, characters, animation, voice actors, plot, music, plot, plot, and more plot. At least that's my opinion)

2000s had another brief wave of mecha anime, including more Gundam and Eureka Seven. The anime series created in the late 90s and on become far too numerous to categorize. Everything you watch on CN or anime channels: Naruto, Death Note, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Trinity Blood, Fruits Basket, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya... almost anime on American TV today, which means almost every widely known anime, was started in this decade. A distinct new type of anime that has emerged, though, one that specifically targets otaku. An example of this would be Lucky Star, which reguarly references other anime series.

Also, anime's popularity has increased dramatically over the years. This is reflected in the animations of the 21st century, and in the quality of dubbing. Prime examples of American Anime would be Avatar: The Last Airbender and Peach Fuzz (American manga series run in select US newspapers) Also, back in the 70s and 80s, and even some 90s, anime was regulary hacked apart, edited, attacked with Mr. Digital Paint bucket, horrible revoiced, and served to American audiences. The famous Macross was actually combined with two other series and presented to Americans as Robotech. Nowadays, such a practice is condemned by hard-core otaku and fair-weather fans alike, though the otaku are often more sensible about it. There is one major dubbing studio to date, 4kids Entertainment, that still heavily edits, rescores music, and has horrible, over-the-top dubbed voices, but I'll save them for another time. Sensible studios like FUNimation, ADV, etc, censor extremely little, if nothing at all, and leave all the original music and names. Not to mention their exceptional voice actors.

So that's a basic rundown of anime. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and aren't about to fall asleep right now. ^_^;; I'll update as soon as I can with the bits of information that I need to look up.

For more links, in-depth descriptions, and pictures, check out the wikipedia history of anime: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_anime

Bethel Park Anime #18--Tekkoshocon 7

The date and place for Tekkoshocon 7 has been officially announced. Get ready, we're movin' on up! For the first time ever, Tekkoshocon will be held in the David L Lawrence Convention Center from April 3-5. (That's one week before Easter)
For any of you worried about walking around in Downtown Pittsburgh, it's really not that bad. The Convention Center is in the Cultual District, which is a very nice part of town. Pittsburgh in general is a pretty tame place, and though there are exceptions, I don't have any worries at all about the DLCC. And if you're wondering about walking around in cosplay, they welcome the animal people from AnthroCon, so I think we'll all fit in just fine.

The announcement can be read here. Check tekkoshocon.com reguarly for more updates on registration, parking, etc. Hope to see you all there!

In other news, Bethel Park now has an anime club called OWA (Obsessed With Anime). They meet Sunday evenings at the library. This week they're watching Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Also, don't forget about BethelCon on July 20th!!

Bethel Park Anime #17--BethelCon!!!

Attention all Bethel Park anime fans!! The Bethel Park library will be hosting the first ever BETHELCON on Sunday, July 20th, 2008. The current time is 7-10, at the Bethel library. The con will feature lots of secret anime activities that we may or may not have planned yet. I will helping Ing, the head teen and childnren's librarian to plan the event. Any suggestions, comment this blog or email me at jaboura@einetwork.net.

Bethel Park Anime #16--Pictures

Deathcom, the professional photo people, posted their pics last week. Mine are still in the process of being scanned, so I thought while you wait for my few pictures, here's the ones that you really want to see.

All Tekko Stuff

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Masquerade

And again, because I love this picture so much, here's the biggest group pic I took at Tekko: CardGamesFTW!!!

Oh, and has anyone heard of Greg Ayres? Also known as bam2 on LJ.

Bethel Park Anime #15--Tekkoshocon VI

Hello, all! This past weekend, April 11-13 was Tekkoshocon VI! I attended all three days this year, and despite a smaller location and significantly less money, I had a fabuous time! Here is my extremely detailed Con Report for those who are interested.

I don't have my pictures uploaded yet, but here's a good one of me, two of my friends, and a random Otogi (Duke) and Bakura: http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1480271/

For those who either didn't go and want to find out what happened, or those who DID go and just didn't get enough, check out the Tekko forums and the Tekko VI Feedback forum. If you want to look me up on the forums, my name's ludus.

(also, here's a bit of positive feedback about one of my panels!)
More pics to come!

Bethel Park #14--Haruhiism

Okay, so I WAS going to write about Fullmetal Alchemist today... but then I watched the third Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya DVD, and changed my mind.

