Gen X Otaku 1971: the OG blog

Thoughts on Interpretation: a dialogue....an Addendum to Alien Nine review

I pondered editing my original Alien Nine post to include these points but then decided they'd be worth addressing in a stand alone post.

Literary Criticism and Film Interpretation are skills and the practice of them is harder than it looks.  The late Zac Bertschy (Founder and Main Host of  ANNCast & Senior Editor of Anime News Network) went to film school and was a working journalist.  I have two Master's Degrees, a Master of Arts in German Studies from Rice University and a Master of Library Science from the University of North Texas.  It's not necessary to have credentials like this to engage in media criticism but they do help.  And beyond the work I did for my degrees, I had (and have) an active reading life...philosophy, intellectual history and literary criticism are in regular rotation for my pleasure reading, because I'm a huge nerd.

But life experiences beyond online "CIS-HET White Dude" (c'est moi) also yield unique insights worth listening to, which is why I closely read and appreciated Kathryn K Williams and her OG review of Alien Nine , precisely because of her life experiences as a woman that brought unique perspective to her critical analysis.

But also striking to me was the fierce resistance and hostility her essay apparently provoked at the time, that she ultimately also documents and incorporates into her review.  She also discusses the hostility the show itself provoked in some corners of the anime fan community of her time.

Kathryn's original blog is no longer online and what I link to above and in my previous post is the archived version.  I have no idea if she's on
Ani-Twitter or even if she watches anime at all anymore, but we are all poorer for it if she isn't and doesn't.  The least I can do is do a little boost to her original essay some more.

As she states in her opening paragraph:

"It has been almost a year since a Japanese friend of mine sent me the first episode of Alien 9 to watch. I didn't know at the time what I was walking into, but something about the series struck me from the very beginning. Part of me understood far too well what I was watching which is probably why I continued to watch it. An episode came every month, and slowly I noticed a very deep and dark story evolve. For me, the metaphors were easy to look past."

{...by this I assume Kathryn means the metaphors were easy to "read"/discern, to understand what was really being discussed underneath -JJR}

She continues: 
"....While others seem to be stuck on the 'What' and 'Why' of every little detail and just took everything as it was."

{i.e. what we in German Lit Crit call "Das Gesamtkuntswerk" -- the work as a whole -JJR)

 Kathryn writes further:
"I'm used to seeing strange things in my dreams so I just looked at Alien 9 in the same way, but I noticed that others who watched the show were left completely lost, or worse, angered by the show. The extreme emotions that were portrayed in the story were making people want to act out violently against the characters in the series. While the beauty of the storytelling moved me while others were spitting and cursing at the screen."

{Sigh angry online Dudebros gonna Dudebro I guess...then as now -JJR}

Kathryn again: 
"...For some reason, I felt all their words were aimed at me. Why? Because I'm a child abuse survivor and watching Alien 9 was like looking at myself at that age. Seeing people wanting to hit a child for crying showed me that the world still has a long way to go and in some cases not changed in one bit."

{Sad to say, here in 2021 it's still that shitty -JJR}

She continues: 
"...So instead of turning my back I stood up and defended the film. I felt angry, not just because of the violent emotions towards these characters but also because of people's ignorance toward their situation. I couldn't understand why people could not see what for me was in plain black and white."

{They lack the context, the life experience and, shit, basic empathy to relate to tween female protagonists, I'm sad to say. -JJR}

Kathryn:
"...After being asked to do a few discussions on the series, I discovered that it was more then just ignorance that I was dealing with."

{Stage whisper: MISOGYNY -JJR} 

Kathryn:
"...Now I sit here writing about how the film affected me, and about all the little things I saw that many were not capable of seeing. Hopefully this paper will help, people will have a clearer look at why I consider this a great film, and why I want more people to see it....[...]... I felt a need for others to see this show. I needed more people to see the pains [sic] we children have suffered behind closed doors, the things that people would rather brush under a carpet. I needed others to see the feelings and pains that no child should have to feel, but still do to this day. The portrayal of their pain and sadness is so real that I hope by having more see it that perhaps they will understand more about what it is like to be a child in these situations. I've found a new cause to stand behind, something that gives me strength."

