Attack of the New Season

The recent crops of anime that have been surfacing in Japan have increasingly swung over to the unholy land of fan service and regurgitation. The midterm summer season, which gaps the space between when the big important full season series that aired in October end and when the next new hyped shows begin, has usually been filled with less then inspiring titles. This year is the worst that I have witnessed in the number of years I have been faithfully following the Japanese season cycles, searching for the freshest newest series’. Usually I will view the mass majority of the new titles airing and offer up a few paragraphs for each, giving a short plot synopsis and my initial reactions to the shows. This year however, I don’t want to destroy that many brain cells and have resorted to fast forwarding through episodes to get a general feel for them. Out of the dozen or so shows, probably more really, I have settled on just 3 to watch, and what is really sad is that only one of them is new.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood is just a retell of the original series based on the on going manga, so no real new ground there, but definitely a welcomed and familiar story. The incredibly cute and kid friendly Chi’s Sweet Home was green lit with a second installation of the 3 minute slice of life series subtitled Chi’s New Home.

So while we see that two of the three brand new TV series I have decided to watch are continuations and rehashes of shows already aired one wonders out of the bounty of new shows what the third and new series is all about. Could it possibly the semi anticipated fantasy series based on the semi popular ero game filled with gratuitous nudity, ludicrous body fluid and fanservice, Queens Blade? Could it be the great American past time summer sizzler shonen sports romp Cross Game? Or possibly the attempts to tap into the highly lucrative fan base that gave us 2 seasons of the riveting mecha sports series Eureka Seven (also slated for a theatrical release soon) in the basketball mech series Basquash! While I was tempted to watch the bi-shonen Victorian supernatural thriller Pandora Hearts, I also knew I couldn’t forget about the apparent homage to over the top action video game titles with Sengoku Basara. I also passed up two titillating fantasy titles, Slap Up Party and Tears to Tiara. No, I finally made my choice and with bypassing the amazingly cleaver fanservice laden Asura Cryin’ and Valkyria Chronicles. I settled on Higepiyo.

Now you may say, but why settle for a 5 minute off the wall comedy about a bearded chicken that acts like an old Japanese man when you have such comedic gems as Charady’s Daily Joke or K-on. But no, I have to stand my ground and keep my self from being inundated with too many quality shows, even if it means I have to forsake watching the thrilling super natural mystery Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

Now I may find room for other series, as I am backlogging season two of Hayate the Combat Butler seeing as I have only watched 6 episodes from the original series and I have some mild interest in Shangri-La and Eden of the East. I have yet to get to these titles u to so much time being spent trudging through the pile of quality crap presented to me so far.

I think I’m beginning to hate fanservice.

Blade of the Immortal - anime

Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人) is a 13 episode historical action series based on manga of the same name by Samura Hiroaki.  It was originally broadcast on Japanese TV in 2008.

    Blade of the Immortal takes place in the shogunate era of Japan, where the samurai has become complacent and weak due to the relative lack of war that was seen in the previous era's. Instead of fighting all of the time these upper crust warriors occupy their time with debauchery and graft. One positive way the clans keep themselves out of trouble is through teaching their own unique fighting styles to anyone willing to pony up the cash. One ambitious dojo, which was spawned due to a schism from another dojo, has decided that it will unite all of the schools in Japan under its own banner and those that resist will be destroyed. On their path to redemption a hit squad from the dojo attacks the dojo which they originally broke away from, killing its members and leaving the teenage daughter of the head of the dojo alive. Young Rin vows vengeance for the senseless murder and rape of her parents and trains day and night to kill the men responsible for her misery.

    With the guidance of an old Buddhist nun she is introduced to a scruffy swordsman named Manji to hire as a bodyguard while she is on her path to redemption. Manji offers an advantage to her goal in the fact that he is nearly immortal. Years earlier Manji went on a rampage killing samurai responsible for the death and dishonor of his father. The 100^th and final samurai he fought was his sister’s husband. The killing blow was dealt in front of her, causing her to close up and revert mentally to a child. The old nun found Manji on his deathbed and fed him magical worms that spread through out his body, healing all of his wounds, restoring him to life. Manji, feeling guilt over the state his sister was in, decided to dedicate his life to caring for her, until one day when she was murdered by a group of bandits. After her death he vowed to the nun that he would repent for his sins of killing 100 good guys by killing 1000 bad guys. Once he reaches his goal she would have to remove the cursed worms from his body so that he may join his sister in death. Seeing an opportunity to help Manji she points Rin in his direction.