The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is the most additcting, random, fan-obsessed anime I've ever seen in my life. The entire series is only 14 episosdes long (which will change if they ever release the second seeason) and DOES NOT GO IN ORDER. I repeat, do not watch this series in chronological order!! There are two orders to the show, known as "Haruhi order" and "Kyon order". Haruhi and Kyon are characters on the show, and in the episode previews in Japan, Haruhi would say the chronological episode number, and Kyon would correct her the broadcast episode number. Kyon order is as follows: 11, 1, 2, 7, 3, 9, 8, 10, 14, 4, 13, 12, 5, 6. PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION, and either borrow from the library or buy the DVDs. Don't just watch them online and deny the creators their hard-earned money.

The show centers on Haruhi Suzumiya, as is evident from teh title, but is narrated by Kyon. His real name is unknown; Kyon is his nickname. Haruhi declares on the first day of school that she's "not interested in normal humans" and to let her know if someone is an alien, time traveler, or ESPer. Kyon winds up talking with her because he sits next to her in homeroom, and one of their short conversations sparks an idea. Haruhi creates the SOS Brigade ("Sekai wo Ooini Moriagerutame no Suzumiya Haruhi no Dan" or, the English version, "Spreading Excitement All Over the World with the Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade") a club dedicated to finding aliens, ESPers, and time traverls. (and apparently spreading fun all over the world)

I won't go into more detail for fear of spoilers. A much better summary of the series can be found on wikipedia, but SPOILER WARNING!

Every facet of The Melancholy Haruhi Suzumiya has a huge fanbase, but none moreso than its legendary ending theme song dance. The Hare Hare Yuaki ("Sunny Sunny Happiness") dance is unbelieveable popular. I personally learned it just for Tekko. The original animation can be seen here, the PS2 version here, the live-action concert version (keep watching till the end for Kyon and Koizuki) here, and for good measure, here's a places to help you learn the dance. Pictures. Keep searching youtube for more videos of people doing the dance if you want more.

The thing is so popular, they've even parodied it in another anime! Lucky Star Hare Hare Yukai.

Bethel Park Anime #13--Lost in Translation

I'll be starting on specific series soon, but I want to make sure I cover as much general stuff as I can first. So today I'll be talking about common things that are difficult to translate, or are just different in Japan.

Many anime series take place in or at high schools, as a large number of fans arein high school. There are a few major differences between Japanese and American high schools. Japanese high schools only last three years, and the grades don't have specific titles. Instead of freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior, Japan just has first-years, second-years, and third-years. This isn't too much of a problem with first or third years, but second years can vary between being translated as juniors or seniors. I can't think of any dubbed series offhand that simply use the Japanese system. For example, in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Mikuru, a second year, is said to be a Junior in the English version. I found it odd that Haruhiism DIDN'T follow the Japanese system, considering they didn't bother translating "golden week" holiday. Which leads us to the next translation problem.

Holidays. About the only things that are the same in Japan are Christmas and Valentine's Day. Japan is largely Shinto, so Christmas isn't celebrated religiously, but is still a holiday. Valentine's Day is similar to the American counterpart, but there is one major difference. Only girls give out chocloate to the boys they like on Valentine's Day. Exactly one month later, March 14, boys have to give a return gift. They call this White Day.
Another holiday that I just mentioned was Golden Week. I forget the exact details, but somehow there's about 4 holidays in one week, so the whole week becomes a holiday. I think it's at the beginning of the school year, August or September, so there's a chance it could be translated as Labor Day.
I forget the name of this one, and it's not exactly a holiday, but flower-viewing is another kind of celebration in Japan. If you've seen just about any anime in existance, you've probably heard the name "Sakura". Literally translated, it means "cherry blossom". The cherry trees in Japan are so famous both because of their beauty and the fact that they only blossom once a year for a few weeks. Yes, it's a Japanese cherry tree at the Jefferson Memorial. I believe it was a gift from Japan sometime in the 20th century.
Summer break is also very different in Japan. School goes till sometime in June, and then students get the rest of June and all of July off. However, they have work to do over the summer, and they go back to school at the beginning of August.