{I share Kathryn's idealistic belief in the transformative power of ART.  I wouldn't do what I do if I didn't.  -JJR}

She continues:
"....At first I was upset by others' reactions to this show, but with each person who was angry I noticed others that truly wanted to learn more. This showed me that there was still a small chance for change in this world. When I heard that Central Park Media was bringing not only the Anime but also the Manga to North America, I felt something I couldn't explain. Soon more people will be able to see the film that touched me. Soon more people will understand which is why I'm writing this now. Even if it is a small difference, if only one person is affected by the show then that is enough. To make them more aware that the world isn't as bright and rosy as we are lead to think. So here I stand, supporting a film that most would consider just another insane story. Hopefully after reading this some of you will understand why I am supporting this film, and what it is that made this Anime so special in my mind."

It is a special series and worth remembering and still worth watching in 2021 and beyond.

But since Kathryn was a woman online circa 2000 with opinions, she naturally got a lot of, ahem, feedback, which she also documents:

"....Okay since writing this paper I've gotten a lot of e-mail. Thank you to all of those who support me and your kind words. Now there are a few who had other views and wanted to know what further justification I had for my points. Instead of updating the essay itself I'd decided just to add a FAQ section. Hopefully it will be able to add some further insight into my reasoning.
Q: What makes you think that Yuri was Raped? There is nothing sexual about the anything in A9."

Ooof.  These are people who are being far FAR too literal in their understanding of media, or who refuse to understand or acknowledge the function of metaphor & symbolism in ART.

Literalism in art (and art criticism) is an ongoing problem and there was an excellent panel discussion led by Aisling McRea and her fellow Current Affairs writers & staffers.  It was a follow up to Aisling McRea's excellent article in Current Affairs (Nov/Dec 2020 issue) on the continuing relevance of the so-called Satanic Panic.  The full article was headlined Satanic Panics and the Death of Mythos.  

"Nothing Sexual in A9"....even as a middle aged CIS-HET white dude I'm slapping my forehead and saying "REALLY, DUDE? Come the f*ck on!"

However, I can't definitively say that late 20s me would've "gotten it"....I hope so, but I'm just grateful that 50-something me gets it now.

Kathryn provides a response as a kind of "FAQ addendum" to her main essay.

"A: Okay, I've heard a few people who think I'm wrong about the whole rape thing and feel that because of being a rape survivor, I am seeing things that are not there."

Wow.  I'm so sorry that happened to you Kathryn and moreover, to the Dudebros of the early aughts doing this kind of shitty gaslighty dismissal, a hearty FUCK YOU.  That's an awful thing to say.  Kathryn sees what she sees.  Who fuckin' cares what you guys think?  How about you shut up and listen instead of being so insufferably patronizing for once in your lives?  Sheesh.

Kathryn continues:

"Here is my point of view.

Either:

• a) The attacks were purely physical
• b) The attacks were sexual.

Now if we take into account that the Aliens on the children's heads are symbols of adolescence then the two views end up looking something like this:

• a) When boys hit puberty they suddenly find themselves having violent tendencies towards girls which leads, in some, to have an urge to kill them.
• b) When Boys hit puberty they start finding themselves having sexual feelings towards girls, which, for a certain small minority, leads them to attempt/commit rape.

Which of these two points of view make the most sense in the context of the rest of the film?"

Eh, I mean EROS/THANATOS are psychologically linked so I don't think it's quite so easy to parse these two as separate and distinct, as a disturbing number of rape victims also become murder victims as well.  It's both.  I understand Kathryn is trying to validate her reading & interpretation.  I agree that it is a valid interpretation, I just don't think this is a particularly strong rebuttal; or rather, it raises the EROS/THANATOS connection in art & psychology that I can't just brush past without commenting on it, because it's a Big Honking Deal(tm) .