    Now, with an almost unstoppable killing machine by her side they set out on the path of vengeance against Rin’s parent’s killers. Along the way they both must face personal awakenings and physical danger as they immerse themselves into a plot much bigger then either imagines.

    So I have been a fan of the manga since the mid 90’s and right from the beginning had dreamed of an anime. At first I was hesitant when seeing the trailers as I wasn’t keen on the detail in the artwork. The manga is highly detailed. I overcame my objection with the art after watching the first episode understanding that it would be expensive to replicate the level of detail found in the manga.  The simplicity of the design in the anime worked well. The series was mostly faithful with the manga, they added in a few things that didn’t take place in the manga at specific points but it actually helped with the story. As the manga evolved, more and more elements were introduced, with the anime they began introducing them early on. In the manga it seems as if Samura didn’t have a set idea when he started and evolved it as he went. With the anime they could introduce those elements earlier, giving them more depth and understanding. The anime quickly pounds through the first few issues of the comic, covering the beginnings of the journey of growth and revenge, while touching the surface of the grander schemes being formulated in the shadows. Then, it ends. The anime is only 13 episodes that leave nothing resolved and more questions and plot lines in the wings, waiting. The end of the final episode points to more coming in the future, but with the fickle anime industry that is very questionable.

    While it was only 13 episodes long and barely scratched the surface of the story I was still quite happy with the result. I have no complaints with the anime aside form the soundtrack, which at first was cool but then got grating as the same music continued to be played, over and over and over again in each episode. The animation, while simple, fit well and was executed properly. The voices for the characters that I have only imagined for over a decade did not disappoint my hard core nerd aesthetics. The translation of the manga to anime was quite faithful and the things they changed were done for the better. All in all it was a very satisfying anime and even if more never gets made I don’t feel any loss. At least this was created and did justice to this long running and personal favorite manga. One question remains from the anime though, and that is the continued eluding to Manji being placed in modern times. In both the opening/ending credits and the eye catches between commercial breaks they show images and scenery of the modern word. Weird...

    The anime was licensed for release in North America by Media Blasters.  The entire manga, 31 volumes, is available through Dark Horse comic.

A Quick Look at the Spring 2009 anime season

It is the April and that means brand new anime for the spring/summer season. Unfortunately this season’s selection leaves a lot to be desired. Here are a few of the new series I have watched and/or skimmed through.

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood the eagerly anticipated follow up to the immensely popular shonen adventure series from 2004 proved to be mysterious (at least to me) in what it was actually going to cover. The original series had wrapped up neatly once the movie was released and there seemed to be no room left to expand the story. Everyone wondered what this new series was going to give us, could it possibly life beyond the movie? Then as the previews started rolling out it became obvious that it was going to be a remake of the original series. This was only partially true. The new series is based on the manga, which apparently was based off of the original series. So in a way we are seeing a rehash of the original story, but the manga is still on going. So we have a completely different canon now with the series in the form of the Brotherhood TV show. This brings to mind two things, we have to go through some of the same boring parts that were slow in the original (like their origins and leaving their country life in search of salvation) and the fact that we pretty much know most of what is going on, at least if you can consider the story to be similar to the original anime. You know who all the bad guys are; you know the major twists, what else is there to find out? Know, not having read the manga, I’m not sure how different it is from the original anime, but to some extent I don’t see some things changing, like the identity of King Bradley and the location of the brothers missing body parts. On the other hand, I truly enjoyed the original anime and it will be nice to spend time once again with comfortable characters, especially the ones who died prematurely in the original anime. One question remains to be answered above all else; if this is based on the still running manga, how long with this anime last and when do the fillers start?

It is Full Metal Alchemist, the animation is the same, the people are the same, you know what’s going on, but it is still nice to return. It’s like rewatching the original and catching things you missed before and not actually rewatching the original. I will be happy to indulge until it becomes oppressive like Naruto and Bleach have become.

