I’ve gone into my Anime Wayback Machine and pulled the wondrous Giant Robo off of my shelf, and I can’t tell you how great this show was back in the ’90s. Not only did this show have old-school giant robot action, but it was full of wire fu and went so far over the top that it shot straight past Fun right to Glorious. Magic, martial arts, boxing, drinking contests, Giant Robo was full of Manly Men and Awesome Women. Come on, it has the Experts of Justice fighting against Big Fire, how can you hate that?
Of course, it was incredibly frustrating to follow, too – 3 years passed between the release of episodes 6 and 7. I wasn’t one of the people who had to wait for it (I got into Giant Robo late, long after the suffering), but people who followed The Pretender for a while can probably sympathize with those who had to wait years before seeing any kind of ending to their favorite series.

Anyway, try watching Giant Robo some time – you can find it on NetFlix pretty easily, and it’s a fast watch. Hell, if you’re willing to listen to the recommendation of a grumbly old-timer like me, you should be able to find the whole thing (including the wonderfully hilarious GinRei specials) for $40 or less.

It’s worth it. Trust me. Action, passion, comedy, and Robots! All the things that are best in life.

Dispense with the pleasantries! Bring more art! I’ll probably have a rant of sorts regarding the state of our image-consuming (read: .jpg DEVOURING) Internet culture next week. But there’s the distinct feeling of being kicked in the back. By a pro wrestler. Oww.

In the past few years, a few Japanese shows have been brought to the U.S. and repackaged for American consumption. The ones that come to mind the most readily are Ninja Warrior (on G4) and MXC (on Spike TV). These two shows, along with a couple of others, have been met with varying degrees of popularity.

What some people might not know is that with the exception of Ninja Warrior (known as Sasuke and Kunoichi for the male and female versions) and Hey! Spring of Trivia, which are both currently running, the shows are fairly old.

While it’s kind of easy to tell with MXC (originally Takeshi’s Castle), where the footage is fairly old looking, it’s not as easy to tell with G4’s new show, Unbeatable Banzuke (Muscle Banzuke). Banzuke ran in Japan from 1995 to 2002, and because the footage is relatively recent, one could easily mistake it for a modern Japanese show.

However, there are a couple of tell-tale signs if you look for them. Fashion in Japan is generally close to that of the U.S., so when you watch Banzuke, you can notice some definite 90s fashion. The contestants’ (and host’s) hairstyles also give the show’s age away, if you watch closely.

So, fans of these shows, what do you think? Do you care that we’re being given repackaged shows from 10 and more years ago? Do you want more old Japanese (and other foreign) shows brought to the U.S. mostly untouched? Do you watch any shows like this that I didn’t mention?

I’m sorry, but I’m juggling a job interview, registering my car in the state of California, taking a driver’s test for same state, and wrapping up loose ends and details for the Comedity book (that link over there to the right! Go buy one!) that I don’t actually have time to post something for real. I’ll try to think of something good while standing in line, though, and post something better later.

Sorry.

Even though Bob Gandy is a relative newcomer to the scene, he managed to hit the con scene at a good clip. Attending his first con last weekend, he got a fairly unique view of it- as an adult yet not one being dragged there by offspring. So, Bob, what DID you think of the con scene?

As an emerging artist, I’ve been told that going to cons is a must-do, not only to get an insider’s look at what is fresh off the boat for anime, comics, and manga, but meeting the artists, writers and publisher/producers behind it all. I got a chance to check out one of the DC area’s finest: Katsucon – open for their 14th year.

Before I could have any fun with the many costumed attendees, panels and videos, 7 1/2 trucks needed unloading. Speakers, pallets, and a small moon’s worth of grey bins are what build the con… but this was no small moon. It was Move Team. 24 hours in ahead of Opening Ceremonies, and 24hrs out afterwards.

Josh Elder, writer of Mail Order Ninja agrees with me that “The Industry” is very hard to break in to. He gave a panel with James Peay (Artist of the same comic) about pitching book and comic ideas to other artists, writers and publishers. They advised getting a foot in the door by looking out for story submission contests and trying to find internships in publishing houses you want to work with. In addition to being flexible with your style and subjects, they also advised getting submission packages together. Like a demo reel for an emerging band, Josh suggested a bundle of 5-6 pieces of sequential art, and James emphasized the importance of clarity of story, especially in short pieces. I was blown away by their professionalism, and that they treated everyone – even those just thinking about starting out – like they were well respected fellow industry professionals.

The Kaja and Phil Foglio of Girl Genius, gave a pair of panels on the art and science of Self Publishing. They were as delightfully entertaining as they were informative. For those that can’t (or won’t) deal with restrictions, manipulations and hassles of publishing through another company may find success in starting their own. They have been self-publishing Girl Genious for years, and had a number of works done before that. In addition to tips and tricks for getting ISBN numbers and barcodes for your work, they had advice on marketing, distribution – even finding the best printers for your money! Like Josh Elder and James Peay, I was again amazed by the Foglio’s professionalism, respect and encouragement of emerging artists and writers.

Con wasn’t all work, however. I got to learn more in 1 hour about Transformers than I had ever known. I watched (and occasionally heckled) some anime including Ghost In The Shell : Individual Eleven and Tales from Earthsea. There was even a sweet chance to take some kids back to school in the video game room.

I can’t thank the other staffers, guests and attendees enough for making Katsu a wonderful learning experience. I feel like my art career has found some secret power up!

First con, for teh Win!

Here in the D.C. area, Mother Nature decided to unload last night. She’s had a lot on her mind lately and felt like we haven’t been paying attention to her. So we’ve got a mix of snow and freezing rain and everything is closed. It’s time to snuggle up on the couch and watch a flick with your loved one. Here’s a list of five good ones in no particular for romantic crappy weather day watching.