Kathryn summarizes:
"Now for some more details concerning Yuri's rape. The boys' symbol of adulthood pierces the girl's symbol of adulthood. That's not to mention the inside of the girl's borgu looking, to some, like a placenta, the orientation, motion, and nature of the drills from the boys' aliens, and the nightmares in which Yuri finds herself shivering in the middle of a pool nude and crying, not to mention the nature and focus of the flashbacks Yuri experiences. All these point to a sexual attack than a [merely] physical one and there for more a symbol of her being raped."

{Yep. -JJR} 

Kathyrn:
"...Regardless of whether you feel the attack is sexual, one point remains. In one form or another, that scene is a very violent and strong depiction of violence of men towards women."

{Yes, 100%. -JJR}

Like yes, what's depicted on screen is a fantastical science fiction battle of alien vs alien....they don't literally pin Yuri down and put their actual penises in her.  But that's what the symbolism is telling the thoughtful and reflective viewer actually happened.  They gang raped her.  Sheesh, you clods watch too much goddamn hentai if you're just not getting that.  Kathryn is right on the money with this one.

Anyway, I just really appreciated Kathryn's original essay and wanted to respond in solidarity to these reader/reception points that she alluded to at the time she wrote it and shortly thereafter with her FAQ addendum.  Plus I'm sad to say in the world of Twitter (which didn't really exist in 2001-2002), you know the harassment directed at a woman like Kathryn commenting on a popular anime with this take would be 1000% worse.  Or heck, just the comment forums of Anime News Network and other Ani-Fandom spaces.

I'm reminded of the plot of Perfect Blue and the then online harassment suffered by the main character then.  The old-timey internet depicted in that film does make me smirk with amusement at first, but it's really not that hard of an intellectual exercise to "translate" those scenes to modern day equivalents in the 2020s and imagine what kind of shit actual Pop Idols deal with now on Twitter and other online spaces.  Misogyny is still a problem, y'all.  

 

A farewell to Zac Bertschy

I don't know where to begin.  I never met the man in person and yet through his podcast, ANNCast, I felt like I knew him better than I know a fair number of people I've met face to face.  If there were an entry for "Anime Journalist" in the OED, Zac's picture would be there.  

Although I was chronologically just slightly older than Zac, he had been an anime fan far far longer than I, and knew far more about the art form of Japanese Anime than I could ever hope to master.  He was passionate, sarcastic, sometimes infuriating, but I always respected the man, even when I disagreed with him.  I knew he took his work seriously and his opinions were formed from years of study, observation and experience.  Zac knew his shit forwards and backwards.

I was a listener of ANNCast from the very early days when Justin Sevakis was Co-Host, and I still cherish those very early episodes.  I began avidly listening to ANNCast probably some time around 2009 or 2010.  So for nearly 10 years now I've worked as a library clerk in a public library and sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, but always eventually, I'd eagerly anticipate the next ANNCast release for Zac & his Co-Host (Justin, Jacob, Lyndzee) to drop some wisdom on me and make me a more informed fan and appreciator of art by episode's end than I was on the other side.  If you love anime so much as to listen to a serial podcast about it, you are among the anime SuperFans.  I also love the highly irregular Anime World Order and the even more infrequent GME Anime Fun Time; I'm a long time fan of the Anime Addicts Anonymous podcast and some older Anime podcasts that have long since pod-faded like 2Lazy2Botaku.  But ANNCast was always my North Star, the creme of the crop.  Nobody did it better...nobody.

Co-Hosts came and went by Zac was a constant.  He shaped and crafted my love & passion for anime into a mature and considered thing.  He challenged me, he made me think, reflect, consider, appreciate.  He was an educator and journalist.  He was unabashed humanist and outspoken lefty progressive.  He was a member of the LGBT+ community and proudly pronounced himself "Queer".  He hated Nazis and Edgelords and felt such deep empathy and compassion for people and valued artistic expression that captured the profundity and full gamut of the human condition.  He was a man of letters and learning with a keen eye and a kind heart.  He inspired so many other writers to do their very best, no less than any other Shonen Action Hero you might find in the pages of Shonen Jump or any anime adaptations thereof.  He never took himself seriously and had a playful, irreverent sense of humor.

