The Best Anime Demotivator Ever

And with that... it's off to AX. ;)

Anime Summer 2011 Watchlist

Having read the always-awesome Moetron's seasonal visual guide and anime listing for summer 2011, I've got only one new must-view series for summer: the second season of Nurarihyon no Mago.

Other series look promising: Dantalian no Shoka, Sacred Seven and No. 6. The problem (and what a great "problem" it is to have) is that my schedule is already full with continuing series from spring 2011: Blue Exorcist, Hanasaku Iroha and Steins; Gate, not to mention the usual Bleach and Naruto Shippuuden. I've got too much good stuff on my plate already.

There are also some good OVAs coming out this summer: Hakuouki has a five-episode OVA series and the long-awaited Saiyuki Gaiden OVA series will see its second and third episodes released.

There are simply not enough hours in the day for anime viewing. ;)

Notes from a Novice Cosplayer

This is Tieria Erde.


I am not Tieria Erde. But I am going to cosplay as him for Anime Expo and I have nine days left in which to pull together the following outfit:



I've cosplayed once before, as Sannan from Hakuouki at last year's AX. That involved finding a green kimono and fashioning a blue vest out of a man's T-shirt.

This year, I've picked an easier outfit - mostly. Let me explain.

I've never enjoyed clothes shopping all that much, and I've never sewed a lot either. I'd always thought cosplaying involved being into these activities but really, it's more a state of mind thing, including the ability to focus on what needs to be acquired or created and the quickest and easiest ways to achieve this.

The first thing to do is to get a full-body picture of the entire outfit:



Let's see. We have, going from bottom to top, brown loafer-type shoes, khaki slacks, a light yellow button-down shirt and a pink cardigan similar to those that middle-aged ladies wear on the golf course. Oh, and purple hair...

A few days ago, I started to assemble the outfit. What I discovered is that the items you think will be the toughest can be the easiest to get, and what you thought would be easy will turn out to be hard to find.

For example, on the first day I found the perfect pair of khaki slacks - and a purple wig that was exactly right, which I assumed would be the last and most difficult to obtain item. I found the wig at a costume store that supplies outfits and accessories to Hollywood studios.

Tonight I found the pink cardigan and the shoes. I guessed correctly that Tieria's taste in clothing appears to resemble that of your regular Sears shopper, and that's where I found these items.

The final item - the one I assumed would be the easiest to find - is the light yellow button-down shirt. It's a common clothing item and you'd think it would be available everywhere, but I still haven't found it yet. I've tried thrift stores, which normally have tons of used button-down shirts, but no luck. Light yellow isn't exactly burnt orange or lime green or some off color like that, so I'm not sure what the issue is here.


Not to worry - I'm sure I'll find the shirt before AX. But my second experience with cosplaying has made me think again about what's behind the appeal of it all.

Besides the fact that it's just fun, cosplaying seems to be about identifying with a character. Now, in Gundam 00, Tieria Erde is a coldly superior young man who eventually becomes more human (literally) when he is befriended by Lockon Stratos, and when he experiences feelings of empathy with others for the first time.

I don't think I resemble Tieria in these ways. Perhaps Tieria's appeal is in the fact that he changes. Setsuna F. Seiei and Lockon don't really change all that much in the course of Gundam 00's two seasons. The only other main character who changes to the extent that Tieria does is Allelujah Haptism. Like Tieria, he is changed, in essence, by love.

Tieria doesn't fall in love exactly, but he comes to realize what being human really means. He sees beneath the surface at last and finds the value in humanity.

And it doesn't hurt that he's quite the bishonen.

In fact, I get the feeling that that's the true aim behind cosplaying as a character that you like. It's not so much identification with, as it is desire for. This is why you see female fans cross-dressing all over the place. Instead of females cosplaying as Motoko from Ghost in the Shell, or Shana from Shakugan no Shana or Haruhi Suzumiya, they're dressing up instead as Edward Elric or Lelouch or any of the numerous (male) countries in Hetalia.



I think I finally understand the appeal. ;)

Demon City Shinjuku

According to Anime News Network, the 1988 anime of Hideyuki Kikuchi's Demon City Shinjuku will soon be distributed in the U.S. by Discotek. The anime was originally produced by Madhouse.

Demon City Shinjuku is the prequel to the Yashakiden: The Demon Princess novel series that I've been working on for Digital Manga Publishing. I'm actually working on the novel version of Demon City Shinjuku right now.

