ADD Theater

Madoka Magica

2012-02-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

As you don't know, I'm the only person on the planet who has not seen Madoka Magica. I have finally seen episodes 1-4. Here's the first episode:

Madoka: I'M A NORMAL 8TH GRADER WHO RUNS OUT OF THE DOOR WITH TOAST IN MY MOUTH! Eh..did I have a trippy dream last night or what? Something about a cat..a girl....and a dangerous magical contract?

Madoka: HEY! THERE'S A MYSTERIOUS TRANSFER STUDENT IN MY CLASS! Do I know her?

Mysterious Transfer Student: *glares* If you know what's good for you, you won't sign any DANGEROUS MAGICAL CONTRACTS!

Madoka: Uh..thanks?

Madoka and Sayaka: We're normal teenage girls! Yay!

Madoka: I'm hearing a voice in my head...let's wander off alone!

*She enters a trippy scene full of butterflies and mothballs with mustaches and shit*

Me: NOT THE BUTTERFLIES OF DEATH AND REBIRTH!!!

Mami: IT'S COOL TO SIGN A DANGEROUS MAGICAL CONTRACT! LIKE ME!

No, Loli is not the same as the n word.

2012-01-16T06:36:00.001-08:00

Really? The reason why we don't use racial slurs is because they reinforce a system of racial discrimination, and thus are hurtful. Who is hurt by saying loli? Yes, it's descriptive of something icky, but the wiki is descriptive of fiction, and fiction often does have icky things in it. Should we cut out tropes about violence against children? That is worse than saying "Hey, why is this little kid in this space adventure? OH...." Really folks!

Viz Manga

2011-07-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

I tried Viz Manga. The manga viewing is pretty much like the sigikki site, although I think sigikki is easier to learn, and there's no paid component.(Viz makes up for that by taking older chapters off the site) You pay with paypal, and then you can view the manga in a flash based website. You have your own 'my manga' tab, so you can reread as much as possible. The manga is also the right price for digital. With print books, they will try to make a book cost $10, despite the fact that you can't resell it, and the fact that you're dependent on the company to keep supporting the product. But $5 is good for a digital 'rental'.

Due to its website based design, Viz Manga isn't 'portable' for that, you need to actually buy a book. But I think it's a good way to read those manga which you don't want to reread or have cluttering up your home. I'm pleased with this. I hope that in the future, companies will use digital manga as a way of releasing titles that are more niche.

Fantagraphics and Manga

2011-04-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

An aside here from this great essay on Tokyopop and the page rate. Someone mentioned that Fantagraphics manga would be inaccessible to the youth. I think that Fantagraphics' manga line will echo it's American comics line. They have a lot of classics of the cartoon age, quirky indie comics, and the like. You probably won't see Samurai Harem from them, and their presentation will echo the content. It's the same as Vertical, which publishes a lot of art manga- Twin Spica has its original covers and Black Jack has a lovely artsy design.

I think there's plenty of places for manga to grow. The youth market is fairly well covered with everything from One Piece to Card Captor Sakura. Art manga is also growing with books like A Druken Dream and Ayako. Of course, I think we need more josei and yuri manga, but that may just be my personal preference. However, I am the sort of person who supports manga with my dollars instead of merely complaining, so...

For god's sake

2011-04-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

Liscence the series that the Fruits Basket mangaka did after Fruits Basket. Even if they don't achieve mega best seller status, I think they'd have respectable sales.

Okazu's comments are interesting as Erika implores fans to think deeply about the market.

Tokyopop Falls

2011-04-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

As they say the end of an era. I will post deeper thoughts later, but for now, I'm sad that just when Gakuen Alice was getting a plot(vol 16 was almost all plot, a very rare occurrence!), Tokyopop has to close down.

Gatcha Gatcha 1-4

2011-04-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yuri is a cheerful girl who believes the best of everyone, and especially in love. So obviously, she's taken advantage of by tons of losers from drug addicts to domestic abusers. Motoko is a tall, beauty, the Madonna of the school. So obviously, she eats squid jerky, beats the crap out of half of the guys she encounters, and is involved in an incestous lesbian love triangle.

OK, maybe not obviously. But that's what makes Gatcha Gatcha so fun. Rounding out the cast is Yabe, Yuri's object de drool of the day, who has a connection to Motoko, Hirao, a nice guy in the internet sense, and Sekine,a 'maidenly boy' who Motoko says "is MY bitch". This is the sort of ensemble in which you don't need a deep plot, jut let them bounce off of each other, but there is a plot here- mostly involving Motoko's soap operaesque past.

It's good fun with many twists, turns, and stabbings, but I'd like to know more about Yuri. Why is she almost suicidally devoted to love? Is it just her lack of visible parents or is there some horror in her past that we don't know about yet?

It seems that volume 5 will be dealing with Motoko's past as well, so we may or may not find out.

Yet again, you're not entitled to manga

2011-04-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

You're not entitled to steal the books off the shelves, you're not entitled to have the volumes the instant they get off the press in Japan. (although I wonder about people who always need the newest thing the second it's created- they don't have a backlog at all? I have anime that I haven't watched from Christmas! I have not seen all of Wandering Son, and I love Wandering Son! I've finally gotten through most of my April release manga, but there's tons of stuff I haven't been able to read.)

Alisa Valdes, Chica Lit and Humanity.

2011-03-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

Alisa Valdes went on a long twitter rant yesterday on race, literature, and categorization. Here's a sample tweet
"Dear James Patterson: The white community is so proud of you for writing our white stories. Sound absurd? Quit doing it 2me.

and another:

The idea that Latinos are homogeneous and predictable because of a US-manufactured "ethnicity" is morally repugnant & makes us all subhuman.

And on her facebook, she notes that "I hate all labels. Always have. I find them simplistic and moronic. That's why I tried in my "chica lit" novels to deconstruct the Latino myth"

Now, these tweets aren't the full conversation, read back in her timeline and read her entire update if you want her entire message.

But I think you can get the gist of some of her arguments. I think there's a lot of truth in her discussion of the diversity of Latinos and the artificiality of racial categories.

(although I was reminded of how in this story, they discussed how Latin@s in the second generation tended to identify as 'white' less often- and I think that's because in this country, they aren't 'white' - although to me, 'white' means that there aren't widespread hysterias about how your group is RUINING THE NATION and THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW against whatever your group is supposedly doing whether it's speaking Spanish, being poor and having a kid, or drinking beer*)

However, I think there's a huge hunger for stories of more than just the pale and male, and so when people see those stories, they say "write more! write this new Chica lit I've discovered!" Categories may be invented, but those invented categories structure our lives. We want to see our experiences in literature, and thus the categorization. When we go to the shelf for Latina lit, African American lit, Asian American lit, we go there to finally see ourselves reflected in the pages of books.

I don't think that these categories mean the works aren't universal- I've never set foot in the Caribbean, but the Carribbean influenced stories of Nalo Hopskinson speak to me. I've never been Chinese, but I love Amy Tan. I've even read Valdes' work(I was entertained). Categories don't mean that we aren't all human, and at the heart, we all want safety, warmth and happiness, but they color the ways we get to these human universals.

Categories of stories about who a people are are just as valid as categories about whether a story involves dragons and swords or spaceships. We go to the shelves to learn something deeper about that experience-whether it's ethnic experience or the imagined experience of wacky god sex.

We may be surprised about what we find.

*The Irish and Germans became white when we no longer had to hear about how their beer drinking ways and/or Catholism were breaking the country's fabric apart.

My Eyes Just Rolled So Fucking Hard

2011-03-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is a stupid article. Selections are in bold.

My response to his question was that given the cynicism in which much of indie film traffics, the movie is revolutionary in that it's about love and gratitude, and that it's hopeful not bleak. ("Crowd-pleasing" is a curious designation, if you think about it -- shouldn't every movie be "crowd-pleasing?" Who are movies for, after all?) No matter how dark things may get in a story, I feel it's the responsibility of the storyteller to leave the audience with at least a shred of hope.

Uh..a hopeful movie is 'revolutionary'? No, that's pretty common. Everything from Children of Heaven to Kiki's Delivery Service to Daughters of the Dust to Being The Diablo have grace and hope and gratitude in them. Maybe he's just in a particularly bleak scene, but you don't even have to look very hard to see cheery films that aren't playing at every multiplex. And it's not the storyteller's responsibility to have anyone feel hope. It's the storyteller's responsibility to tell the story the best that they are able- whether it's a happy story or a sad one or somewhere in between.

The dark and fearful stuff is no less 'true' than its opposite, it just announces itself in a louder, more insistent manner. Joy speaks in more of a whisper and you sometimes have to lean in a bit to hear it. But it's always there for those who can get quiet enough to hear it. I'm not a pollyanna -- I get that the world is rife with horrors. But I also know the world is rife with everything else. There's this great Carlos Castaneda quote: "We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same." I really believe that. Negativity is so reflexive in our society that it takes great vigilance to train yourself anew. But to me it feels worth it.

I really hate it when folks assume that the way it is for them is the way it is for everyone. For me, happiness is a heavy lift. I have to work hard, constantly trying to eat right, exercise right, sleep right, think right. It's a full time job to be 'happy'. And negativity is NOT rife in our society. See this video. Really. You have to work hard to AVOID mandatory cheer.

I've decided that if I'm going to spend years writing, prepping, casting, shooting, editing, sound mixing, color correcting, and publicizing a movie, I'm going to want it to be the kind of movie I would love, where people grow up and get out of their own ways and open up to something bigger than their own egoic needs. Not because this is a truer version of reality, but because it's the reality I wish to grow, the kind of world in which I would most like to live. When so much else is calling attention to the dark and dysfunctional, I just don't feel it's my job to contribute. Too many people are already on the case.

I agree about making the sort of movie you'd want to watch, but on the other hand, to make things less dark and dysfunctional, sometimes you got to know those things are there. So often we pull ourselves into a bubble- don't watch the news, it's got bad news on it, don't be around people who are sad; they are 'toxic', and we end up not knowing what's going on, and then we can't act to make things better if we don't know that things are happening.

And in a story, whether film or other media, sometimes you have to go there- to the bleakness, to the darkness, even if only a minute. I want a fully realized world in your fiction- the brighter the light, the darker the shadow. If I see only light, and no shadow, I start to wonder what I'm not seeing, and I'm out of your story.

Also, happy endings are much happier to me, and satisfy me more if it seems like I can empathize with the characters invovled- and really, I can't emphasize with shiny happy people. I really just feel distant from characters like that. Occasionally, it feels like our characters have gotten a feelingsotomy and never feel sad for more than five seconds. This bothers me if say, their father, who raised them, and they were close to, dies, and they have one scene of sadness and then are happy and fine the rest of the story. This always strikes me as false and throws me out of the story.

I also need the happy ending to be 'earned' by the characters. So The Dark Lord of Baby Stabbing was defeated? I'll like it more if our characters sacrificed something- maybe love or their right leg or the life of their heroic sidekick to defeat him. I also like it when characters who have had their whole life's purpose being defeating the Dark Lord of Baby Stabbing grapple with what that means for them.