When I began working for the current public library system I still work for, I had an absolutely bully tyrant of a boss who took joy in making my work life a living hell.  I endured a great deal of emotional trauma and suffering working for a manager I still believe was a low-grade psychopath.  All I could do was outlast her....and I did.  Ultimately her own hubris got the best of her and she got fired and I stayed.  Living well has been the best revenge.  But those first few years were made tolerable by the temporary escape afforded to me by a deep dive into ANNCast, where Zac and Justin would do deep dives discussing anime and the art of film generally.  They provided a temporary refuge in a terrifying work life that helped me hang on to my sanity.  I can't possibly thank Zac & Justin & Jacob enough for this.  I learned so much from them and vow to continue learning as much as I can about the art form we both love(d).  If I ever learn even a sizable fraction of what Zac knew I'll be a happy man.

I logged on to my work computer  this morning and scanned Twitter briefly, seeing a tweet from Mike Toole that made my heart sink.  I quickly consulted Anime News Network to get confirmation.  I then sought out the tweets of Justin Sevakis, Jacob Chapman, the A.W.O. crew, et. al.  I had just been thinking this week that "boy it sure has been a long time since the last ANNCast episode...." and now I had a better idea why.  As I worked today I gave that final episode a listen...and it made me want to cry to hear Zac's voice one last time....especially his closing remarks to his loyal listeners, dispensing heartfelt advice to his listeners that he himself doesn't seem to have been able to follow himself...that made my throat catch a little.  He never knew me, he did read a few of my questions on the air a few times...and sometimes I was so caught off  guard and embarrassed I skipped past that part of the episode to the next question after mine because I'm a self-conscious freak that way.  But I am going to miss this man so very much.  I'm sad I'll never get the chance now to see him at AX or Otakon.  I always stuck to Texas cons and was going to branch out to other Texas cons this year and maybe hit AX and Otakon in 2021.  May yet someday, but it just won't be the same without Zac potentially there.

This evening I treated myself to some HEB Sushi (Salmon special plate) and took my evening walk listening to J-Pop tunes including some of the best songs from the Evangelion soundtrack.  This evening I plan to devote to watching anime that I love.  I think that's what Zac would've told me to do if he could.  I do plan to get around to watching/re-watching some of his favorites...I may at least start Wolf's Rain in his honor, I do own it on Blu-Ray re-release.  I already recently re-watched Evangelion via Netflix though I suppose I could pull out my Platinum Box set and watch THAT, with the original ADV Films dub (though I know neither Zac nor Justin are fans of that original dub).  But anyway yeah, I'm going to enjoy MY anime tonight, even if Zac himself would turn up his nose at my particular shows (as he often did).  He would still counsel me to follow my bliss, and so I shall.

Thanks for everything, Zac, and say "Howdy" to Satoshi Kon if you see him up there, buddy.   

A Tribute to Monty Oum

English: Monty Oum at the Penny Arcade Expo East 2010 in Boston, MA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is pretty much a straight up narration of the press release posted to the Rooster Teeth website a few days ago, with original intro and outro narration written by yours truly.  Here I press Emma (UK) and Grace (Australia) into service to do the narration, in response to RT's call to "do something creative" to honor Monty's untimely passing at age 33.  This one's for you, Monty.