Since we're on the topic of schools, I'll go mention uniforms. Japanese uniforms were originally made to look like Western-style clothes waaaay back in the mid-19th century, and they've been pretty much like that ever since. Even public schools have uniforms in Japan, which is why you see so may uniforms in anime. Overall, they look pretty much the same, so I'm not going to describe them. Inuyasha, Fruits Basket, Bleach, Death Note, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Yu Yu Hakusho, xxxHolic, Carcaptor Sakura, Yugioh, Ouran High School Host Club, Kare Kano, and Slam Dunk are just some titles I can think of offhand that'll give you a good example of Japanese school uniforms.

Japanese legends and myths also have a hard time being translated. These don't pop up too often, though, so I don't know what happens when they do. I've only seen two instances of folk tales, and those were in My Neighbors the Yamadas (a Ghibli movie) and Yu Yu Hakusho manga. YYH was in SJ, so they had extra pages devoted to explaining the original myths. The first one I had actually heard before. It's about a boy... Urashima, I think, who saves a turtle. The turtle turns out to be a beautiful princess who takes him to her palace in the ocean. He has a fun time, and then she gives him a box and tells him never to open it. Either he leaves the palace and then opens it, or opening it makes the palace disappear, I forget which. But he winds up on land with the open box and when he goes home, 50 some years have passed.
Then there's peach boy. His parents cut down a tree and found him there inside a peach. When he grows up, he goes on some kind of adventure and meets a monkey, a dog, and a bird. I don't remember the rest. ^_^;; I'm not sure how they were handled in the YYH dub, so I can't go into much detail on those.

And finally, food. In bad dubs, like pretty much anything dubbed by 4kids, food usually tends to be "Americanized". The classic example of this is rice balls being turned into donuts, marshmallows, cookies (cough*OnePiece*cough), etc. Bento boxes are another thing that isn't usually changed, but are a part of Japanese culture and never explained. I guess they would be equivalent to a TV Dinner in America, since you can buy it at a convience store and it's a full meal, but they are often homemade and/or served at restaurants. Bento usually consists of rice, fish or meat, and a vegetable.
Other common Japanese foods and restaurant types are ramen, soba, and sushi.

Those are all the common translations issues I can think of at the moment. Next time, I'll start reviewing specific series.

Bethel Park Anime #12--Shojo

As I talked about Shonen last week, you might've guessed what this week's theme would be. That's right, shojo, or manga/anime aimed at girls. While Shonen usually focuses on fighting and lots of male characters, shojo tends to lean more towards relationships and female characters.

As with Shonen Jump, there is a magazine specifically for shojo, and it is called Shojo Beat. The North American magazine currently serializes Absolute Boyfriend, Crimson Hero, Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time, Honey and Clover, Sand Chronicles, and Vampire Knight. All of the SB titles that aren't in the magazine can be found here. I don't read any of them, so I can't list them offhand like I could for shonen.

Other popular shojo titles not owned by SB are: Fruits Basket, and just about anything written by CLAMP and/or Yu Watase. CLAMP titles include Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa, xxxHolic, x/1999, Chobits, Clover, Magic Knights Rayearth, Legal Drug, and I don't even know how many more. Now, not all consider CLAMP to be strictly shojo, but with the number of supposedly implied yaoi pairings like Domeki/Watanuki, those two guys from Legal Drug, Fai/Kurogane (none of which I agree with, especially that last one. Kurogane's in love with Tomoyo!) I find it easier to just consider them all shojos.
Fruits Basket is one of the best manga series I've ever read, let alone the best shojo. The description is so outrageous, I'm not going to bother writing it for fear that it would make you want to not read it, but it really is a great series.

Yu Watase is the author of such famous shojo titles as: Absolute Boyfriend, Alice 19th, and Fushigi Yugi. I read the first volume of Fushigi Yugi and one chapter of Absolute Boyfriend. They weren't really my taste, but they were good enough.