I wouldn't like it at all if our hero just won easily, maybe with his Ring of Deux Ex Author, and lost nothing, and everyone is happy. Both of those endings count as 'happy endings', but one seems emotionally real and satisfies me, and the other makes me want to ask for my money back. So it's more than just THOSE NEGATIVE MEANIES HATE HAPPY ENDINGS, and I'm a BOLD REVOLUTIONARY FOR WRITING A MOVIE THAT IS POSITIVE.

No, get off of it. You're not striking a blow for happiness and flowers and whatever, if you make a fricking movie. Especially if it sucks. You're making a movie. Burst your self importance bubble,please.

What I Think About Bunny Drop vol 3

2011-03-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed it. (link because it's $7 at amazon for some reason) At first, I was worried that the plot wouldn't be advanced, since the story goes off into tangents about say, Daikichi's coworker, but luckily, it slips back into place, developing the relationships between Kouki and Rin, Daikichi and Masako. I find the tension between Daikichi and Masako interesting. Daikichi doesn't seem to understand how Masako could leave her child in his grandfather's care, but it seems evident to the reader or at least to me. I'm not sure I could give up my dreams and struggle for the sake of someone else. She was pressured into keeping Rin, and had some resentment over that, but she always saw how grandpa raised her well and faithfully, so she could rest easy that way. She remarked that how Daikichi and grandpa act around Rin was the same. Even if she feels guilt or sadness, she knows her child is well taken care of. She may bury herself in work, but I don't think she deserves the snap judgment Daikichi had of her in volume 2.

Of course, maybe he feels guilty about taking a child from his mother(he mentions this in volume 2) and feels that he has to demonize Masako for now. I'm sure his relationship with Rin will soon be so strong that he can accept her mother as well.

Oresama Teacher and Eensy Weensy Monster

2011-03-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Oresama Teacher bothers me. There's a lot of cookie cutter "girl meets this jerk! Oh, but she really knows him! Crap! She's bumped into him at school" scenes in this first volume. Then again, this could be pretty good. Mafuyu is...an idiot. And Hayasaka is just as bad. Just as long as they don't go overboard on Mafuyu's luurve for Takaomi, this could be good fun.

Eensy Weensy Monster is of course nothing like Tsuda's masterpiece Kare Kano. What really hamstrings this series is its length. Nanoha has some interesting friends, and I'd like to see more of them, and the relationship between Hazuki and Nanoha's brother could also be developed more as well. The monster metaphor gets tedious even within these two short volumes, but I'd like to see a little more development of say, Nanoha's inferority complex. I can't complain too much, I only bought this because I like to look at Tsuda's art.

Borders is more important than I thought

2011-03-08T18:08:00.001-08:00

Apparently Borders was Toykopop's biggest cutomer. Even if I can't find Oresama Teacher or Eensy Weensy Monster(*blushes* stupid title, cute manga) on the Border's shelves....*sigh*

I bought House of Five Leaves instead. I love the 'ugly' art, the character studies, the many threads of obligation and desire that drag Masa into the Five Leaves... I want to buy the second volume and then read the whole third volume and then buy the third volume when it comes out.

Noone's Paying You to Believe in the Beauty of Your Dreams

2011-03-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

I don't think that Stu Levy is bipolar manic and addicted like Charlie Sheen, even though his business decisions are horrible.

I think he's got an overdose of Americanitis. The whole I'm thinking positive! I'm ignoring you negative haters thing is rampant here. And the sad thing is that 'negative haters' are what other people call 'customers' or 'people who know what they are talking about'. Many companies have gone under when they stopped serving the customers they had, and started chasing after customers that may or may not exist. The average manga customer has plenty of companies vying for their dollar, and without skilled editors, you can't produce the quality or quantity you need to compete.

Keep it simple! I get the feeling that people watching reality shows on Hulu aren't going to become paying manga customers.

People who say "You know, the world doesn't need another reality show" aren't haters. They are people who are telling the truth. Ignore them at your peril.

Focus on Manga

2011-03-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Layoffs at Tokyopop Really, instead of useless reality shows or crappy low budget movies, focus on manga. Focus on quality. My Lady Kanako book has plenty of typos, even though it costs more than a similar book by another publisher. There's a recession on, and focusing on what made you a viable company in the first place may be the first path to weathering it. And making it so I can read old backlist manga on my kindle. But definitely, we don't need more reality shows.

I Haven't Heard Of It Is Not Useful Information

2011-02-15T17:17:00.000-08:00

This little article about people who haven't heard of Arcade Fire is one data point. I haven't heard of it isn't useful information because the entertainment universe is so large that one percent of the avaliable entertainment can occupy your entire entertainment time and money budget for a year. I have about 400 DVDs on my netflix list. I will probably only get to 100 of them this year, and by that time, hundreds of other DVDs will have been released.

And of course, watching movies, tv shows, and anime are not my only hobbies, and I only have so much time to consume information on these. And even within hobbies, to save time, I will not look up information on every single manga produced in a year. If people I 'know' start talking about a series or I see it either on a physical shelf or reccomended on amazon, I may look up more information. But that of course leaves out many parts of the hobby- I'm much less likely to hear about GIANT BOOBS OF THE DEAD than Sensitive Exploration of Teen Angst: Now With Bishies. So me not having heard of a certain anime tells you nothing more than what websites I read or what someone might have mentioned in passing on twitter.

Another issue is that to be a hit, you can sell a million or half a million, but even just America has 300 million people, so the vast majority doesn't even have to know something exists for it to be a huge hit. With hundreds of channels, and the entire internet, it's not important whether we've heard of Arcade Fire or Princess Jellyfish or Chopped, but whether you bring full enjoyment to whatever you consume.

Complaining About Princess Jellyfish

2011-02-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hulu link for reference. Ok, I admit that I watched all 11 episodes. I grumbled about how we end up with makeovers in every show about a girl that isn't super duper hot, and how if this was a show about male geeks, there would be no makeovers at all. In fact, attractive girls would be inexplicably attracted to these dudes!

Besides that, I just get a huge feeling that something is missing here. I think I would have liked more emphasis on Tsukimi's emotional growth and grief for her mother, and maybe her growing to have feelings for Kuranosuke, or realizing that Shu is a jerk. I'd like to see our 'nuns' fleshed out more. The SAVE THE APARTMENT BUILDING story line ended in a deus ex machina, so it made it feel like all of Tsukimi and Kuranosuke's work, and poorly thought through plans were for nothing.

I don't get it...

2011-02-06T14:26:00.001-08:00

THESE ANIME CHARACTERS WOULDN'T MAKE IT IN REAL LIFE!

Dude, real life does not consist entirely of people who are non annoying, smart and sane. Even the real work world does not consist of people who are 'the ideal'. Annoying hot heads, the socially dense, the cowardly and the mentally ill exist in the real world with varying amounts of success, whether we measure it as having huge amounts of money, fitting in in the dysfunctional corporate milieu or having friends and family that adore you.

If we're talking about the unrealistic parts of anime, I'd go first for "dude, those giant robots aren't possible, especially since they are fueled by dragons" or "her tits are in fact bigger than her head". We could discuss how yelling out your attacks would alert your enemy and not do anything, or how dudes who try to rape you all the time in fact are not your best bet for a romantic partnership.

A good exploration of rapist and rapee in love, seme and uke dynamics, or even how the most plain and dull guys have tons of extremely attractive girls crawling all over them would be an interesting exploration of how unrealistic anime is on the characterization front. All we have here is "I don't like the character, so they wouldn't survive in real life". WEAKSAUCE.

Black Bird 7 and Gakuen Alice 15

2011-02-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Black Bird is a manga that gives you blue balls, even if you have no balls. Misao and Kyo continue to not have sex for this entire book. As everyone predicted, nothing occurs to break the status quo. (Last book it was WILL KYO HAVE SEX WITH SOME DRAGON DUDE'S SISTER. We all knew he wouldn't. He didn't.) This book it's WILL KYO HAVE SEX WITH MISAO SO HE CAN DEFEAT SOME DUDE?! (No. He won't. I bet Kyo and Misao *never* have sex.) Really, this book's a big tease. They could string this out forever with more SHOCKING THINGS THAT WON'T HAPPEN, and I worry they will.

--

Gakuen Alice 15 stops our hope that the plot will be advanced cold with a lot of wacky hijinks and boring romance. I counted about 5 pages in which the plot advanced(OK, I didn't literally count). I want to know way more about why there's a horrible child abusing school and way way way less about how Mikan bravely holds up under the fact that some people she doesn't know believe rumors about her. Really, kid, your life is in danger. Extremely dangerous and crazy people have their eye on you. They have superhuman powers. Let's worry more about that, and less about whether you can win Miss Popularity,ok?

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

2011-01-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

Is chapter 19. and it is an awesome chapter full of violence and revelations. Clones fight clones, the nature of destiny is debated, and Shiro's face appears everywhere. Rockswell continues to be a psychopath, and the story is told in no-nonsense grids, reminiscent of American comics. I think volume 3 is the strongest part of Afterschool Charisma so far as the various hints being thrown around finally are paying off.

ETA: I'm sort of weirded out by those who expect this to be a comedy. Yes, Clone High was a comedy, and it was hilarious. But it's not like all stories on this theme are supposed to be comedies.

In Defense of Afterschool Charisma

2011-01-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I disagree with this review of Afterschool Charisma. The entire point of the manga is that in a different environment, just having the same genetics as someone great won't make you great. Without a kingdom to rule or armies to command, a clone of Elizabeth or Napoleon is just a regular teenager with the equivalent of a big brother whose shoes they can never fill. Volume 2 is mostly a set up for the developments of volume 3( see here under 'volume 3') The expo and the pressure it exerts on the clones is introduced,and most of this volume's scenes are stolen by the quirkily insane Rockswell, who doesn't think much of clones, and his little tag along Pandora. The belief of the elite that clones are just tools for publicity or power are shown well in the party scenes of the expo.

To avoid spoiling volume 3, let's just say that you'll be glad to know the backstory about almighty dolly and about the mental fragility of many of the clones when the bullets start flying.

About the actual book, it's still well made, and the fanservice is appealing without being too distracting, but I wish there were more extra mini comics. Maybe in volume 3's print version.

Lady Kanako

2011-01-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

I've been reading the Secret Notes of Lady Kanako, as I'm probably one of the only people to buy a manga after seeing it get positive reviews online. It's an amusing little collection of one shots in which our cynical heroine starts off by noting that she's just transferred to a new school, and how she doesn't want to get involved with people. Inevitably, she gets involved to amusing results. By the fifth story, I started to wonder why her parents let her transfer to a different school every few months and the fact that Tsubaki keeps showing up becomes increasingly hard to believe. It's fun, but I'd rather have a continuing plot in the second volume. Maybe stay at the same school for two chapters, and see how Kanako's schemes play out in more depth?