 

No Homers Club

Vocabulary guide:

ASD = Autism spectrum disorder(s)

NT= Neurotypical, i.e. NOT autistic, i.e. "normal"

So one of the hellish aspects of Asperger’s syndrome that’s been a constant in my life, and something that makes relationships with NTs dicey at best is a recurring pattern dynamic set in repeating motion by my impoverished ability to read social cues or “take a hint”, “catch a clue”, etc.  I don’t do “subtle”.  I have to be told directly and explicitly what I’m doing wrong and what specifically you want me to do or not do anymore.  It requires an NT to sometimes feel they have to be more blunt and artless than they’re really comfortable with and that they’d never want to do to each other.  Some might even dub it “cruel to be kind”; more correctly it’s “Firm & direct to be kind”.  But it’s part of autism acceptance.  It’s much better than the passive-aggressive alternative that usually plays out, where an increasingly frustrated NT or group of NTs keep dropping little hints of their displeasure that the Aspie completely misreads or misses altogether.  The Aspie sails happily along, none the wiser that the actual relationship is “going south”, “tanking”, etc.  Until one day the Aspie does that one thing that gets on the NTs’ one last nerve and they suddenly blow up angrily at the Aspie.  While the NT feels vindicated, that this was something long overdue they need to settle once and for all…from their point of view their attempts at polite subtlety and diplomacy have been deliberately ignored and shat upon (the reality is, these attempts have simply been ineffectual and were the wrong tac, because the message was never correctly received & apprehended), so now it’s time to take the gloves off and use bare knuckles, metaphorically speaking (and if one were dealing with a fellow NT who is simply an uncaring asshole, who got all the hints and willfully disregarded them, this could even be the right call; but it's tragically misplaced when directed at an ASD person).   From the Aspie’s point of view, this moment usually arrives while they are blissfully happy and completely unaware anything is wrong.  From their vantage point, they’re suddenly attacked, seemingly out of the blue, by someone they thought was a friend, or at least a good acquaintance with whom they seemed to be on good terms, downright copacetic.  It completely floors them.  When the displeasure is finally made explicit, along with a tone of vehement nastiness, sometimes only then do the escalating hints, etc. become clear, i.e. only in 20x20 hindsight, and the Aspie berates himself, feels like an idiot for not picking up on it the first time, which compounds his misery in the midst of dealing with suddenly being under psychological assault without warning and the feeling of shocked betrayal.

To one who lives long enough, an Aspie will see this pattern recur in his life over and over.  It’s exceedingly unpleasant and fills one with a sense of dread and tension in one’s day to day dealings with NTs.  One enters into relationship with a pervasive feeling of dread and fear, always wondering how long it will take before the pattern repeats again, before the seemingly inevitable rejection and betrayal strike again.  Whether in personal relations with those immediately around us, or more long distance, mediated relationships online, such as being a fan of something like a podcast or blog, the fear and dread are the same.  The constant fear of ridicule and rejection, dialed up to 11, the knot in the stomach.  Eventually, though, one calms down, lowers one’s guard, and lets their Aspie weirdness fly.  Sometimes one does find genuine acceptance, for a time.  If one is really lucky, it lasts.  But just as often as not, it doesn’t, one becomes "too much" or "too intense" for one's NT interlocutor and the above pattern rears its ugly head and history repeats itself, and just as suddenly the Aspie is all alone again, rejected, reviled, and on one’s own—again.  One is left questioning if relationships with NTs are ever worth it, if so many of them only wind up crashing & burning and leaving one scarred and hurt, over and over, because of a failure of understanding, or simple laziness and apathy towards the challenges of autism, a disregard for the struggles of ASD people.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Japanese cartoons to watch with which to console myself.  Good day.

Ani.Me is on Hiatus, so this blog comes OFF Hiatus

My favorite Anime News Blog after ANN, called Ani.Me, is unforunately now on hiatus.  They had a neat feature where you could join as a community member and had very basic but easy-to-use blogging software that I used frequently to jot down first impresssion after local Anime screenings at Alamo Drafthouse Mason Park in Katy, Texas.

As the notice on their website now states:
Sadly, as of March 2014, the current Ani.ME site is being closed. Hopefully we will find the resources to re-launch better than ever, but for now at least, we must take the site offline. Until we figure out what the long-term fate will be, we will still be active on our Facebook page and you can also sign up below to be emailed if/when we relaunch.

