December has been mad busy for us, so sorry for the lack of blogs and podcasts. Thanks so much to all of you who keep checking back to this page! 2011 is hours away from ending, and all I have to say is: good riddance. Here’s wishing you all a happy 2012!
And so we can at least say that we contributed SOMETHING in December, here’s our blog’s annual report, which includes some of our most popular articles of the year! If you haven’t read them yet, now is the time! Happy new year!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
My apologies for the late post, my web hosting provider had a derp moment. Maybe I fed it too much AKTIV-SCHAUM.
The first thing we went to at Chibi-Pa was the Lolita meetup.
Elsewhere…
And the cosplay contest… The amazing Gundam won the contest even though he couldn’t enter from the side of the stage along with everyone else – he was hidden by one of those fake walls. You know, the ones you’re not supposed to touch.
Remember to listen to episode 37 of The Japan Girl Podcast. Click here to DOWNLOAD or here to read the Show Notes. We even talk about Chibi-Pa more in this episode!
All images (that we didn’t take or cap ourselves) are clickable and link to their original source.
The Japan Girl and The Japan Boy come baring many a tale of anime cons, comic book sales and Dallas, TX with which to regale you. After that, we discuss anime news from the past week, including the line-up for The World God Only Knows dub, Sentai Filmworks’ new licenses and the upcoming Madoka Magica film trilogy . Finally, TJB gives his review of Mushi-Shi while TJG reviews Phi Brain: Kami no Puzzle. Also in this episode, MST3K references out the wazoo, Sho Aikawa’s jaded past and Steven Foster crack dubs.
0:46:20 – Get ready for some bad and/or ugly anime
0:49:27 – A brief explanation of why our discussion of the 3/11 Tokoku earthquake and tsunami never exceeded beyond our Please Support Japan post. Also, FUBAR.
Now that Warner Bros. decided to officially greenlight it, everyone seems to be talking about the live action Hollywood adaptation of Akira. It feels like it’s high time that I follow suit. Doing so, however, involves revealing a shocking secret about myself. It’s a secret involving an opinion that’s so unpopular, revealing it has gotten me into countless arguments. I’ve literally lost friends over this. That secret is… I never liked the Akira anime adaptation (*duck*).
Now don’t get me wrong. I LOVE the manga, and the anime has its strengths. The 1988 film highlighted what Japanese animators were capable of at the time, and the gorgeous animation still stands up today. However, you can’t honestly tell me that the plot didn’t suffer at all from trying to condense six manga volumes the size of phone books into 124 minutes. What’s left is a half understood dystopian plot about human military experimentation, telekinesis, cool motorcycles and, of course, the magic of friendship.
With that being said, what do I think about the Hollywood adaptation? Well, after the last few films of its ilk either bombed or were unjust to their source material, I can’t say I have high hopes. Months before the greenlight, fans were already upset over rumors of the production’s plans to AmericanizeAkira. Racebending.com, a site created after white actors were cast as characters previously depicted as Asian and Inuit for the Hollywood adaptation of The Last Airbender, has an ongoing campaign regarding Akira‘s casting.
Based on the current movie buzz, however, it looks like the whitewashing may be inevitable. Rumor has it the film is set to take place in “New Manhattan” instead of Neo-Tokyo, with Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn in Tron: Legacy) as the front runner for Kaneda. Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter have also been reportedly offered roles as the Colonel and Lady Miyako respectively. It’s actually the potential casting of Bonham Carter as Lady Miyako that makes me hold out a shred of hope for this movie.
One thing that bothered me about the Akira anime was Lady Miyako’s diminished role. She went from being a high priestess and former test subject who served as an ally in the fight against Tetsuo to a male Akira cult leader who died after being on screen for 10 seconds. In case you think that man voice was a dubbing error, she’s voiced by a man in the Japanese track too. Either they intend to base the film adaptation more on the manga or they just want Helena Bonham Carter because she plays the “generic crazy lady” in every film.
Even if it turns out to be the former, that just leaves us with the same problem that I thought the anime adaptation had: too much source material being crammed into too short of a running time.
What are your expectations for the Akira movie? Does it even have a remote chance of surpassing other anime adaptations and being a decent film? Drop me a comment!