Characteristics of shojo manga are: Female main character; "bi-shonen" male characters (atractive men with a feminine look); the "Jane Austen" syndrome: two characters are obviously in love with each other and refuse to admit it and that is the only plot whatsoever; unnecessarily pretty/frilly/poofy costumes (Tokyo Mew Mew, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Kamichari Karin); yaoi; lack of backgrounds; and a number of other things that I won't go into. As you may be able to tell, I'm a bit biased against shojos. Probably because some of my friends force them onto me, and, me being the obsessed otaku that I am, I read them only to find that they're almost exactly alike. Example: Hana Kimi and Girl Got Game. Girl crossdresses so she can go to a boy's school. Example: Tokyo Mew Mew and Sailor Moon. Group of girls fight the forces of evil. (though I actually love both of those series ^_^; ) Example: Kare Kano, Nana, Imadoki, and about a billion others. Girl likes guy and/or guy likes girl but they go back and forth while juggling high school, sports, clubs, whatever eccentricities they have.

Now, this isn't to say that ALL shojo are like that. In fact, I could have said the same thing about some shonens, but I like shonen. ^_^;; In reality, all the series I mentioned are rather popular. It's just a matter of taste.

Bethel Park Anime #11--Shonen

Hello all! ^_^ After a month-long break, I'm back. Things have been awfully busy over here, but I'll try to update more often from now on.

Today our topic is shonen! There are two main classifications of anime/manga: shonen and shojo. Literally, shonen means "boy" and shojo means "girl". Shonen in anime context is an anime aimed at boys, and shojo likewise is aimed at girls. You may have heard of the magazines Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat. These magazines and subsequnet graphic novels are exclusively either Shonen or Shojo, and are the best examples of sterotypical shonens and shojos. Some people scorn SJ's mangas, but as their slogan states, they ARE the world's most popular manga. American SJ currently serializes Bleach, Bobobo, Naruto, Hikaru No Go, Yu Yu Hakusho, One Piece, and Yugioh GX. They also used to run Shaman King, Yugioh, Yugioh: Millennium World (which came to its natual end, a first for the American SJ), Gin Tama, and Dragon Ball Z. Other titles that SJ publishes but does not run in the magazine are: Death Note, D.Gray-Man, Eyeshield 21, Knights of the Zodiac, Yugioh: Duelist (which in Japan is the same series as Yugioh and Yugioh: Millennium World, but Viz broke it into 3 parts in America so they could release it faster), Rurouni Kenshin, Hunter x Hunter, Beet the Vandel Buster, Buso Renkin, Zombie Powder, Legendz, Reborn, BLack Cat, Claymore, and many, many more...

SJ, while the most obvious publisher of shonen manga, is certainly not the only one. Viz, who owns SJ, has another line of Shonen manga that includes the famous Fullmetal Alchemist. The reason this is published as a Viz action title and not a Shonen Jump title is because they did not run in Monthly or Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. Most mangas in Japan run in a magazine before they are transferred to a graphic novel. FMA, I believe, runs in Monthy Shonen Gangan.

Really, all manga publishers have some shonen to their name, but some titles (and authors) are more obviously shonen than others. Typical characteristics of shonen manga and anime are:
1. The plot is based on fighting/battling. (usually, but not necessarily physically, as we can see with Yugioh and Hikaru No Go)
2. FANSERVICE. X_x As a girl who likes shonen manga, I can't STAND shonen fanservice. Short skirts, low-cut shirts, random yuri hints are all telltale signs of an expected male audience. (Chrono Crusade or Bleach, anyone?)
3. Anti-hero(es). Not a villian exactly, but not a friend to the protagonist, either. Vegeta, Kaiba, Len, Hiei, Manjoume, Renji, Saito, whatshisface from Inuyasha... Kagu? and countless others that I can't think of at the moment.
This isn't really the best example, but if a series has men that are either very masculine, have scars and/or are not attractive, there's a good chance it's a shonen, since shojos typically have very girly-looking, "attractive" men.

The success of an anime series isn't determined by what group of people it's aimed at, but shonen seem to be extra-popular in America, especially with those who don't usually watch anime. We've gone through at least 8 shonen "waves" in my lifetime that I can think of offhand. The first, from waaaay back when, would of course be Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z. The next would be Pokemon. (which completley blew away the wave that could have been Digimon) Yugioh, unfortuantely, got in on Pokémon's success, even though the two are nothing alike. (the simimlarity between cards and monsters apparently was enough, though) Somewhere in there is Inuyasha. I'm not really sure where because I never watched it myself. ^_^;; Then there was a break for a few years when Yugioh went downhill. (robot talking monkeys, anyone?) Naruto was the next BIG hit, and is still going strong today. Fullmetal Alchemist was about the same time as Naruto, but was on much later, and is a much more complex (and BETTER) series, so I think appealed more to otaku than everyday tv watchers. Still, FMA made a big impact, though moreso on the anime community. Bleach was SJ's next big release, which is also still going strong. The most recent shonen anime craze would be Death Note. DN's only got about 38 episodes, though, so it'll only last a year or two.