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I first noticed when the mobile app associated with Ani.Me stopped updating earlier this month.  I thought it was just an app malfunction and decided to head to the main site to get caught up on their anime news feed that the app seemingly wasn't loading any longer.  To my great surprise and disappointment, I found the hiatus notice above.

To be honest, I've never much cared for this Typepad blog platform, I still have sour grapes at being forced to migrate it from the much more user-friendly but defunct Vox.com; I tried to keep blogging here for awhile, but the time between posts grew longer and longer and longer.  When I discovered the blogging platform over on Ani.Me, I signed up on a whim.  When I saw how easy & basic it was to operate, I started blogging regularly.  Initially the idea was to compose rough drafts on the fly over there then clean them up and republish a better version here.  Eventually I just started blogging over there full time because of the ease and simplicity of doing so.  No graphics, sure, no fancy HTML or other coding, but such forced economy of expression was actually liberating for awhile.  And I do have to heap praise on the site's Content Director, LB, whom I still follow on Twitter, for always looking in on my blog and sometimes adding helpful feedback comments and other responses to my writings.  I was always very flattered by the attention.  I'm a regular correspondent to the 2Lazy2Botaku podcast and would sometimes send them links to my own Ani.Me blog compositions instead of a full email.

Ani.Me further writes:
"...We grew up watching anime and so our team started Ani.ME as a way to do what we love. We started to grow and for a while things were great. However the past year has been a struggle to keep the site alive.. For over a year, Ani.ME hasn't been able to make enough money to cover our server costs or our staff writers. To keep the site up, the founding team has been putting in money from our day jobs to cover costs and pay everyone, however, we can't afford to do so anymore. The site is a custom built platform and over time, things started breaking and we didn't have the funds to fix it. Also, many of you may have heard of issues with our lead editor and some staff writers. This was due to not being able to properly cover costs for the last few months. We hoped we could find a solution but so far, all options have been taking longer than we could bear. It would be unfair to not pay our writers. By shutting down the site, we can at least cover paying our writers for the work they've done up to now.

If you have enjoyed Ani.ME up to now, please do let us know. You can email our Co-founder Chris at [email protected]. If you want to help out, you can also make a donation using the Paypal button below. We will use any donations to cover staff costs and if we can, try to re-launch. To do so, we would need to be able to rebuild the site on a lower cost platform and find a way to make enough money to properly cover writers and hosting costs. Please know that we DO want to re-launch, and are working on ways to make it possible."

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Well, that's unfortunate to hear.  I did actually apply to write for them at one point in the past, but I knew it was a long shot, not least because my own viewing habits and preferences were in stark contrast to theirs.  I'm a dub fan, they're all about the bleeding edge of what's hot in Japan right now.  I suggested I could cover N.American DVD/Blu-Ray releases but they were looking for help managing coverage of each new season coming out in Japan, just staying on top of that firehose gusher of content.  I understood, no big deal.

They very recently posted new job adverts looking for a new addition to the writing staff, but alas, even if someone did get that job, they may still be waiting on their first and possibly last paycheck, at least for awhile.  ANN were looking for writers as well some time back but unlike with Ani.Me, I didn't bother to apply.

There's a local design store that has a weird name, the last part of which includes the words ...and Infinite Anime...which caught my eye.  I did eventually make it over to the place to look around and talk to the owner.   I wish him luck, but I'm afraid it's probably only a matter of time before he'll be forced to shutter his shop, unless the design side of his business keeps the doors open.

His main focus seems to be competitive Anime-style card games, which don't interest me in the least.  He didn't have any PVC figurines when I dropped by (though he said he was planning to pick some up at the then upcoming Anime Matsuri convention).  He had a few Anime titles that caught my eye and piqued mild curiosity, but way too much stuff on VHS and a lot on DVD that I've either already seen or own myself.  The only brick and mortar store I still buy Anime from (infrequently) is Fry's Electronics, and even their selection is dimished from what it used to be (though nowhere near as drastically anemic as Best Buy these days).