ETA: I thought about how the world of Lady Kanako is a set piece like the typical 'cheerleaders and jocks teen movie high school', and also, about how Tokyopop needs to fricking edit, since I counted at least 5 typos, and these books are MORE expensive than the higher quality Viz books. Stop wasting money on crap no one likes and up your quality Tokyopop.

For Fuck's Sake, Buy a Book

2011-01-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

Create a job- buy a book. I'll often support web comics and other stuff by buying since I know that the economy is so rough. One more book sold is more opportunity for someone to make a living, and also for auxiliary jobs- editor, publisher, print dude, dude who puts books on shelves. So don't be a cheap fucking wad. Buy a book today. I did. (OK, it was Alice in the Country of Hearts Vol 4, all of which were near the front of the bookstore instead of in their designated place. But I bought a book like object, which is what counts.)

People think about Fruits Basket

2011-01-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

Personally, I like Shigure/Akito/Kureno due to the squickiness involved. Now that's an unhealthy relationship. I tend to imagine a thought bubble over Akito's head in the whole Shigure confessing his eternal love scene saying "I don't know what's going on, but I'm getting a whole lot of attention!"

The Last of the New Year's Haul- Alice in the Country of Hearts

2011-01-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Today I read the last of my big holiday haul- Alice in the Country of Hearts 2 and 3. While I wish there were slightly fewer bishies, and more female characters, but then again, harems are popular, so we'll end up with that sort of imbalance, although too much focus on romance gets dull. Luckily, the book doesn't get too bogged down in BISHIES and FUNNAY and actually moves the plot along a bit. Personally, I hope that Alice never ends up with any of the stalker sociopaths that are presented as possible matches in this book. Blood Dupre and Peter White are the ones I'm least keen on, but there are no good options for Alice here. Alice is my favorite character- smart and a little wry.

The Wizard of Oz and Sand Chronicles

2011-01-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

I finally treated myself by buying the Wizard of Oz graphic novel. I don't have much to say about it. The beautiful art, the lovely storyline(yes, the dialogue is a bit stilted at points) all make me say you should go out and buy this and recommend it to all the libraries in your area. It's the sort of thing American comics needs- fantastic family stories.

I was not as impressed with Sand Chronicles vol 10. The time capsule story has some moments, and the school play was cute, but I wanted to see more of characters like Shika, Fuji, even Fuji and Shika's mom. The little story at the end with Chi's birth was good. I'm a Sand Chronicles completist, though, and it's nice to have them all, even if this volume of side stories isn't as good as Volume 9, which gave us more insight into what had come before the main story. The end of this volume was a bit sentimental for me. One of the things I liked about the series are the bits and pieces where maybe everything didn't turn out happily, but everyone was alright- such as the year 26 stories for Ann. Going back to an old fashioned moral seems a bit off after that.

Seiho 3 and Ceres

2011-01-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

I recently read all of Ceres: Celestrial Legend, and really, think that Viz should give it the VizBig treatment. It's one of those dark plotty manga that I adore so much. Plot summary: On her 16th birthday, Aya learns that she has a dark side- a 'celestial maiden' named Ceres who is pissed about the theft of her 'celestial robes'. It takes all of Aya's cunning to keep Ceres from killing everyone she loves and keep one step ahead of her own family, which is desperate to kill or capture her. There's the requisite mooning over boring mysterious guy, but even that is pulled into the plot in a way that seems seamless and not forced at all.

Aya is my favorite character- gutsy and devoted to the ones she loves. I also like Yuhi, who despite playing second fiddle to boring mysterious Touya, manages to be gutsy and bold. This series, I should warn you, has much violence and some near rape scenes. There are some romantic sex scenes in which you can't really see anything, but some may be annoyed with the OMG, WE'RE DOING IT BECAUSE WE'RE SO IN LUUUURVE stuff. Series like this are why I'm always confused when people talk about shoujo being sweet. We don't generally think of shonen as sweet, even with a million Cute Girls: No Plot series around. In fact, when I read shoujo, I am not ever surprised if I end up reading about child abuse, rapist and rapee in love, or supernatrual forces tearing someone's body apart. I guess some people are socialized to think 'girl=sweet' and so they think shoujo is sweet, despite tons of evidence to the contrary.

I've been reading Seiho vol 3, which is a send up of some shoujo tropes. In this volume, there is "girl dresses up as guy" and "yaoi fan girl". The girl dresses up as guy story is fairly funny, and Miyagi is pretty genre savvy. The yaoi fan girl story is typical, but elicited some chuckles. I personally don't think having two girls named Erika in the same country is too big of a coincidence, but then again "Erica' is a common name here, so it's not shocking to me. The Nogami and Fuku story apparently was changed(author's side note). I bet the original ending was very cynical, and more funny than the sappy ending here, but I'm more of a fan of Nogami's assholeness than of romance.

Indie Games Vs The Heavy Hitters

2010-12-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

I have mostly stopped buying games for $60. I'll only buy say, CiV or FF13- games I really anticipate for $60, and that's maybe one time per year I'll drop that much on a game. For indies,$10 is my sweet point, because some indie games are really short. $20 is pushing it, and I'll be waiting for a sale. For $20, I can get a DS game (used) or one of the huge backlog of PS2 games. I actually prefer 2d graphics or retro style game play. Unless the voice acting is stellar, I don't need voices. So a lot of the things that push up the price such as fancy graphics, motion controls, or whatever, I don't really have enough interest in to invest $60 in.

I used to have a lower threshold, but as I've added more hobbies, and more importantly, as real life priorities have increased, I have less money and less time to spend on games.

I think that a lot of times, the major labels so to speak, forget that not every game needs bells and whistles, but every game needs solid gameplay. With a lower price, I'm not so annoyed if it's not an amazing game, but at $60 per pop, it has to be the best game I've ever played in my life.

Alisa Valdes Explains Why Tv Sucks

2010-12-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

4 layered interesting Latina women of all races and backgrounds become stereotyped over sexualized cardboard cutouts. The reason people liked Dirty Girls Social Club(I read it, and liked it) was that the women were interesting characters! I don't have a Latina background, but really, we're not as stupid as TV creators believe. Our worlds are more diverse than theirs. I see young Latinas, young black women, young white women, young Asian women, young Arab women moving forward and taking charge of their futures. We write, we study math and science, we create art, we have friends and family in our lives that are as or more important than the fleeting attentions of a man. Really, get it together, tv writers!

Manga Criticism and Skip Beat 22

2010-12-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

The dynamic in the thread is interesting- a woman states that some may not want to deal with mansplainers, stalkers and other wackos while discussing manga, and some dude is like OMG, YOU'RE OVERREACTING!

Now, personally, I don't intellectually criticize manga because really, as a person who has no idea about the cultural context of manga, and who while I do sometimes enjoy vague 'intellectual' grumblings, I'm not interested enough to put much effort into creating them. Even if I wrote a 3000 word essay about the similarities between Tohru and Akito and how that contrast exemplifies the theme of redemption in Fruits Basket, really, is that even necessary?

I think we just have our own fan culture and folks need to try to understand it before they comment on it. For example, most of us rely on translations, so even if the stories are 30 years old, many of us have not read them- we have to rely on whether we can find either illegal translations or the good will of a company. Even manga that was released in the early 00s can be difficult to find in translation, and the conversations of people who read the official volumes only versus those who don't can diverge rather widely due to the time lag in between.

Instead of going on and on about theory, I'll review Skip Beat volume 22. I'm glad that we've gotten back to what's interesting in this manga- Kyoko's growth as an actress. Ren's acting lessons of course are shoehorned in here for Ren/Kyoko fans, but luckily, that doesn't detract much from Kyoko's amazing turnaround. I also liked how Chidori represents one possible future for Kyoko that she has avoided using her talent, and her luck. I was slightly surprised that Kyoko was able to apply makeup so well due to the fact she doesn't usually use it, but then again, that's within supension of disbelief. Overall, a satisfactory volume.

Ouran Host Club 15

2010-11-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

This volume finally gets down to the romance that Haruhi/Tamaki fans have been wanting. It's sweet and a little silly as befits the couple. Fans of the twins individuating will also be pleased with the funny love triangle competition that Hikaru and Tamaki are in, even though we all know who will win. Also, time seems to be moving forward in a big way- after several springs where time was ignored in the Ouran-verse, finally, the third years are graduating. Luckily, this gives us more scenes in which Hunny shows more personality than just CUTE! BUNNY! BUNNY! and Mori shows his emotions nonverbally, but loudly.

So this volume was worth it. I like the light touch of this series. Now, it is really difficult to create a comedy series that is long running and yet does not get old. Gags have a life time, and that lifetime is short. Filler episodes, such as the Alice in Wonderland chapter we saw much earlier in the series, are usually used to lengthen a series, but more than one filler story a volume is too much for me. Luckily, Hatori manages to put in enough plot teasers to keep me reading, and finally, some of these are starting to bear fruit.

I also like how the theme of the strong friendship within the club wasn't abandoned just because romantic love was revealed. I get the feeling that in the future, the host club members will continue to be friends, even as they pair off, even as they go to different majors in college, even as they become business partners or rivals, and that's a beautiful thing to express in manga.

I'm not the only one!

2010-11-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who makes up stories while playing video games. Games seem meant for narrative to be placed on them. Whether you're fighting the onslaught of the great alliance between the Aztecs, French and Zulus or readying your chasm spell against the Shadowbringer, you're the star of a story. It may not be newsworthy, but it's interesting-- a snapshot of how we live now.

I read an article critical of Farmville recently as well, and I thought "Duh! Farmville is escapism and not in the way this author is talking about.". I mean, I played Farmville's ancestor Harvest Moon into the ground, and I must say that pretending to farm is a very meditative and restful experience. And yes, I made up my own stories- "yes, just selling my pineapples! Better run over to the Inn to give Ann some eggs".

Castle Waiting Vol 2, Powers Collection 2 and How to Get Your Boyfriend Into Comics

2010-11-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

I read Castle Waiting Voloume Two, and while there are many delightful moments(such as the pure joy in how Medley draws little Pindar) and sad moments, such as Dr. Fell's origin story, so to speak, I get the feeling that something is unfinished. It feels like someone tore out the middle of a graphic novel and handed it to me. Many threads are left hanging. I'm not saying that it's a bad story- I just want to read the end of it.

I also got the second Powers hardcover.
It's the Powers I remember from high school. It really does benefit from the extra large treatment- the world is very immersive, and the colors pop. It's what I love about Powers- the fact that they even ask the question "So how would people really react if people just donned costumes and became crime fighting vigilantes?" Of course, the exploration of fame, power and the media is very welcome. They also printed the infamous(OK, only to me) 'blowjob letter'. Yes, that was worth every penny for the blast of the past. If you've never read Powers before, you should still get it- it allows us to see some of the daring do and glitter of the super hero, and there's still the grit and grime of the reality behind everything- government experiments, shadowy terrorist groups, murder, etc.