In contrast, the biggest shojos to hit the states would be the old-school Sailor Moon, (thankfully not dubbed by 4kids, but still horribly edited) Fruits Basket, and... hmm... I guess DNAngel, Azumanga Daioh... but really, shonen dominates the world of American anime. My personal favorite shonen (and all manga, really) is Fullmetal Alchemist. I highly reccommend this series to anyone 13 and up. (Sorry, but it IS on adult swim) I'm also a fan of the other current big shonens, Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, and secretly am a big fan of the original (for the love of Ra, NOT the dub) Yugioh. Seriously, it's one of the worst dubs in the history of anime. Granted, the whole card game thing can get a little old, but there's some good story in there (underneath all the fillers...) and the original's got some great voice actors. Not to mention that Jounouchi and Mai are my favorite anime couple. (which, honestly, is the only reason I kept watching through season 4) It's certainly not a GREAT anime series, but it's better than some I've seen, and certainly better than the common opinion of it.

In other news, Tekkoshocon is quickly approaching. Head on over to tekkoshocon.com to register and get info! Aaron Dismuke (Alphonse Elric) is going to be there, along with Greg Ayres, Matt Greenfield, Tiffany Grant, and others!

Bethel Park Anime #10--Fandubs, fansubs, and scanlations

This week, I'm addressing a more serious issue in the anime industry: Fandubs, fansubs, and scanlations. Fandubs and Fansubs, as their name implies are dubs and subs (subtitles) made by fans. Subs are the more common and more popular because they're easier to make, and the original voice actors are generally preferred to any dubbed voices, be they professional or not.
Anime is usually subbed/dubbed for three reasons. One, fans don't like waiting years to catch up with the Japanese version. They'd much rather watch ahead and see everything right when it's new. This also helps prevent spoilers.
Two, the dub is really bad, so the fan would rather watch the original. In most cases, if the anime has been released in America, this can be done simply by watching the Japanese audio track on the legal DVD. However, for older animes, or animes dubbed by 4kids (that, by definition, have bad dubs) no legalcopy of the Japanese version exists for Americans.
Three, fans are too cheap/too lazy to buy.

For the most part, fansubs and dubs are the result of the first two reasons. This is a big probelm for the anime industry, because if we've already seen the anime, why should we watch it again or spend money on it? Fans have argued that without subs, they wouldn't buy DVDs (who wants to spend $30 for 4 episodes of an anime they don't know if they'll like??) but the fact is, profits for anime dubbing (and producing--they lose money in Japan, too) companies are way down.

Here's an interview with Arthur Smith, the president of Gonzo Digital Holdings International. He gives his opinion of the state of the anime industry, and how fansubs and dubs are affecting it.
http://www.activeanime.com/html/content/view/2171/36/

Makes you feel pretty bad, doesn't it? Personally, yes, I have watched fansubs and dubs. Many of my favorite fandoms had the bad luck to fall into the dubbing hands of 4kids Entertainment, the bane of the anime dubbing world. Let's face it, subs of 4kids animes are infinitely better than their dubbed counterparts. Now, if 4kids was like NORMAL dubbing companies, and included the Japanese audio track on their DVDs, I would buy them. But 4kids has refused to do so. Not only are they dubbing anime horribly with no regards to the fans, they make it literally impossible to get a legal copy of the original versions of their shows. Why should I have to put up with a bad dub just because I live in a different part of the world? I won't stand for it. I watch the subs.

Now, as for things that have been subbed because the fans are too impaitient... well, I don't entirely agree with that, but let's face it, in America we're anywhere from 1-5 years behind an anime or manga series, depending on it's popularity and how long it took to get the liscense. Before I go any further, here's what a guy from ANN had to say:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/2007-11-25


I agree completly. Anime should be dubbed immediately after it is aired and released no more than a week after its original Japanese air date. That's the only way to get things back on track. Hopefully, that would cut down on the number of subs and dubs, and then the legal stuff could happen with the people doing the subbing/dubbing.