Imagine an 8.5 earthquake that lasts for exactly three seconds, leaving the Tokyo ward of Shinjuku shattered and isolated by a literal chasm on all sides from the rest of Tokyo. After this "devil quake," Shinjuku is a city within a city that remains haunted by supernatural phenomena. Scientists, paranormal investigators, yakuza, vampire hunters, all flock to Shinjuku to observe and partake of the strangeness, while regular Shinjuku residents try to live as normally as possible in the midst of insane happenings all around them.

Hideyuki Kikuchi's unique voice as a storyteller is hard to describe - it's intelligent, outrageous, sensual and darkly funny. I'm eager to see Demon City Shinjuku in anime form and look forward to its release.

Tomoko Kawakami

The voice of Hikaru Shindou, the main character of Hikaru no Go, has passed away. Tomoko Kawakami was 41. She died of ovarian cancer. Rest in peace, Kawakami-san, and thank you for your wonderful performances.


I can't believe we'll never hear Hikaru's voice again.

The final minutes of Hikaru no Go

Japanese Food Mysteries

(There's FOX MEAT in this udon??)

Anime News Network recently reported on a Japanese website called Bistro Animeshi, which features recipes for meals and dishes seen in anime series and movies. This started me thinking about some of the foods I've seen in anime.



Of course, if you think of Naruto, you think of the following food:




Ah, ramen. I was on a ramen kick for a while when I first started watching Naruto.

It seems that food in Japan can be used to communicate as well as to nourish. In Hanasaku Iroha, the protagonist recalls when her flighty mother failed to show up for a parents night at her school. Her mother blithely explains when the daughter returns home that she should get used to people disappointing her in life. The protagonist then cooks her mother a special dinner:



Mama kirai means, "I hate mama" or "I hate you, Mom." The omelet is surrounded by a ton of broccoli (her mother hates broccoli). Unless I'm hallucinating, I think I've actually seen messages written on omelets before in other animes. If that's the case, then I guess message omelets are an accepted way to convey information in Japan. I find that mysterious, or lovable, or... something.(?)

Finally, a food that is odd on so many levels that it has its own entry in Wikipedia:



Look closely at it. What is it? A seat cushion? An alien brain? It sparkles on top. Is it alive?

This is melon pan, or a melon-flavored bread... thing. The Japanese have been experimenting with bread since the country opened to the west in 1853. If you're familiar with Mexican sweet bread, melon pan is similar except that it's light in texture and not as dense.

The real mystery, to me anyway, is that melon pan is considered to be a special treat like a pastry when it's not actually very sweet--it's just bread, after all, bread with some melon flavoring in it. In Shakugan no Shana, Shana has a real thing for melon pan:



In a flashback, we see that a woman who cared for Shana when she was little gave her melon pan as a parting gift. I can understand Shana's attachment to melon pan then, but that doesn't explain the attachment held by countless others. ;) Melon pan isn't bad or anything, it's just... bread with melon flavoring... and... I give up. I'm buying some melon pan tomorrow.

[C] - The Most Thought-Provoking Spring Series?

Sometimes the anime series that you think will turn out to be just average can really surprise you.

[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control looked to be one of your more predictable series. A college student enters a strange world called The Financial District, a parallel reality to our own, wherein all-out matches called "deals" take place and black-colored notes known as "Midas money" are used as currency.

Kimimaro, an economics major, struggles to get by on a scholarship and two part-time conbini jobs when one day he is initiated into the Financial District. Players in the Financial District, known as "Entres" (short for entrepreneur), are initially given a large amount of capital to play with. However, in accepting the money, they are told that they will mortgage their "future." Going bankrupt in the Financial District means that you lose your "future" - an event that takes shape in various harrowing forms, seemingly individualized to the unfortunate Entre.

Another aspect of the Financial District is that Midas money has ominously begun to circulate in the real world - but only Entres can recognize the black notes. To everyone else, they look like ordinary currency.

I thought the art design for [C] was dazzling and then found out [C]'s director is Kenji Nakamura, who directed the wild art style of Mononoke - so that certainly makes sense. ;)

[C] is visually arresting, but its most compelling aspect is its examination of the power that we give money: how money holds such primacy in our minds, how its absence or presence can warp individuals and destroy souls. Each episode so far has been a surprising think piece. Early on, Kimimaro tells Souichiro Mikuni, one of the prime movers of the Financial District, that he only wants what he calls a normal life for himself in the real world someday: a decent job, a nice family life with a wife and child.

We expect Mikuni to accept this, maybe even praise the young man for his humility and modest goals; but instead he chides Kimimaro, telling him that the money he, Mikuni, has made and circulated throughout Japan has helped countless others - implying that Kimimaro is actually selfish in setting his sights on taking the middle road through life.

You know, I thought about that scene all week.