I often talk about manga here- but it's not like I don't like American comics, or even superheroes. I just want a straight forward story- I don't want to worry about what happened in one book in 1965. With Powers, the history is right there- one story. Plain and simple.

---

I don't have any advice for getting your boyfriend into comics. But I have an observation. For all the articles, poorly made 'games' and general talk about getting your girlfriend into [nerd hobby here], I've noticed a lack of discussion about getting your boyfriend into [hobby X]. I'm sure many women would love their boyfriends to play tennis with them, play against them in CiV, and help them sew an entire line of purses for the craft fair that is this weekend, but I don't see a lot of "get your boyfriend into Mafia Wars" discussions or guides that suggest "man friendly" books to get your man into reading.

I think it's because men are considered whole people with their own minds, not convenient accessories. There's the generic 'girlfriend' who would love hobby X if you gave her the 'right' game/comic/whatever, not a specific person who is probably quite busy with her own hobbies(yes, women have their own hobbies, even if they are devalued), her work, and the leisure gap between men and women.

Women don't expect to mold their male partners into book loving, hikers who love sewing and Full Metal Alchemist. Why is that?

Zot! and this month's Afterschool Charisma.

2010-11-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

I bought Zot! on impulse. I was looking for manga at the ol' Barnes and Nobles, and wandered over to the American comics side. I hadn't found anything, and was going to wander away when I looked up. I thought I saw something on the top shelf. It was Zot!

Anyway, I've read it through already, and I loved it, but had a feeling that something was missing. That themes such as the historylessness of Zot's world or the slow demise of Jenny's parent's marriage, and Butch's change from a cheerful participant in the adventures(OK, often in the shape of a monkey, but still) to drinking a little too much, and not really being part of the gang anymore seem hinted at, but not really fully explored.

But then I realized something. This collection is less than 600 pages. That is slightly less than 3 volumes of manga. When I realized that, I'm now extremely impressed that Scott McCloud managed to create such a deep and moving story in so little space.

Now for this month's Afterschool Charisma. The expo is finally here! And Ikkuyu(whose background is finally explained here) talks about an interesting point- the fact that the original people acheived what they did in very specific environments and times. Genetics are only a small part of who people are. This chapter is also a good set up for a wham chapter next month(I hope it's not too delayed with the holidays coming up)

Someone else remembers this

2010-11-17T07:08:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, I watched this Minky Momo OAV[unsubbed, on an old video tape] and I've never forgotten it. A slow animated meditation on the passing of time. I'm not going to say that anime like this can't be created today, but I still think it's important to watch older anime. Then again, maybe it's just my very slow anime viewing style. Some people are at the cutting edge, watching the new Japanese season's shows as they come out, even if they are all otaku wank fantasies. I am slower- rewatching Miyazaki films that came out over a quarter century ago, finally getting around to watching the hot shows of five and ten years ago. I am like this in manga as well. I am more current, as far as American fan time goes, but I read manga over and over. I want to savor the stories, the characters. Some things don't go out of style.

But I understand other ways of doing things. A lot of people enjoy the community of talking about the latest releases. I simply can't move at that pace.

PC Master Race Fail

2010-11-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

Some douchebags are all like PC rulz j00! PC Master Race FTW! Now, why this is pretty racist sounding has been explored quite adquetely. But I'd like to notice that PC games stereotyped as being played by your mom aren't being considered as part of the 'PC games that are so much better than wimpy console games' crap.

I think it's all about keeping games the preserve of adolescent like boys. Games that can be played in short bursts to accommodate the schedules of adults with demanding jobs and women dealing with the leisure gap are stigmtized as not 'real' games, even though in the past, games like the simple rpgs, hidden object games[descended from Myst, I believe] farm sims[I have a theory that Harvest Moon started the farm sim genre] and puzzle games that are being called 'casual' and 'not real' games were considered 'real' when they weren't believed to be played by women or older people, but now that we realize that they do, we think they aren't 'real' games.

I think that the definition of 'real' games will soon narrow so much that only first person shooters with tons of gore on the PC will be considered real games, and even CiV wouldn't be considered a real game because it's too easy to play or some mess. The faster we decide that gaming is gaming, the less silliness there will be.

There are many things that don't need a movie

2010-10-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

and Fruits Basket is one of them! Why doesn't Fruits Basket need a movie? Well, the first reason is that very few things really need a movie. The part of Fruits Basket I loved required time. It took time to develop relationships, it took time for us to understand the Sohma family dynamics- until volume 13 or so, we didn't know Akito's role or why her word was absolute, for example. What movies don't have is time.

Another reason is that Fruits Basket has loads of characters. There are 14 cursed people- all 12 of the original Chinese zodiac, Kyo, the cat, and Akito, the god. The interactions between these loads of characters is why Fruits Basket is popular. It's not because of people bumping into girls and turning into animals! Nor is it because of Hollywood style romance. We see friendship grow first, and then, tenderness, and then, love. The emotional weight of that such as it is can't really be expressed in a love montage.

There are other issues, such as the fact that the Sohma compound is very well...Japanese. I can imagine Shigure's house in America, and maybe the school, but not the compound. I of course wonder why every movie has to be set in America or fantasyland. There are so many great stories in America- women's stories, black people's stories, Arab people's stories, Latin@ stories, Native American stories- that aren't being told in film. Why go to some other country and butcher their comic book by Americanizing them when we have so many great ideas here?

More people reacting in pure horror

More about the Hunger Games

2010-10-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

And BTW: I don't want to be assured that a bunch of 'off screen' characters are people of color, or that we can just imagine that everyone is any color. I want to 'see' it. Even the little note that Rue is dark skinned is enough for me. If you just go with "the red haired, green eyed girl" I'm not seeing anyone who looks like me. When an author goes out of their way to not mention skin color, except for one or two times, our mental landscape may end up not very colorful.

Now, for movie rumors! A white Rue would be awful. I'll accept a white Katniss, even though I'd prefer someone more ambiguous. BUT! I don't want a Katniss that can't seem like she is fighting desperately for survival. And for god's sake, don't take out the action and replace it with boring boring romance scenes, please?

The Hunger Games Bothers Me

2010-10-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Panem used to be America, and this book is set years and years into the future, so where are all the PoC? We see maybe two people who are mentioned to be dark skinned, but there should be a huge amount- in 2050, we'll be majority minority.

I like how Mockingjay never forgot that they are in the middle of a war. There's not much time for kissing and worrying about which boy to date when there's a countrywide rebellion on, people are dying every day,etc. I don't think Katniss could have chosen Gale after she saw how his anger and hatred towards the capitol had twisted him.

Seiho Boys School

2010-10-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

I got Seiho Boys School vol 2 and the Unseen Academicals at Borders for $10 total. Seiho Boys School continued to be fairly interesting- less crude humor this time, but the bittersweet romance, and women with very unique personalities continued, and so I'll continue to get this. BTW: I liked the side bar about the 'foreigner' with the kanji tattoo.

People who like Japanese art are often accused of idealizing Japan. Now, I don't idealize Japan, and wouldn't like to go there, but manga is global culture, like Spiderman, or Harry Potter.

By The Way

2010-10-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

Tokyopop wastes more money on stuff no one likes, and the mystery of why Princess Ai keeps coming out is solved.

BTW: Gakuen Alice vol 13 avoids doing something wacky like advancing the plot. But Gakuen Alice 14 sounds like it might actually advance the plot. Oddly, these volumes are coming out fairly quickly- it seems like it'd be 2 months between volumes instead of 3 or 4.

Also, Slam Dunk has very appealing art.

Black Bird Vol 6 wasn't that Bad

2010-10-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of dropping it after vol 5, but luckily, this volume doesn't have as much sappy romance and crap about how much Misao and Kyo luuuuuurve each other, and the plot actually advances. Backstory is revealed! I would like to hear more about the family dynamics of Kyo's evil demonic family and much much less about lurve. You two are an official couple- we don't need to hear about their lurve every five minutes. If they must go on about their deep and fated love, they should do it only when there is random nudity. Of course we know that the big OMG! WILL KYO SLEEP WITH SOMEONE ELSE?! cliffhanger will not in fact occur, and even the author is bored with her boring boring covers. So it's a mixed bag, but it's enough to keep me reading.

Civilization IV is still the best civilization game

2010-09-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

As I loved the espionage ,race for religion, and the fact that you can turn off vassal states. However, despite how annoying I find city states[I need to remember who is allied with who? Is this high school? You barely give me shit. can't I just crush you? Please?] , and how much I love to go into people's cities, steal their technology and cause a revolt, I do like the fact that there are NOT giant roving stacks of doom, that you can discover natural wonders, that you can buy new land tiles, that the resources are limited, and the new civics while not as good as civ 4 is still a good system- I like buying things with culture points. I am confused about some mechanics like 'why can't I just put my settler on a boat so I can get across the ocean quickly instead of embarking him and he crawls across the ocean and I have to find my frigate to protect him..." I do miss the randomness of the events and religions, and being able to crush barbarians and add them to my civilization instead of just getting a few gold which you can barely use to bribe anyone.

The graphics are good as far as the land is concerned, but I don't like how the units are depicted on the map. They don't seem 'solid' somehow, which is probably just my computer not being a gaming computer. However, some images have a real charm to them, such as the leader images,which are more attractive than the leader images from Civ4.

Eh,I'll play it for a few hundred hours.

Someone else loves civ 4 too.

Why Gakuen Alice is a Terrible Manga and Why I'll Keep Getting It

2010-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

Gakuen Alice is a terrible manga- a mishmash of a manga which can't decide whether it wants to be a fun magic school manga, or an angsty chronicle of the school de child abuse. It also has way too much creepy pre teen romance in it. We get way too many wacky hijinks involving decorating Christmas trees, and way too little about important things such as say, someone's dead[not literally] little sister recovering from her amnesia and blindness! The dramatic arcs often seem rushed, despite there being plenty of time for filler stories. And there's the age issue. Now, I give a lot of leeway to manga about realism. However, speeches about how we're all going to protect the future together are usually not common among the tween set, so it's best to confine them to once every two volumes. The effect gets lost when it's pulled out too often- this is why these speeches are usually limited to the most dramatic volumes in other manga.

Not to mention, romance with ten year olds is hard, I know. There are many limitations. One of the limitations is that ten year olds tend to still be in the 'ew cooties' stage- i.e. making out isn't likely, nor are conversations about your rival in love's taste in women. Really, I can't let that slide!

But why will I keep getting such a terrible manga? Well, I just can't give up on learning what happens, and even though it's the sort of story that throws everything that appeals to the audience in- 'hey! let's add some androgynous guys, little kids, obsessive guys who appear nice but have a hidden dark side, cross dressing, etc,etc in there!", there still is potential for the story to lose its scattered desire to appeal to everyone at once, and focus more on whether it wants to be a comedy, a drama or even, urgh, a romance.

*Note: I'm on American fantime, and have only read up to vol. 12.