Now, the next issue is scanlations. Manga, like anime, takes a long time to get to the US. (though I have to say, Viz is doing a good job keeping up with FMA. I'm pretty sure we're only a volume or two behind as of now) Fans don't want to wait, especially when it's so easy to find scans on the internet. Personally, I have done read scanlations, but manga is much cheaper and usually comes out ahead of anime, so I tend to stay away from them. (also, they don't much agree with my computer)

Overall, the state of the industry may be going down the drain, but it's not all the way gone yet. It can be fixed, but someone needs to push it in the right direction.



Now, to touch on my last article...
Christmas break may be over, but if you still want a movie to watch, here are links to some great ones you can order from the library!
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle (be warned; it's differnt from the book)
Whisper of the Heart
Porco Rosso

And in closing, I'd like to wish a happy birthday to Hayao Miyazaki, who turned 67 yesterday, January 5th. (I started this entry on Dec 29th, but I'm actually posting on January 6th) Happy birthday, sensei! ^__^

Bethel Park Anime #9--Studio Ghibli

It's Christmas break. You've got about 2 weeks off school. What do you do with all that spare time on your hands? How about watch some movies? This week (I guess I should say month now, as I don't post nearly as often as I should) I'll be taking you through the works of Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and all the other talented people of Studio Ghibli.

First, a brief history. Miyazaki-sensei was born on January 5, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. He used to work for Toei, then teamed up with Isao Takahata at A Pro. He directed some tv shows, including Conan the Boy in the Future and Lupin III. His first feature film was Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. (source)

After Cagliostro, Miyazaki wanted to direct his own work, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Anime films and television series are usually based on manga series, which ensures an audience. The producers Miyazaki-sensei approached didn't want to make a movie about a new series. So, Miyazaki made them a manga series. Two years later, Nausicaä made its film debut. It is widely regarded as Miyazaki's masterpiece.

The money he made from Nausicaa allowed him to open up his own animation studio. Thus, Studio Ghibli was born. "ghibli" (pronounced with a soft "g") is an Italian word for a hot desert wind, and also the name of an Italian plane. The real word is pronounced with a hard "g", but by that time it was noticed, the name had already stuck.

Ghibli is a very unique studio in that all of its animators work for salary, not commission. Thi ensures top quality on all the films made there. But in order to have the money to pay salaries, Ghibli must release many movies on a regular basis. I'm not complaining, though, as I have yet to see a Ghibli movie I didn't like.

While the films that come out of Studio Ghibli are directed by many differnt people, the majority of Ghibli films are by Miyazaki-sensei. All the feature films he has directed are:
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
My Neighbor Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle

All of sensei's works are outstanding, but my absolute favorite is Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spriited Away) would be my second favorite. It's really hard to put the rest in order, because they're all different genres. (Nausicaa is Sci-Fi, Totoro is childrens, Laputa is action-adventure, Kiki is coming of age, etc.) Mononoke broke every Japanese box office record when it first came out, and for a while held the title of biggest-grossing movie in Japanese box office history. It was knocked off by James Cameron's Titanic quickly after, but then Spirited Away came out in 2001 and re-broke all the box office records. To my knowledge, Spirited Away still holds the records. That's how big Miyazaki-sensei is in Japan. An animated film holds box office records.

Other movies that have come out of Studio Ghibli are:
Grave of the Fireflies
Only Yesterday (covered under the Disney-Tokuma deal, but not yet released in America)
Pom Poko
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Whisper of the Heart
The Cat Returns
Tales of Earthsea (not going to be released until at least 2009 because the Sci-Fi channel currently holds the rights to the Tales of Earthsea books)

And Miyazaki-sensei's next film, Ponyo on a Cliff is scheduled to come out in 2008 in Japan, and is covered under the Disney-Tokuma deal, so we will see it eventually. Short movies like On Your Mark, Ocean Waves, and Gauche the Cellist are not covered in the deal, so I can't say if we'll ever get to see them. The only legal way to get them as of now is to buy a Japanese DVD player and buy the Japanese DVDs. But then they're still in Japanese. ^_^;;


A very reliable Studio Ghibli fansite is nausicaa.net. (I'd give you the official site, but it's in Japanese.) Just about anything and everything you'd ever want to know about Miyazaki-sensei, Takahata-sensei, Hisaishi-sensei, and the rest of Studio Ghibli is on there.