Remember to listen to episode 36 of The Japan Girl Podcast. Click here to DOWNLOAD or here to read the Show Notes.
All images are clickable and link to their original source.
Last weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live contained a sketch that’s been making its rounds among anime fans. It centers on a fictional show broadcast at Michigan State University titled “J Pop America Fun Time Now.” Hosts Rebecca and Jonathan, who comes with a J-idol wig, display a misguided love of Japanese culture to the chagrin of supervising Japanese language teacher Sensei Mark. To the amusement of some and horror of others, the sketch presents one of the first examples of weeaboos in mainstream Western culture.
After the opening, Rebecca and Jonathan introduce SNL’s guest host, Anna Farris, as a pink haired girl in a Sailor Moon costume claiming to be dressed as an original character named Cherry Cherry Rock and Roll. The characters spend most of the sketch imitating Japanese mannerisms and speaking in fake Japanese. When Sensei Mark points out how their actions border on racism, Jonathan is quick to point to his Japanese girlfriend as proof of his tolerance.
There’ve been some suggestions before that there are anime fans in NBC’s writing department, and they pull plenty of punches with these hosts. Yes, they make a nod to early, fast-paced English dubs so that the 99 percent of the audience who only know about anime through Speed Racer will get the joke, but in between that there’s also a reference to Candy Candy. I can’t say I ever expected to see an anime that obscure to the United States to be referenced by an American sketch comedy show.
The anime community was somewhat divided on how to take the joke. SNL’s writers clearly intended to make fun of weeaboos, not anime fans in general, and I think it’s fair to say that we all know someone like this, and if you don’t then it’s probably you. (Kidding!) Fans of hobbies deemed “nerdy” by the general public have been satirized for years, and despite what popular media would have you think, most people realize that the fans who really act like this are the minority. Still, that doesn’t stop some people from being offended.
What are my thoughts? Eh… at worst they beat you over the head with the joke a little too much. I also think most people who went through a “weeb phase” grew out of it before college, but college weeaboos do exist. What do you think? Was it funny or offensive? Drop a comment!
Remember to listen to episode 36 of The Japan Girl Podcast. Click here to DOWNLOAD or here to read the Show Notes.
Filed under: News — thejapangirl @ 2:37 pm Tags: japan
All images are clickable and link to their original source.
Japan hasn’t exactly been a popular travel destination as of late. Between the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, people aren’t exactly itching to travel there, and it shows. Overall tourism is down more than 30 percent compared to where it was last year. In an effort to bring in more tourists, the Japan Tourism Agency plans to allocate 1.1 billion yen in its 2012 budget. The purpose: to provide 10,000 foreigners with round-trip plane tickets to Japan. For free.
Keep in mind that this is all still just tentative. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the initiative is still subject to government budgetary approval. If it is approved, the Japan Tourism Agency hopes to start flying foreigners to Japan as early as April 2012. The only catch is you have to describe your vacation plans on the application and post details about your trip to blogs and social media websites.
This is required for a few reasons. One, as Danny Choo already stated on his blog, is to make sure you intend to visit Japan as a tourist and don’t try to remain in the country as an illegal immigrant. Another likely reason is to make sure that you’ll actually spend money. The plan is for the government to cover airfare, but visitors must make their own arrangements for lodging, food, etc. In short, they want to make sure you don’t plan to spend your entire time in the country sleeping on your Japanese penpal’s couch.
However, the most obvious reason that travelers will be required to blog is, of course, for the publicity. Once the people back home read about all the neat-o stuff you did (and bought) in Japan, they’ll be ready to catch the next flight to Grorious Nippon. Best of all, it’ll quell those fears in the people who want to go to Japan but are afraid of coming down with a case of radiation poisoning. A few Facebook and Twitter updates and being sure to return home mutation-free is a pretty good exchange for free air travel.
It’s unclear as of yet whether or not there’ll be any restrictions on the distance that the Japanese government will be willing to cover. Afterall, it’s considerably cheaper to fly to Japan from California than, say, my home state of Florida. Those interested in participating are urged to watch the Japan National Tourism Organization website for updates.