I feel better now

2010-09-10T09:22:00.001-07:00

about my habit of going to Borders every week if they have a decent coupon. I of course buy the less expensive manga, as the cost of American comics is ridiculous. I can understand Fantagraphics stuff having a higher price point as they are 'art' comics, but commercial works like Spiderman don't need to be $20 for a thin book. I like manga since it's blatently commercial, delivering up my romance, sci fi, and bang zoom at a sensible price.

People are discussing people looking down on shoujo manga because it's girly I say let them look down their noses. Good storytelling and good art remain so whether it's a adventure series about retrieving the robes of a goddess and fighting off evil people who are genetic manipulators or an adventure story about people battling demons.
[The first is Ceres Celestial Legend, the second...every manga ever, but especially DGrayMan] I agree that people think that because something is marketed at teen girls it might be bad, which is silly- teen girls are people foremost. They love action, they love comedy, yes, they love romance, but all of those can be woven into stories that entertain and that enlighten. One loses out on good art if they are narrowly into "It's not marketed to me."

But I guess another issue is the fact that "everyone" is supposed to love "men's" things, but only women can like "women's" things, just like white movies are for "everyone" but "black" movies are for blacks. When we blindly believe things like that, we cut our selves off from good art, and that's inexcusable.

Kudos 2

2010-09-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Yet another game that would be a whole lot better if you could change the race of your character. At least you can mod the game. I should learn how to do game mods, and I wonder if there's a community of modders to make games more diverse, more interesting, and more fun.

I guess he's right

2010-09-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

about why it doesn't matter that Scott Pilgrim didn't make a zillion dollars. I usually don't get too excited about people making movies about things I love as for movies a lot of the complexity and diversity of the book/comic that they made a movie out of disappears- it becomes the same old blockbuster movie with different names on it. But I admit, I loved the Scott Pilgrim movie even though the emphasis moved from romance and growing up to cool action scenes.

I must admit that quirky movies with white 20 somethings won't go away even if Scott Pilgrim bombs, and I'd be more concerned if it was a film with a person of color breaking out of the designated Hollywood roles, and being in an interesting and complex film. I think another reason I'm not concerned is that Scott Pilgrim is near guaranteed to be a cult classic, and the whole point of a cult classic is that it appeals to a few people a lot, rather than a lot of people a little. It may not be the best formula for a blockbuster hit, but not every movie can make 200 million on the first weekend.

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

2010-09-06T18:22:00.000-07:00

Finally! Afterschool Charisma! There's some nice romantic interludes here, setting up Napoleon/Joan of Arc and Rasputin/Himiko, and Shiro's memories of his father are a nice touch too- drawing us into the drama of Shiro's curiosity about his real origins.

Rockswell continues to be a mystery. Why is he the chairman of a school for clones if he has such strong anti clone prejudice? I hope this manga gets into more about the reasoning for the hatred of clones, and the real vision behind the clone research teams. So many mysteries...

More Obsessing About Scott Pilgrim

2010-09-03T03:15:00.000-07:00

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour is the best ending ever. I liked how Scott Pilgrim goes through a retrospective of his important exes all through the novel, as both he and Ramona learn to let go of the past, unlike Gideon who has cryogenically frozen his exes. Since the ending was totally different, and much cooler with Gideon using emotional issues for warfare, it's really hard to compare.

I will obsess about how in the movie the Roxie and Twins fights were visually cooler, although those were in volume 5. I will also state that I love the chapter title "World of Ruin", but does that mean that from before, with Scott being an ass, was the "World of Balance"?

I'm just rambling, but I really have become a giant Scott Pilgrim fangirl. Not so much that I'd ask @radiomaru if fanfic was allowed though! BTW: This Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is great.

Let's Obsess!

2010-09-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a twitpic of some Scott Pilgrim art. I am rereading Scott Pilgrim and thinking about how they collasped and combined events and characters- making Todd punch Knives' highlights out instead of Lynette, since they cut much of Envy's storyline, and they put parts of the Envy/Ramona fight into the Roxy/Scott + Ramona fight. Although I do think that Luca Lee's fight scene was much cooler in the movie.

Hmm..

2010-08-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ways to describe series that work in a way, but in another way, seem not to quite fit. Whoeveer said these first, please consider yourself credited. I wish I had a name for this sort of thing

Fruits Basket- a story about an intergenerational cycle of child abuse

Scott Pilgrim- A meditation on the meaning of adulthood.

Toy Story 1-3- A meditation on loss.

Full Metal Alchemist- A story about overcoming disability and loss.

Top Ten Library Manga

2010-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Someone asked what top ten manga every library should have:

1)Naruto- it's popular for the kiddies.
2)Fruits Basket- I love shoujo.
3)To Terra- A classic that stretches the bounds of manga.
4)Yotsuba&!- All ages
5)Twin Spica- satisfies both literary manga lovers and young people.
6)Full Metal Alchemist- boys adventure.
7)Tramps like Us- Introduction to Josei.
8)Bunny Drop- a sweet story about fatherhood
9)Black Jack- Tezuka is required.
10)The Clique Manga- hahaha. OK, maybe that's a joke. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

Also, top ten american comics:

1)Sandman-a classic
2)Runaways- OK, that's just my interest
3)Fun Home-literary graphic novel
4)Scott Pilgrim- is awesome.
5)Spiderman- for the kiddies.
6)Love and Rockets- a classic
7)Little Lulu- for the kiddies. Also,classic comic fans.
8)Peanuts Collections- those nice fantagraphics ones
9)Stuck Rubber Baby- a rare classic. [gay interest]
10)Jimmy Corrigan? I wish you guys could put Templar Arizona on your shelves.

Hey Dumb Fuck!

2010-08-12T08:45:00.000-07:00

You don't get Scott Pilgrim.

Scott Pilgrim is from Scott Pilgrim's perspective: notice how in volume 6, some past events are recast? And BTW: skinny white guys have been getting laid since I've been alive. The 'problem' with the nerd isn't so much that he plays with his PSP, and knows about Batman- the average person knows as much about Snooki or whatever as a nerd knows about Batman- it's a lack of confidence. But Scott's arrogance- his ability to convince folks that he's the shit, even though he's an unemployed guy who lives off his gay pal, is what moves him through the story. And you know what? That's what gets him laid. Problem solved. Duh.

BTW: I think this lady gets it. While I think anyone who plays games is a 'gamer', yes, sometimes there will be movies that appeal to dorks and geeks. You know why? We have cashola. Now if only folks realized that people of color have tons of cash too.

You know...

2010-08-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Flesh has more than one color.

Black Bird Again

2010-08-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

In Black Bird volume 5, Misao still gushes about her OMG LOVE instead of developing a personality, what could have been an interesting glimpse of the demon world is wasted, and Misao still doesn't seem to get that demons are in fact not humans with human morality! Demons are at best horrible horrible people, and at worst, they are killy mc rapey! I'd like a rendition of this sort of story with less OMG, TRUE LOVE EVEN IF WE HAVE TO WADE ACROSS A FIELD OF CARNAGE! and more about how this is truly a horror story. Horrific creatures are seeking to rape and kill you, and you only have the protection of a dubious 'boyfriend' who you only have his word and some vague childhood memories to rely on. What a horribly scary story!

BTW: Maybe I really should have gotten Twin Spica 2 instead. Now, while that is a story with the supernatural[I mean, a ghost follows a girl around and gives her advice] it's not so horrifying.

Skip Beat vol 21 and Welcome to the NHK

2010-08-03T19:22:00.000-07:00

Skip Beat vol 21 is out, and I am so glad that we're getting back into things I actually care about i.e. Kyoko's acting career, and out of things I don't care about i.e. the problems of minor side characters. There is some more mucking around with Ren, and his pitch perfect manipulation of Kyoko makes him slightly more interesting than usual, but he's still a dull, limp love interest. I like the focus on Kyoko's ingrained body language, which has been such an assest so far[ see Mio, and the acting battle with Ruri] but is now a detriment. There is now yet another character being introduced- I like her dark side, but I think that this manga does not need more side characters.

I also read volumes 1-4 of Welcome to the NHK. As a fan of the anime, I mostly thought about how they had toned down things a lot for the anime. There's way too much loli, but I like how Misaki has more of an edge here. Less dere dere and more full on crazy. The fourth anime covers through the end of the anime, so I'll have to read the last 4 to really see the rest of the story.

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

2010-07-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

is a real 'wham chapter' Who is a clone, and who isn't? And there's the whole view that clones are replaceable, which always bothers me. I mean, no matter how genetically similar the clones are to the historically personages..their different environments would certainly make them different people. The manga itself makes this point subtly- notice that Napoleon is much taller than his original, probably due to better nutrition.

Sadly, the mystery of why Pandora is so large is not explained. Marie Curie disappeared in volume 1- less than a year ago, but Pandora looks 3 or 4. I really like Freud in this chapter, and Mozart's interaction with Joan of Arc is beautifully delineated.

I'll certainly see them next month.

To Terra and D Grey Man

2010-07-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today I'm covering manga I borrowed from the library.

I am addicted to the 70s style art of To Terra [I notice that A Distant Soil seems to have been inspired by it at least in the art department.]

I read Andromeda Stories before this, and the same theme I loved- the relationship of man and machine is very ascendant here. I found the longing for earth poetic and beautiful, like Saturn Apartments, it makes me nostalgic for the home I already have. And the theme of human connection despite differences[although by 'differences' here, we mean 'cool telepathic powers'] was also beautiful. And how could I forget the longing for family and place and belonging? Anyway, maybe you should just read it, and see how science fiction can show emotional issues beautifully.

Now, I turn to D Grey Man, which even though I have read through volume 16 using only the library, I think I'm going to drop it. It just seems like it's getting ridiculous. D Grey Man was more successful when it focused on the human drama, but we're getting huge fights where I can barely follow the action everything is so outsized, shonen power ups[ALLEN WALKER LEVELS UP! CLOWN CROWN!], and loads and loads of characters. I just think this was a good idea that needed a whole lot of tightening up and restraint.

As an asshole...

2010-07-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

really...I don't need 'art' to tell me that 'girl gamers' are appropriately feminine, and shit. You know why women[really, to me a girl gamer is a five year old girl playing with a DS] game? Because games are awesome fun. We don't play games so that you can have eye candy to look at while playing Halo or to make sure you have a hawt girlfriend who loves games too.

Even if all girl gamers were the most stone butch women ever, you know what? Our looks are none of your beeswax. We're not in it to please your eyes. We're in it to crush Rome, destroy the zombies, and harvest the most tomatoes.

A Placeholder

2010-07-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show everyone this post filled with Suppli art.

I also wanted to tell everyone that I wished that The Name of Flower was 5 volumes, because I thought the end was a bit rushed.

I can't stop crying

2010-07-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

I read Nana vol 21. I cried not just for Ren, not just for everything that had happened, but because this is the last. Yazawa's health is more important than manga, so I thank her for her great effort. I'm really grateful from the bottom of my heart.

An important lesson was learned

2010-07-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Don't buy American comics like they are manga. I got some Spiderman for my cousin. List prices? 35$ and $25 I bought Crimson Hero vol 13 for myself, and it was a smooth 9.99

Manga is so much cheaper, but I'm not sure why.