I have a FUNimation Elite subscription which I got for my birthday and use a lot of.  I also have a Neon Alley subscription.  That's going free come April 1st.  Apparently the "app" I have on my PS3 will cease to function entirely after that date.  This annoys me because while I knew the "live stream" channel would be going away, it was my understanding that the "catch  up" feature would be expanded as the main Neon Alley portal going forward and be free, besides NeonAlley.com

But the latest press release makes it sound like if I want to access Neon Alley via the PS3 in the future after April 1st, I'll be forced to do so via Hulu+.  This annoys me enormously.  I suppose I can make do with NeonAlley.com on my PC, but I shouldn't have to pay on PS3 either.  I could accept having to have Hulu+ for mobile access...iPad, iPhone, Android, etc.  But Neon Alley had earlier indicated that the Catch Up feature would expand to be the main feature via the app and via NeonAlley.com, and now it seems only NeonAlley.com via the PC will be a free portal and PS3 and PS4 access will be shunted over to Hulu+ EXCLUSIVELY.  WHICH SUCKS BALLS.

I do have an HDMI cable hooked up to my mom's PC, so it's actually not a huge deal to stream NeonAlley.com stuff to the TV (just have to put up with subpar computer speaker audio), but I'd rather I didn't have to.  I'd like to keep accessing Neon Alley via my PS3 native app like always.

The PS3 Crunchyroll "app" is very limited for non-subscribers, while the iPad version of the Crunchyroll app gives you full access, albeit advertising supported, not unlike Crackle.com in that respect.

I'm nearly caught up with all my Neon Alley shows at the moment (bearing down on finishing Fate/Zero) and even bought some on DVD when the price was right (LaGrange).

I'm very grateful for my FUNimation subscription since I need to cut back on my physical media purchases.  This year Sentai Filmworks is going to get the majority of my physical media budget since Anime Network isn't available on PS3 or Roku.  I do happen to have a Roku player and thus get full use out of my FUNI subscription.  The animation quality is sometimes lacking when a show first loads but this quickly fixes itself within a minute or two and isn't really much of a distraction.  I've watched some shows that were guilty pleasures that I will never own on DVD but am glad to have seen nonetheless (Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero).

And I will get through the original Ruroni Kenshin (dubbed) on Crackle.com one of these days.

Anyway, I'll be mourning the loss of Ani.Me for some time to come.  It was a fun little website.

 

 

Just finished Summer Wars

I just finished the mind-blowing experience that is the feature-length near-future sci-fi Anime feature film Summer Wars voiced in English dub by FUNimation's best and brightest cast members.  With strong female lead voiced by the amazing Brina Palencia...

In fact, the only reason I knew about this title at all was hearing Brina mention it on her most recent appearance of That Anime Show with hosts J. Michael Tatum (who plays Brina's character's favorite uncle) and Terry Doty...Brina let fans in a little insider knowledge...namely that when she was recording in the booth she focused mentally on her personal very close relationship to her own grandmother, and for the death and grieving scenes for her character, those emotions you hear, her crying, her sobs, everything are 100% genuine.  A lesser actor might've lost it entirely, but Brina was able to pull up those raw emotions from deep within herself and transfer them to the character and push through the scenes and the lines, delivering them spot on in one take.

The story is set in the very near future and is a cautionary tale about becoming too overly reliant on the virtual world at the expense of the real world.

It is an epic, heroic tale that will make you laugh, cry and cheer...and it is a very Japanese story about honoring one's ancestors, remembering the lessons of history, and staying true to your values.

I honestly would've been completely entertained by these characters if all it turned out to be was a romantic comedy farce, which is the hook in the beginning...but then it veers quickly off course into a simply AMAZING story....