Remember to listen to episode 36 of The Japan Girl Podcast. Click here to DOWNLOAD or here to read the Show Notes.
All images are clickable and link to their original source.
Listen this week if you want to hear us get all nostalgic about ’90s Nickelodeon…. again. After that, we discuss some of the biggest anime news of the past recording week, including the licensing of Modern Magic Made Simple and the crazy expensive Toradora BD . TJB gives his review of B Gata H Kei Yamada’s First Time while TJG reviews Oreimo. Also in this episode, it’s a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake and what was wrong with Nickelodeon game show contestants.
0:00:00 – 0:27:28 – A brief discussion of 9/11 followed by shit no one cares about
0:03:02 – 0:03:17 – INTERMISSION
0:07:07 – 0:16:12 – A really half-assed review of Mizucon 2011. Hey, at least we got pictures! And here’s the 3000 Brigade’s website in case you want to know more about them!
Mizucon was pretty great. Hidden away in a little maze of a hotel/convention center in downtown Miami, it featured some great stuff including a return of the 3000 Brigade’s Smash Bros. Super Show. Eyeshine also performed… and blew the speakers.
All images are clickable and link to their original source.
It’s 2011, and because trends occur in 20 year cycles that means the ‘90s are back. I already wrote previously about this to some extent. What’s important is that it also means a return of everyone’s favorite odango-headed heroine to the delight of many Sailor Moon fans. I’m sure I’m far from the first person to claim Sailor Moon as their gateway anime. For me, it led to an obsession with anime that’s gone on 13 years now.
In my childhood, Hot Topic was the store that sold overpriced goth clothing and metal band T-shirts and held such a “dark” presence that my friend Sandra was convinced it had an evil aura. Today’s it’s abandoned it’s former goth image for more of a hipster one, and in most stores those Lip Service jeans have been replaced by Angry Birds-themed socks. They only thing that’s remained the same is how cheap and flimsy many of these items are compared to their price tags.
In it’s attempt to cash in on anything old enough to be considered retro, Hot Topic has released a line of Sailor Moon shifts. Anime News Network reported on one of the designs, but a few more of them are floating around. My local Hot Topic didn’t have that shirt in stock when I ventured inside, but they did have one available at the time. Just for fun, let’s examine how Hot Topic chooses to pay tribute to one of anime’s most notable hallmarks.
The first thing that I notice about this shirt is that Sailor Mercury’s hair is really green. REALLY REALLY green. To be fair, Sailor Mercury’s hair color wasn’t always consistent and sometimes did have something of a teal tint to it. But this is the same shade of green as Sailor Jupiter’s skirt! Also, take a close look at Sailor Moon’s boots and you might find Luna hiding on the shirt. She’s printed in the same shade of black as the shirt itself, making her all but invisible.
The other thing I noticed is how remarkably cheap the printing looks. It’s the kind of cheap printing that looks like most of it will rub off in the first wash. Personally, my experiences with Hot Topic shirts have never been good. They either tore way too easily or were printed with a dye that couldn’t survive a washing machine, usually ruining other clothing in the process. The shirt sells for $22.50 online, but it’s already sold out. The wonky colors look better on the website, but I don’t know if that means they’ve been fixed or just photoshopped to look better. The printing still looks just as cheap.
Two other shirts are currently available on Hot Topic’s website. One is a rather innocuous, if not overly saccharine, shirt with Luna and Artemis proclaiming their “purrrfectness” for each other. Get it!?!? Because they’re both cats!!! Oh, comedy! Bravo, Hot Topic, and your clever, clever wordplay!
The second shirt is an image of Tuxedo Kamen (or Mask, whichever you prefer) with I NEED A HERO! emblazoned on it. To me, this shirt kind of misses the point of Sailor Moon. Laugh if you want, but she was a fairly strong heroine. Yeah she was a crybaby and far from a feminist, but she could and often did fight on her own. Tuxedo Kamen’s shtick was pretty much just to show up, throw a rose, say something worthless and leave. The idea that he was the real hero kind of rubs me the wrong way. But whatever, it’s just a shirt.
I'm just some anime fan from South Florida in her 20s who decided it might be fun to start up a blog. To find out more about what The Japan Girl is about, read Who is The Japan Girl?