Suppli 4 + 5 Omnibus

2010-07-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

I read this recently, and I have to say I enjoy the lyricism of the art work, the way the text is set out, the general feel of this comic. My favorite part was when Watanabe finally yells at a newbie who is looking down at her for doing clerical work. That newcomer at the officer judges her for because her work isn't high paying or high status, but Watanabe pushes back- noting that she makes her way in the world, and does her best. I also think that maybe our characters will realize in a broader way that judging someone on whether they are married or dating is just as limiting. I think Fuji realizes that on some level- she thought back on how at first she thought she didn't want to be like this single older woman at this office, but when she saw the look on the newcomer's face when she said she wasn't seeing anyone, she thought that she didn't want to be judged that way.

I admire Fuji's spark and desire to be on the top workwise, and don't really see romance as as important as the characters here consider it to be. Of course, I'm always tripped by the working women theme. Aren't we all working? What's the reasonable alternative, I think. But then again, different worlds. The chance of me becoming a stay at home mom is about the same as winning the lottery, but I guess for some it is a viable option.

Note: to see some of the panel design, this review shows some of the art work. I really wish they'd put out the rest of this.

2d rules

2010-07-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

I love 2d. I remember when Zelda made the leap to 3d- I got motion sickness, so I couldn't really enjoy the game. I also got motion sickness from Doom back in the day, so I don't play FPSes. I think the resurgence in 2d can reach both new gamers and old gamers who remember the simple fun of 2d.

Speaking of old memories, Funi is reliscencing classics like Lain and Haibane Renmei. and Rightstuf is reliscencing Utena. This is good because newer fans can see some of the best of the medium.

BTW: I'm geeking out over Welcome to the NHK. I love how the show doesn't shy away from showing that these are unpleasant, broken people. Misaki's strong interest isn't just the random love of a beautiful woman for a loser you often see, but is shown to be unhealthy- "I finally found a hunk of refuse worse than me!" I like that Misaki is her own character- she's not just a collection of traits- "let's make her a tsundere with twin tails and oh! freckles! freckles are hot this year!" but she actually has reasons for her actions. Just very twisted reasons.

And Sato and Yamazaki aren't basically nice guys who are rejected by girls for no good reason. Sato occasionally forgets to even bathe, and has a nasty habit of getting really obsessed with almost anything, and Yamazaki is an asshole with a fixtation on 2d chicks that strikes even me- someone with a blog about obsessing about this sort of thing- as creepy.

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

2010-07-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

After skipping a whole month[Viiiiz!], July's chapter of Afterschool Charisma is finally posted! Freud especially shines with his humor and his canny intelligence, the mercenary nature of the whole clone enterprise becomes clearer, and Pandora's true identity is revealed! [and she is adorable.]

DC Keeps Shutting Stuff Down

2010-07-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

They shut down Zuda, which I have never heard of. I wonder why DC doesn't really use any marketing muscle for stuff besides its capes and tights. We heard all about how Wonder Woman now wears pants, but not a word about something that might grow their audience beyond the capes and tights crowd.

...the medium is awesome

2010-06-30T07:02:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I was reading about the possibilities of web comics. The endless canvas, and so on. I rememebered this when reading this comic about the dangers of homeopathy. or the facts in the case of Wakefield.

Before the internet, maybe he could have published it in a zine, and I would have never seen it. But now, we can all enjoy it.

I also first started reading the newspaper in elementary because I liked to look at the editorial cartoons, but of course, we're limited by space, and by the editor's choice in cartoons. But thanks to the internet, we have amptoons and tom tomorrow. I love you internet!

A Wishlist

2010-06-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

I wish that Viz would make a VizBig edition of Ceres Celestial Legend. I've been reading it through the library, although sadly they are missing plenty of volumes. Netflix is also missing a lot of volumes of anime- no Code Geass R2, and only half of Welcome to the NHK, which I'm super obsessed with now. I guess people are cutting down on movie rentals, but come on!

I would like to thank the people in charge of buying manga for the Memphis Public Library for buying To Terra, Black Jack and Andromedia Stories, so that more people can enjoy classic manga.

Not entitled!

2010-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Scanalation sites made to take down licensed titles. I don't blame Viz and others at all! You can't make money off of other people's work, and expect them not to have something to say about that. Works like fansubs and scanlations stayed off the radar because people had the sense to stop disturbing licensed works, making it seem more like legitimate fan work than just making a quick profit. Now that thin veneer has been wiped away, of course folks are going to crack down.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again- WE'RE NOT ENTITLED TO MANGA. Yep! You're not entitled to read DGrayMan for free! Now, thanks to the library, I do, but if the library stopped buying volumes or doesn't have the latest, I'm not going to bitch the library out. I'm not entitled to anyone's creations.

Where have you been?

2010-06-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

To me the next big step in game design is going to be someone who figures out how to make an involving game that does not revolve around physical confrontation.

What Tom Bissel? You haven't been playing Tetris,Bejeweled, Diner Dash, Harvest Moon, Ranch Rush, Virtual Villagers, The Sims, and all the zillion games that don't revolve around physical confrontation with enemies? They are involving to many- having sold millions and having been played thousands of times. I don't understand how this guy has only played such a narrow slice of video games- especially since he is talking about the narrative value thereof! He acts like he hasn't heard of Final Fantasy- a gaming franchise which has sold millions, and doesn't talk about RPGs at all in his musings on the stories of games.

I understand that we can't sample all the gaming genres there are, but dude, there's Final Fantasy on my mobile phone. Not a fancy Iphone or whatever. A regular phone. Gaming is exploding now- consoles, PC, cell phones, ipads[I saw a nice rogue like game being played on the ipad-niiice], heck, you can download games to consoles now! Gaming is exploding- don't just stick to the core, guys, go out to the edges and seek out fun wherever it is, whether you're seating gusts at a wedding or soaring through the clouds!

Gaming Is So Dead!11!

2010-06-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Says some dude at Cracked. Personally, I think Microsoft and Sony misstepped with the whole motion thing. If I want to do a fitness game, hey, plenty of people have Wiis. Why should I buy some new thing? And yea, I think the folks that say- you know, we have plenty of games to play already, so maybe I'm not going to go out and buy whatever is new- have a point. I still play Civilization 4 despite it being an older game, and replays of stuff like Persona 3 and 4 also take up my gamer slots. The gaming audience is getting older as well- there are a lot of children playing with their DSes in restaurants[where they shouldn't] but there are also grannies, my mom and me, playing and we tend to have less time to devote to long sessions of gaming, so we need new games less often. And of course there's the recession. Fear of losing your job can make you decide that you're fine with another playthrough of Persona 4, rather than a new game.

Also, I would like to take some time to talk about casual gaming versus 'core' or 'real' gaming. I'm an old old person[26] and so I remember when Mario Kart was a 'real' game, and now it's supposedly not a 'real' game. I find that when a game broadens its audience beyond pimply teen and immature males, it ends up being 'not a real game'.

That's bunk. Whether I'm pretending to hula hoop or pretending to murder zombies with a shotgun, it's all gaming. What I want to see is solid game play. I don't care if it's got white women in service jobs or John McMuscles,Space Marine in it as long as I can have a solid good time.

A Whole Lot of Manga Going On

2010-06-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's been outrageous here, but I'll try to review the manga as well as I can-

Afterschool Charisma

Since I read this online first, I'll probably focus a lot of the actual design of the book. It's a little bigger than the typical manga, and has a nice slipcover. The first few pages are color- they reminded me of how the book Fables is colored somehow. Reading the story all together gives me a greater sense of the mystery, and clears up a lot of things that I missed at first reading. I found the characters engaging, especially Freud and Hitler. I like Freud's intellectualism and think that he'll carry much of the plot in which we find out about the shadowy organization(s) floating around, and I also am intrigued by Shiro's father- he seems a lot more menacing on this reading.

There was more unnecessary nudity than I remember- including a short comic that wasn't online involving more boobage and Freud. I was actually amused by it though.

Gakuen Alice

Another drama about a school for the extraordinary. I bought two volumes because I got a great deal, and really enjoyed them. This manga appears to be for children, so it's got a great light humorous feel- with many amusing special powers from inventing things to facilitate laziness to a human pheromone machine, and plenty of quirky characters. However, there's a lot of mysteries- why are Alices confined to school grounds? What are the administrators planning? Who can Mikan-a typical plucky and absent minded shoujo heroine-trust? I think my pocket book will cry through all 20 volumes of these mysteries.

Andromeda Stories

This is a nice sci fi classic romp. I found the 3 volumes in the library, and enjoyed its classic usage of themes of man's dependency on machine, psychic powers, and adventure. I did not enjoy the theme of twincest, but the character's struggles seemed real and engaging- and the fight against the machine menace was well rendered. The end gave me a melancholy feeling, which is one of the best ways a manga can make me feel. Very classic.

The Problem of Scanlation is Discussed

2010-06-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Intelligently, and without a bunch of excuses. I especially like the comment that mentioned that official publications tend to run behind. This of course divides the fans into those who follow the official releases and those who don't. People want to be in the loop. I wouldn't mind a month's delay and post them online, just as long as they put them in books, sort of a modified Ikki model. I don't really like reading manga on a screen, and so I'll want books.

I don't get it again!

2010-06-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

You know, folks who talk about how video games all have horrid stories all seem to play GTA and never Final Fantasy or Persona. That's like expecting Madden 2010 to be Shakespeare. And yes, some games don't have a story or a bad one. Ciivlization 4 and My Tribe are have almost no story- occasionally I make something up, and someone is probably writing about how the silly mini stories people make up- "Gandhi continues his reign of terror with his helicopter gunships over the Ethiopian landscape"- is either making us smarter or dumber or rewriting our brains somehow.

As far as bad stories, I love Ranch Rush 2, and I don't really care about the excuse plot about food pills, and in Diner Town Tycoon, whatever Grub Burger has going on with Chemical X...not interested. Although I'm sure someone could write a thesis on the themes of big business and contamination in casual games, that's not the point of the game.

And that's not a bad thing. When I watch Chopped or The Rachael Maddow Show- I'm not looking for a show that is great art. I'm not looking at Shrek or Forgetting Sarah Marshall for deathless themes, and so it is with video games. Not every single piece of entertainment has to strike a great blow for art, truth and justice. That doesn't give a pass for misogyny and racism in art, but if a game is merely entertaining, merely a pleasant way to pass the time- so be it.

I have no idea why Mario and pals are go kart racing on rainbows and through castles, and I don't need to.

Saturn Apartments

2010-06-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

Today, I impulsively bought Saturn Apartments. While I read it, I felt my heart being pulled towards an appreciation of the earth. The characters' desire for things we take for granted like natural light or open space was expressed beautifully. Rivalry, jealousy, friendship- everything in this manga was subtle, but everything was more powerful for the fact that our author doesn't overplay it. I tend to like really intense manga, but this leisurely, artistic style works too.