Bethel Park Anime #8--Attention! Tekkoshocon has moved!

Tekkoshocon 6, like the last 3 Tekkos was schedueled to be at the Monroeville Expo Mart April 11-13, 2008. THIS HAS CHANGED. It's still April 11-13, but the location is now the Greentree Radisson!

Link to the article: http://tekkoshocon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9887

Link to questions about the venue change: http://tekkoshocon.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9888

Bethel Park Anime #7--Tekko 1/2 Report

A week late, but it's here. ^_^;; Sorry to anyone who read the last post. Tekko 1/2 was NOTHING like what I expected.

For going by myself and being stuck in the same room all day with a bunch of people I only vaugely knew, it was pretty fun. I can't say that they were complete strangers, cause I'd seen most of them at the convention before.
Got there around 10:20 or so. The first thing on the schedule was the Appleseed movie. Eh... I mean, it was entertaining but it was a standard plot. Briareos "died", and I maybe would've liked that part, but the dialogue was so STANDARD! God, can we think of something besides "Don't talk", "Leave me, you have to save the world", "I'm not leaving you", etc. I was kind of glad when he finally "died". Course, then he didn't really die because he's half machine or something. Then they go and kill all the giant machines, preach about how even if humanity sucks, they're going to keep living anyway *cough*Nausicaä*cough* and kill all the bad guys. But still, it was entertaining. Action and whatnot. Could've done without the fanservice, though.

While watching the movie, I looked through my trivia packet that I picked up when I came in. I'll post the questions later, but even the ones from animes I knew were HARD! What's the EXACT DATE on Ed's watch was the closest I came to knowing an answer. ^_^;; Oct. 12, I'm pretty sure, but I forget the year. 1911? Out of 40 questions, the highest score was 16. Yeah.

During the end of the movie, the fruits basket group sat next to me, and Kagura introduced herself as the girl who's going to be cosplaying as Yugi! ^__^ Yay, we have a Yugi! She's trying to get a friend to join the group, too, and they want to be an Abridged Duke Devlin and walk around with a boombox playing "Sexy Back". So I had someone to talk to for a while. Right while we were talking, people finally started noticing I was dressed as Jounouchi, and I had a bunch of people ask for my picture. Luckily I had my wig with me, and put it on for the pics.

After the movie was Guitar Hero tournament. I've never played Guitar Hero (sad to say) so after watching a few warm-ups and getting pictures of cosplyers, I headed over to the library for lunch. While I was in there, I picked up the first volumes of Whistle, Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode, and Wish. I read them a little while ago, actually. Whistle was... kinda odd, but not too bad. (skip school for two weeks to practice soccer?) Not as good as Eyeshield, though.
Tokyo Mew Mew was okay, but I really don't like the new Mew. At all. I was even happy when Ichigo showed up, and I don't really like Ichigo either. Zakuro was always my favorite, even in the god-awful dub. The worst part of it, though, was the ad for 4kids on the back of the volume. >_<>_< ) It was fun at least, and I didn't know anyone there, so it wasn't embarassing or anything.
Watched some more SSBM and listened to the karaoke (and watched some people's hilarious backup dancers XD) and finally left around 4:20. It was ending at 4:30, and I had to catch a couple buses to get home.
On the way out, I wound up walking next to one of the staff. (You guys remember the staff woman dressed as White Mage? That was her.) She asked me how I liked the 1/2, and then she told me about how the staff is kind of transitioning this year since people are leaving this and next year. I said I was going to be a minion (guess I have to now ^_^;;) and doing a panel again. Then I had to go get my bus, and she was nice enough to direct me to the nearest bus stop. ^_^;; Never taken a bus out of Oakland before... I caught one, though, and after some transfering and long bus riding, got home without any trouble. All in all, it was a pretty fun day, and I can't wait for Tekko!! ^____^


Registration forms are available now at www.tekkoshocon.com. Group reg is also availabe. Discounts are $2 off everyon in a group of 5-9, $5 off in a group of 10 or more. Without the discount, registration is $35 for all three days if yo pre-reg by Dec. 31. That's 3 days for the price of just Saturday, so I would reccommend pre-registering now! ^__^

Bethel Park Anime #6--Tekko 1/2

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!

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.

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! ^_^