The only thing I can compare it, and my emotional response to is the series Eden of the East.  I have yet to view the feature-length Eden of the East movie, but I have seen the complete TV series season that starts off that story.  If you liked Eden of the East you will definitely like Summer Wars and vice versa.  The visuals of both are quite impressive, though the Oz sequences of Summer Wars is a little CG heavy and very almost Western cartoon animation in style, and that can be a bit jarring.  The main AI villian at one point reminded me of one of the tougher alien levels in Gantz and kind of freaked me out a little, too.  Flashbacks, man, flashbacks.

(Gantz is excellent but a freakin' gruesome show)

Kudos all around to the English voice cast of this show.  I always watch my Anime with the English subtitles on, even if I'm watching the English dub.  I like judging the differences between the more exact translation of the raw Japanese and the adaptive English scripts.  These really are some of my absolute favorite FUNimation voice actors to listen to and the best part is, none of them are cast as bad guys, though J. Michael Tatum as the adopted son of the family matriarch  is a bit of a dark horse anti-hero until the very end.

The disc I rented from Netflix of Summer Wars had a trailer for the Eden of the East feature film, reminding me I need to watch it to finish out the story which I *love* so much.  It also had a trailer for the relatively new series Black Butler that I have heard of but realize I need to get around to watching as well...don't think I can call myself a proper otaku if I don't.  I've already heard J. Michael Tatum (who plays Sebastian) gush about this show, and the trailer was very impressive.  It looks dark and twisted but also deeply entertaining.  I like a lot of "dark" shows in Anime, actually; seem to have developed an acquired taste for them through the years.

Anyway, I've been very lax with my Anime blogging but hope to resume it more regularly, as I've been consuming lots of it more recently, and also I am now a regular enough listener to things like ANNcast, the podcast of Anime News Network, and Anime World Order (AWO) with host Daryl Surat, who is a writer for OtakuUSA Magazine, which I have an ongoing 2 year subscription to at the moment.  OtakuUSA is now the last in-print magazine in English devoted to Anime/Manga arts and culture.  Shonen Jump has gone all-digital, so I've recommended my local library that they subscribe to OtakuUSA as a replacement as I think their patrons still will want the tangible, physical media that is OtakuUSA Magazine.  At long last I listen to ANNCast with enough frequency that I never miss an epsiode, AND, I've actually become more tuned in to the world of Anime that I actually know what they're talking about more than 50% of the time now and sometimes I even agree with them.  AWO posts less frequently but I always enjoy their discussions as well.  I also have to say thanks to Anime Nation podcast, sometimes with John flying solo, putting out that Anime news and keeping me in the know.  Thanks also to the Ani.me app on my iPhone that I frequently read at lunch.  The Ani.me website itself is great, but I like having it on my phone for quick and easy access anytime...how else to stay on top of breaking news in the Anime industry, am I right?

Thanks also to the Houston Anime Meetup for hooking me up with other individuals nearby who share my interest and passion for these art forms and who bring all sorts of expertise to the table each and every meeting.

Anyway, Summer Wars is a great way to spend two hours being thoroughly entertained and emotionally satisfied.  I honestly did not know what to expect, and that is probably the best way to enjoy this movie.

Decided to Link up with my Facebook

I decided to go ahead and link back up with my Facebook profile, since moving my anime blog from Vox.com over to this location on Typepad.com; I'm still not happy with losing Vox, but I'm grateful I didn't lose my blog forever like could have happened.  Since Amazon sometimes works nicely with Facebook, I may go back to posting briefer anime reviews there.  I don't know.  Maybe, maybe not.  Gosh, it was so nice to be able to import the DVD box art over from Amazon and slap it on my latest Vox.com postings...why can't I do that with Typepad??  That's such a rip.  My blog was about discussing anime shows and Vox.com was THE perfect way to do that.  Also, the theme I picked here, well, at least it was Japanese in style, but I liked my Vox theme better...it was a cute animated scene, with Mount Fuji in the distance.  I've also griped about this on my MySpace and on Facebook already.

I do generally like to keep my various internet presences separate, so I generally don't link them together.  But I decided to make an exception for Facebook in this specific case.

I will admit the ability to incorporate MUSIC into Typepad postings is pretty neat & cool.