Mitsu seems more like a plain Jane everyboy sort of character- loyal, hardworking,etc, but I also like how he realized the importance of the people who supported him, even though he didn't notice.

I wonder if there will be more explanation of the caste system and why earth is a nature preserve as time goes on. I also wonder about small things like them using toilet paper in space, but then again, I liked Planetes because of the management of small details like that.

Casual Games, Cost, and Quality

2010-06-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Has the rise of the 6.99 game decreased game quality? I don't know- maybe. As a person who loves casual games, I admit that I won't pay more than $10 for one. Why? The length. If a game has 8 hours or less of gameplay, it's not a good value if it's more than $10. Why do I say this? It's because of price comparisons. A DS game like Chrono Trigger or The World Ends with You with more than double the amount of gameplay is 19.99 at amazon.com. Not to mention the fact that these games are on physical media. If I want a used PS2 game, I can get many good ones for $20 or less. So collector's editions or full price is out. I'm also a core gamer, so maybe I'm unique in this.

Although quality has been lowered recently, I agree. A lot more hidden object games and a lot fewer classics like Chocolitier 2[the best of the 3], Artist Colony, or Plants vs Zombies. There are some bright spots like Ranch Rush 2 or My Tribe, but yes, quality has been reduced. I think some producers should go out on a limb, and start innovating again. 6.99 is a low price, and so some games on the borderline will be purchased, but even someone like me isn't going to play the 50th knockoff of Diner Dash unless there's a really good twist to it.

Give us something novel, and maybe we'll pay more, but probably still not as much as we'd pay for a 'core' game with over 30 hours of gameplay. Thems the breaks!

Vintage Manga

2010-05-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am behind on my vintage manga collecting. Black Jack is one thing I need to start collecting. I agree with the idea of vintage manga having better production values- the people who are in the market for vintage manga tend to be adults and will pay the extra few dollars for something nice. One way I want this new vintage manga surge to grow is in reissuing classics like Sailor Moon in omnibuses so that people who have grown up with manga can pass it on to their children. People buying things like that also have a little more money to spend than teenagers.

On a slightly unrelated note- I'm excited for this giant size Little Lulu. Little Lulu is a classic for a reason, and can be shared with children of all ages.

A huge manga linkspolsion.

2010-05-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Should manga branch out to more mature books? I think so. Nobody can keep reading stories about teens who freak out about their first kiss forever.

Although by mature, I don't mean like this disguting Justice League comic. Look, kids! Comics, now with more sex and violence! isn't a good look. Sex and violence can be legitimate story telling devices, but you can't just slap it in. By the way, people complain about the price of manga, but $4 for 30 pages is a much worse deal than any manga I've seen.

This dude says nobody likes manga! I don't see any capes and tights in the hands of the middle schoolers today, dude. But the youth issue is important. Young people aren't used to paying for entertainment. You can have a hit that leaves you broke.

This lady talks about the issue of piracy, which folks tiptoe around, but it's a real issue. I also like how she didn't dismiss the fact that yes, teens like manga with girls and boys with superpowers. It's a perennial topic. The strength of manga is that it's full of variety-there are recurring themes- girls trapped in other worlds, shy high school romances, boys fighting against titanic forces, but within those boundaries you can create tons of different stories. You're not locked into 40 years of stories about Batman and his various foes or the Xmen. Every new series starts fresh, and has the opportunity to shine or fail on its own.

On the history of the manga boom and bust.

I also think this article about games also has resonance for manga fans. Although we don't have the divide between 'real' manly manga and 'fake' girly manga- it's a mystery that clicking frantically to get the crops in before time runs out isn't a real game but pushing A frantically to kill the zombies before your life runs out is.

The point about entitlement is important though- many of us forget that we are not entitled in any way shape or form to manga. It doesn't matter if we're broke, we spent all our money at the casino, or whatever.

I admit it. I love emo

2010-05-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

People complain about recent Final Fantasies being too emo. I laugh as if 99% of people were facing either the destruction of the world, the death of their mother or the fear of being turned into unfeeling unthinking monsters, we'd be howling for fucking mercy. The sad fact about human psychology is that we all believe that we'd never falter in a world spanning crisis, and we'd never be distracted from the pain of others with our own pain. Sadly, this isn't true at all.

I think even Snow's optimism is false. He has to tell himself these things to keep going. That's why I tend to find the sort of forced optimism pushed on us sort of depressing... To not be able to face the problem, to constantly tell yourself you're a hero... it doesn't bode well in my view.

I think some of the disdain for 'emo' characters is the idea that emotions are for girls, but that's bunk. Emotions are for everyone!

Bookstores and CMX

2010-05-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

These commentators are right that bookstores and libraries are the most important markets for manga. Even I an adult almost never set foot in a comics store. Bookstores are just so much more convenient- there's food, coffee, regular books, manga... So if I am taking a chance on a title I've never seen before, a book store is the first place I'll look. Libraries are also important for building a fanbase. Parents can check the books without risk, fans can check out new books, and there can be buzz created. Really, DC get your act together!

Man, folks are much better at writing than me

2010-05-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

Manga Maniac's really covered my thoughts on the CMX issue. People say, why should it matter if there's one less manga company? Well, she covered most of it, but I'll tell you why variety is important. Variety is important because while most of us enjoy the Narutos and the Black Birds of the manga world, it's the smaller and more boutique titles that help broaden the fan base. Sure, there will be the fans who will ONLY buy Naruto, but many will branch out to other titles. They come for the Naruto, stay for the Full Metal Alchemist, and maybe they'll end up with Black Jack or Bunny Drop. When the younger fans mature, or branch out from the big titles, I want smaller, more niche titles waiting for them. I want the people who will be creating a renassiance in American comics to be able to access the most titles. Most titles don't really grow unless there's a push. Review copies sent to blogs can be the taste maker for a title, and being able to go to amazon and check out reviews or put your hand on a book is also important.

For manga to grow further, we can't just rely on fan translations. Fan translations of Naruto were probably out the first chapter, but when the anime hit TV, and the manga volumes hit the stores- then we saw a boom. We overstate the internet- what is popular there is less tiny webcomics than scans of Naruto, less original productions than videos of Jon Stewart, for something to grow an audience, people need to know it's there. Just by the dint of seeing something on the shelf, it's easier to check it out than in the scramble of titles on a scanlation site. I would have never found Usagi Drop[OK,. Bunny Drop] if it hadn't been liscenced. I hadn't heard about it before, but suddenly, there was buzz- that's the power of a publisher.

BTW: Screw DC

Consumerist Discovers Casual Gaming

2010-05-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Wow! A new trend on bigfish games that is annoying me is collectors editions of downloadable games. I understand that getting people to pay 19.99 for some wallpaper and a strategy guide included with the game instead of the ultra discount 6.99, but I wonder who falls for that? You could get FAQs for these games for free. Of coure, I don't understand hidden object games either. I need a little faster pace. OK, a much faster pace.

I find in casual games I find graphics pretty important. I prefer games with bright cartoony graphics, and avoid games that look like they just discovered polygons...

I don't like Virtual Villagers [top left]graphics for example- things don't look smooth- there's too jagged for me. I do like My Tribe[bottom left] graphics. Amazing lush production values aren't needed for casual gaming, but graphics that don't distract from the game's goal are.

A New Tumblr...

2010-05-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

devoted to the best of Spike from Templar Arizona on twitter. BTW: Blackness IS a cultural identity, but it's deeper and wider than media blackness. It's Lena Horne, it's Stew, it's Nalo Hopkinson, it's my brother playing his punk music, it's gospel music, it's Audre Lorde. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater- the culture of blackness is too big,too rich, and has too much to offer everyone to be discarded.

Ouch!

2010-05-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Viz lays off tons of folks. I'm hoping it doesn't drop titles like Crimson Hero which you often can't even find in Borders. I had hoped that hits like One Piece, Naruto, and even Black Bird would help keep Viz afloat, but the recession is insane. I know I am certainly going to have to cut back on books, and many younger readers parents won't let them take on extra books either.

I don't get it

2010-05-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

I have now learned that sports gamers pay $60 every year for what is basically the same game over and over. I have fond memories of the old NBA Jam, but I wouldn't want to buy a game that is exactly the same.

I also don't get ebooks. I don't want to curl up to a machine in bed, and I don't want things to disappear on the whim of some company.

I do get why physical movie rental stores are closing although I don't think theaters will go away. Now I prefer watching movies at home- although I would rather watch on my tv than a computer- but many people will actually sell out $15 to watch a movie on a big screen. Those crazy people probably are more attracted to the experience of going out and eating overpriced foodstuffs than the newness of the movie.

Why I don't read superhero comics

2010-05-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

Even though indie comics don't have much better racial politics[my new obsession ,Scott Pilgrim, is very white], we don't get endless retreads. Scott Pilgrim will not reappear with dubious updates in 2020, Palomar will not become a small town in Arizona, etc, etc. I think comics are best when they are one linear story. I don't care about 40 years of tradition. I want things to move forward. I read the stories of the past in the past, and now I want new stories. Part of new stories is embracing the real world that we live in now. A world full of many different cultures and identities. A world where women realize that if they are an E cup, they need a little more support. I don't want people of color characters that say "In my Latin culture, we eat tacos!", but I also don't want an all white cast with one brown face who acts like a white person dipped in chocolate. Discrimination, culture, geography, history- all of these would have formed the person's character and how they react to life.

Instead of generics, I want writers to breathe life into their characters. We're Americans. We have a big country filled with cultures and traditions. Use that! Use that, and people will respond.

Today in Kinky Bondage Porn

2010-05-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Black Bird vol 4 improves slightly. Misao still spends too much time mooning over Kyo. I still don't really see the attraction. Yes, he's a hawt guy who protects her but during their normal moments, he mostly spends his time sexually harassing her. However, she decides that if she really wants to join a society of inhuman and violent demons, she might as well gain some strength and try to protect Kyo and be his partner. Misao also makes a friend beyond the inadequately fleshed out friends she has in school, and it is revealed that Kyo in fact did do something besides obsess about Misao for ten years. There's a sword fight, and a shocking swerve at the end, which of course confuses me. This isn't the Edo period, and really, what, is Kyo's sperm going to melt the condom or something?

I did like that the problems of marrying someone who isn't human and lives in an entirely different society full of brutal deaths isn't glossed over by lurve.

Reviews

2010-05-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some rules on reviewing which I probably will not follow. I especially reserve the right to say that Pantyshot Manga A is best read by horny boys, and Kinky Torture Porn Manga B might definitely make your inner feminist cringe.

Here on this blog, you'll get what you pay for. So onto the reviewing! This month's Afterschool Charisma had some nice romantic development, very few wacky hijinks, and the scene at the end, for all its unnecessary nudity, really drives home the message about clones being desperate to overcome their fate. Of course, fridge logic makes me think this is all pretty silly-if your identical twin broke his leg, would you be worried about breaking yours too? The anti clone sentiment also confuses me- we only get a little bit of what the shadowy anti clone conspiracy is planning and of course, no explanation of what the owners of a clone school have against clones, and why they look down on them. Of course since we only really have the perspective of an ordinary high school student, answers will be extremely slow in coming.