• Love Actually – What I like best about this flick is that most of the love stories are awkward and clumsy. The film never goes out of its way to idealize relationships. We get to see the messy side of love that doesn’t always end happily.
• The Holiday – Kate Winslet is absolutely brilliant in this flick. Vibrant, full of life. You can tell she had a great time with Jack Black. Cameron Diaz isn’t so bad either, but Jude Law’s end of that relationship made it all worth watching.
• Juno – When it comes out on DVD, Juno will be a perfect addition to your rainy day, rom com movie fest. Fun, quirky, post-modern coming of age story more than a typical romantic comedy, but it still leaves you feeling all warm and lovey.
• Knocked Up – A slightly vulgar and hilarious take on the rom com, this one will have you laughing you ass off.
• The 40 Year Old Virgin – As a card carrying geek, this one has a special place in my heart.  I was cringing the entire time he was packing up his Star Wars toys.  Geek tragedy!

And that should take you to about nap time.

It’s a decent enough start. What films would you add to your list of staying-in-to-snuggle-cause-the-weather-is-absolute-shite movies?

When Hatsune Miku, the first Japanese Vocaloid2 program, was released on August 31, 2007, she was like God’s gift to Sprouting-type moe fans on YouTube and Nico Video.

With “her” easy-to-use interface and cutesy vocal stylings, users could re-imagine any song they wanted, set it to some video – or even just a still image – and voila! Instant audio/video contribution to dazzle fellow otaku. You don’t have to be able to sing (though the “I tried to sing it” genre is huge on Nico Video these days), you don’t have to have much musical talent, and you don’t have to have your own recording equipment, but you can still give the world some “new” music.

Just a quick search for 初音 (the kanji for Hatsune) on YouTube pulls up around 14,000 results for Miku-mixes of all kinds of songs, from Nanoha openings to the Kefka boss fight music (the best part is at 2:37).

Meanwhile, more machinima-minded otaku have had their toy since January 2007 – the home version of THE iDOLM@STER (yes, that’s the official spelling, and yes, it makes me sad whenever I have to write it out). With its impressively expressive cel-shaded characters, a multitude of camera options, energetic dance moves, and ultra-Sprouting costume choices (I was a big fan of the Iron Mask, but I may have been the only one), it practically begged for anyone with a good video card to make music videos with it.

And they have been at it for over a year now, producing everything from brief, soulful ballads to full-length denpa dances. If you’re of a mind to blow some time at work and want to see what the minds of otaku can do when combined with decent video capture cards, you could do worse than the 6,000-plus iDOLM@STER (god, I had to write it again) videos on the ‘Tube.

Anyone have any favorite performances from the Vocaloids or the iDOLs they want to share? I’m getting pretty bored at work these days…

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!! — uh..?  huh? wha– Oooooooooh, it was LAST WEEK.  Dang.  Oh well, better late than never, right?  I’d have had a good one, but lately the “love” shown by migraine headaches had me swooning.

 I’ll spare long discussions in favor of random artwork.  Everybody likes art!

Rediscovering old tools with new methods is exciting! (MS Paint)

[Demon Mage Tess, original character brought to you by Angry Viking Press]

And there’s nothing like that New Program Smell. (OpenCanvas)

[Casper, from a new arcade game, Deathsmiles] (c) 2007, CAVE/AMI.

But then, there’s always room for traditional fare. 

["Ciel", a mage character class in the Disgaea series] (c)2005-2008, Nippon Ichi Software.

And that’s it for now.  See ya next week!

It used to be that finding anime-influenced art on non-anime things was fairly rare. You might spot a bootleg anime picture on a bootleg product, but that was likely to be it. But these days, it’s become fairly common to find anime-influenced artwork in everyday items.

Case in point, I was at Best Buy a couple of weeks ago, and as I stood in line, I took a look at the “quick sale” racks, and noticed a couple of karaoke CDs that looked a bit unusual.

Upon inspection, the ‘Western Hits of the 90s’ karaoke CD had a distinctly cute anime girl on the cover (and without a cowboy hat or any kind of identifying ‘western’ apparel).

I thought to myself, “This has to be a joke.” Then I looked around, and spotted a couple more CDs with similar covers. At first I wondered why they would be trying to sell karaoke CDs like that to kids, then I realized that the ‘kids’ I was thinking of were now in college most likely.

Since then, I’ve noticed anime style art on a variety of items, from clothing labels to snack packages (and again, not branded-items) to a bunch of other things. But still, the thing that struck me as the strangest was the karaoke CD.

So what kinds of things have you noticed in normal life that has anime-style art on it? What’s been the most unusual? The most “normal”?

Feeling decidedly uninspired this past week, I turned, like most Americans, to the sweet sweet lovin’ of the television. I have recently found a British program called How Clean Is Your House? And I am addicted. It’s about these two women who go into truly, epically filthy houses- houses that should support no human life they’re that bad- and clean them up, all the while teaching the residents how to clean up after themselves. After the show, I usually scrub something. Like the kitchen floor.

How does this relate to geekdom, you ask? Well, it’s gotten me thinking about fan devotion. It’s amazing what people can become fans of. Anime, video games, sports… The broad subjects are well known, but as has been pointed out by one of our Mr. Kims fandom can be broken down even further, to specific types or traits or even items! As far as the cleaning ladies go, I am a huge fan of their rubber gloves. They have pearls and feather boas on them. I can’t help it, I just love them.

I love hearing about interesting, odd fandoms. Anyone with anything as odd as my compulsion to watch other people clean things?