Extreme Pet Peevage

2010-05-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series, and I have to say- PLEASE mix up your counterpart cultures. Don't just take the 'cool' parts of a culture, like kimonos and stuff, and then plop it down into your fantastic world wit centaurs and stormwings. For example, why in a world full of magic, ogres and ballisks is there a culture almost the same as Japan, down to extreme linguistic similarity, anyway? Be creative. Make up your own culture, or at least mix parts of different cultures- do people who live in the mountains really need to wear kimono? How did the influence of the pirates or the Easterners filter into their society? Really, folks!

Gaming Complaint Corner
This isn't a new philosophy on pirating- it's the same ol' 'we wouldn't have bought it anyway' argument. I don't have tons of income. Right now I don't really have any. Yet somehow I am able to suck it up, using coupons, the library, netflix, big fish games' game clubs, and ebay to satisfy my entertainment needs. I even manage to support Templar Arizona, one of my favorite webcomics by buying book versions. Why? for the sake of those who might stumble unto something in a bookstore, or find a new world on netflix. For all we crow about the internet, a lot of folks are getting their first taste on adult swim. You can't search for something you don't know exists.

Those kids who are now enjoying anime brought over here to make money will be our new generation. They'll be drawing the Scott Pilgrim of the future. They might even expand the range of manga and anime brought to the US. It was paying fan demand that brought Suppli back. The votes of people who free ride don't count.

I rolled my eyes

2010-05-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

at this comic. Because it's giggly femme gamers leading the push to define casual game as not 'real' gaming. They might not see themselves as gamers, but the idea of gaming as only Halo and Grand Theft Auto, with a little Smash Brothers thrown in has not been pushed by most female gamers of any stripe.

The Death of Anime and Casual Game Pet Peeves

2010-05-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

O The Death of Anime

Will bangzoom stop dubbing anime?

The death of anime.

I have to admit that I rent anime[although netflix is short waiting half my anime list] and buy manga. The problem for producers of anime is to separate people who have legitimate complaints from people who will download no matter what. Some people torrent SigIkki stuff, which is FREE ONLINE. So you have to market to people who actually will buy. For example, I buy manga because I like the dead tree experience. I'm willing to pay a little extra for color pages, and with prices, I am comparing to the cost of books so manga does not seem too expensive- a mass market paperback book is 6.99 at least, and most books I find at Borders are at least $15. Compare me to the sort of person who wants a terabyte of the newest stuff whether he actually reads it or not, and you'll see who companies should market to.

Casual Game Pet Peeves

I hate it when you can choose say...the gender and hair color of your character but not the skin color. Really folks? That's an easy tweak.

I also hate it when even if they have males of darker hues[see Gemini Lost], there's no females of darker hues. What's up with that?

Tweets

2010-04-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Spike from Templar Arizona has a great twitter. Here are some excerpts:

Iron_Spike

In other news, I talked to Carla Speed McNeil at C2E2 about reviving "Smut Peddler," a minicomic anthology of porn by chicks.

Iron_Spike

I think I'll do a filthy little comic eventually. If only to counteract all the awful, misogynistic, plastic, fuck-robot porn out there.

Follow her at @iron_spike

Oh Atlus!

2010-04-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Now, I don't need a stupid baseball hat, but my panties are indescribable at the idea of gameplay improvements for the masterpiece Persona 3. I wonder what sort of part time jobs they'll come up with. I still haven't done all of them in Persona 4...

Reviews: Wild Ones, Gemini Lost, and Powers by Ursula Leguin

2010-04-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

Wild Ones

I read volumes 4-9. It's a vaguely pleasant manga, with characters that aren't insanely gripping, but interesting enough. Sachie is a pleasantly interesting protagonist-dense, yet hardworking and loyal. Rakuto has a mysterious past out of central casting, with the requisite selfish mother and kind father, who only wants to be a good dad, but is hamstrung by obstacles that would not be viewed as an adequate excuse for a mother not to see her child. I also enjoyed the fact that the obstacles to lurve weren't eliminated after the first volume or so, like some manga I have seen. Instead of folding at the first sign of TRUE LURVE, Azuma stays in the running, making determined attempts to catch Sachie's eye. Likewise Chigusa Sensei doesn't just drop out of the story after his arc is completed. Wild Ones is competent shoujo- the illustrations are better suited for paging through quickly than detailed study, and the plot is pretty weak, mostly relying on one shots of people nearly finding out the TERRIBLE SECRET that Sachie lives in a Yakuza family or Sachie's big mouth getting Rakuto and Azuma into situations in which the kind and gentle Yakuza who never extort money, give anyone an injury worse than a bruise or do anything that could be remotely construed as illegal, help innocent and hardworking people out. Basically, I'm glad I got this from the library. I would have been mad if I spent money on it.

Gemini Lost
A well produced game with brightly colored graphics. You click and drag your little people to cut wood, mine stones, do research,etc. I liked that the game incorporated its Zodiac theme in that only characters with 'preferred' Zodiac signs can marry[and near automatically produce children] One game mechanic that I was annoyed with was that the children are fairly useless until they are 18. In an agrarian society, you'd think they'd at least be able to fish or do something in the garden. Some may complain about the lack of innovation, which is a consistent problem with casual games, probably because they come out so fast, and are meant to be light entertainment, much like the arcade games of long ago.

Powers by Ursula LeGuin

Yet again, Ursula LeGuin manages to write a book that is amazing and an instant classic,etc. I think my favorite part of her writing is that people live in the cultures they are born with, not the cultures that we would prefer them to live in. In a society based on slavery, our protagonists are not the lone voices against slavery who bravely resist. Instead, they very humanly believe that the way the world is is the only way the world can be. I also liked the depiction of the lives of the Marsh people, especially the observation that city people may have thought of their lives as simple, but their culture was really rich and complex. I also liked that Gav was not the sort of person who automatically fit into radically different societies at a blink like many fantasy protagonists, and I liked how the theme that Gav must learn to see the sexual violence against women in his society was subtle, yet powerful. With his sister, the women of the forest, and little Melle, everytime he is unable to really see what the true circumstances of the women in his lives are, tragedy follows, but when he is able to see them for what they are, things improve.

I also like how the 1st two books were swept into this one- not over obviously, but beautifully all the same.

Oh My Kingdom for the Princess!

2010-04-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

Designers, why did you have to add a stupid cannibal obstacle? Haven't you gotten the memo? That sort of othering crap isn't cool anymore. Why does it matter? Because it's unnecessary, and annoying. It would have taken just as much effort to create almost anything else but a cannibal, and it wouldn't have been a throwback to 1925. Defending why we need random cannibals in games would take more effort than simply getting with the program! Man!

Salon Finds Out About Mary Sues

2010-04-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

About 30 years late. And remember, writers, don't just masturbate all over the page. Let the reader into the fantasy too.

On that disgusting note, I'd like to note that I finally got a volume of Yotsuba. I've been reading the volumes from the library, but Yotsuba is such pure delight, I probably should actually buy them for myself.

Also, how people making money on books has RUINED! RUINED! publishing. The book publishing company is there to make money. If you want to make art, go and publish yourself.

Moff's Law, Bitchy Bitch and Crimson Hero

2010-04-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Moff's Law gets some static in YKTTW and that reminds me of folks griping about this manga hall of shame here. I think thinking about our entertainment makes it better.

Oftentimes, we get in the rut of the same story with the same characters over and over, and by thinking about our entertainment, we can create new narratives. One thing I often hear is the idea that things need to be whitewashed to be 'relatable', which is balderdash. I can't 'relate' to the racist, homophobic Bitchy Bitch, but I enjoy reading about her travails. Of course, talent really helps with that. The fact that Bitchy Bitch is cartoony in a good way- Bitchy's misadventures spring off the page with intensity and verve. I also like comics tricks such as Bitchy saying it's unnatural to be in a world with only women, and the picture being of Bitchy's woman only office.

I've also been rereading Crimson Hero, and I love it. I hate sports, and I've never been a Japanese schoolgirl who is under pressure to continue the family business, but I love how Nobara, our main character, is so intense about volleyball. There's romance, but luckily, it's not allowed to overshadow the action. I only have up to volume 9, so I'll have to buy more.

Some Reviews

2010-04-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

I read volume one of D Gray Man- Not bad. Secret powers, ancient mysteries, imaginative art.. I liked how the mangaka seemed to understand that in a first volume, you need to hit the ground running. Instead of taking forever with a bunch of useless nonsense, by the end of the volume, our protagonist has a secret destiny and an adventure to go on. Good job. Sure, it's not astoundingly original, but a lot of the time tried and true genre work can be better than going out there on a limb. There's a reason that boy's adventure is so popular. It's because it has some attributes that work. Here we have something a little scary[ souls being fused with machines], a long quest that promises a lot of variety yet with an overarching plot to keep it from becoming stale. Looks encouraging.

I'm also starting on My Kingdom for the Princess. Interesting gameplay, which reminded me somewhat of the first Westward. You need resources to meet your goals. You can build buildings to help with this goal, and also plan your tasks so you always have say...enough wood and food to repair the bridge that is out. Fun graphics- cartoony like I like them.

Cute Knight Kingdom

2010-04-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

Eh, I played this for a few minutes. The graphics are primitive, but so was the predecessor Cute Knight I have to admit I find the former more charming. The new system of gaining job experience doesn't seem as charming and seems a bit longer than it was previously. It was sort of a meh experience, not worth my game club credit.

In other news, I'm surprised that people don't remember that Final Fantasy tends to be linear. Then again, I started in the Nintendo era, and I don't think I remember a Final Fantasy that was extensively nonlinear. There were bonus bosses and fetch quests, yes, but I just can't imagine a nonlinear Final Fantasy, although I have not played the MMORPG ones since I don't play those games.

My Life Story

2010-04-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

My Life Story is the sort of sad little game that is addictive for no reason that I can see. Maybe I just enjoy resource management, and buying items. I have to admit that I always liked the part in Final Fantasy where you went to a new town and bought tons of shiny weapons and armor. Basically, the premise of My Life Story is that you're some sort of loser just out of high school. You can be a white male loser or a white female loser. I decided to be a white female. You can choose what you want to do with your time up to a point. Basically you need to keep yourself healthy, full of energy, entertained and full while still doing your job and getting an education. On the weekend, you automatically go back to your digs and get some bonuses.

I was reminded slightly of Princess Maker 2, although you have less freedom. You can choose a major after general ed at college town college, and you can purchase items for bonuses. There are events and little milestones that keep you going. Basically, it's a cute game. The graphics and music are inoffensive. But somehow, I keep playing it. A mystery.

I think it could be improved by making it more possible to customize your character. Maybe have different attributes that could be improved on by various activities. Here you do the activities to avoid losing the game by being rushed to the hospital.