Higepiyo is one in a list of new, odd-ball comedy shorts that shows the slice of life day to day events of the plutonic Japanese family (mom, dad, and son) and their new adopted pet chicken. There is just one problem; the chicken has a beard and acts in every way shape or form like a surly unemployed old man. So for 500 yen the family has acquired a sake drinking, ass scratching, morning news watching chicken.

If you don’t think this is funny there is something wrong with your sense of humor. Sure if you don’t understand the subtle jokes about how the chicken behaves it could be due to inexperience with certain Japanese specific mannerisms. There is the danger that the show can get old quickly, you really only have so far you can go on the premise of the story. You can only introduce the odd poultry to new people so many times before it gets boring seeing new people over react about its human like tendencies. You can only show the foul acting like ji-chan so many times before enough is enough. What might really make the series carry on for a little longer is to find out that he’s a Yakuza chicken as well. It would be highly entertaining, for a while anyways, to see Higepiyo (literally bearded cheep) pullout some Yak moves. If he produces a chicken sized wakizashi I’ll be on the floor. I don’t foresee the mafia thing, but for now watching the chick act like a 70 year pensioner with no qualms about his attitude is fun. It also helps that the episodes are around 5 minutes long.

Chi’s New Address is the second series of the sweet, entertaining, kid friendly slice of life story about a lost kitten and her new human owners. The series picks up where the original one left off. Chi’s humans are faced with either moving form their apartment or getting rid of her, since they can’t have pets where they live. Now they must make the decision and life on from there.

Nothing has changed from the first series, the episodes are drawn the same, are still about 3 minutes in length and feature cute, funny and endearing adventures in this adorable kittens life…my kids are ecstatic with the shows return.

Basquash! is another title to ad to the ever growing cross genre of sports mecha anime. For me it pretty much stops there. The animation is sub par, although the mech designs are pretty cool, if only they were used for good as opposed to evil. The show is about basketball mechs. For some unholy reason crap like this gets very popular, see Eureka Seven, not only do these shows suck because its combining mechs with sports they really suck because the rely on every horrible shonen plot device in existence. A quick flip through the first episode proves that this show will not disappoint in the shonen suckyness area either.

Queens Blade is the epitome of televised fan service. This fantasy, in more way than one, is based on a semi popular ero video game and deals with a cast of scantly clad, obscenely well endowed women warriors as they do what ever it is they do to allow them to sleep better at night. While the show is on TV, I admit it must on cable, because it is semi graphic in the nudity department and sticks to its hentai roots by having anatomical weapons as part of its character offensive line up.

This show really stinks of bad mid 90’s hentai, and looks like it too. I hate fantasy anime to begin with, so make it look like something that came out 15 years ago, have it be directly from the ero empire and you really have yourself a steaming pile of celluloid garbage to fester on your hard drive. In fact the only reason I still haven’t deleted the damn thing is to mess with people with…but soon it will meet with its digital demise and I will try to repress any memories of what I have watched by watching Chi again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and aga

Xam'd Lost Memories

     Xam’d Lost Memories is a 26 episode sci-fi action anime that was released over Sony on the PSN network. The series is an original creation by design studio Bones and ‘aired’ from fall of 2008 until winter of 2009.

    In an alternate world there are two great nations in ever changing states of conflict, the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. A small free zone island known as Sentan is caught in the middle of the currently brewing conflict after a mysterious white haired girl blows up a school bus leading to an invasion by Northern Government bio-weapons. In the bus explosion a high school student named Akiyuki is injured by a foreign object included in the bomb known as a Hiruko, the Hiruko embeds it’s self within his body. The Hiruko are symbiotic creatures cherished by a cult like sect in the Northern Government who wish to bring about world change by creating more Hiruko/human symbiotes known as Xam’d. As the bio-weapons rain on Sentan Island, Akiyuki transforms, against his will, into the Xam’d, a powerful mutant creature, and fights the invading weapons.
 

    An independent postal ship gets caught up in the action and one of it’s crew, a member of a disgraced Northern Continent tribe, named Nakiami, sense’s the Xam’d in the city, she rushes to stop him from going berserk. Nakiami’s people, the Tessikan, are experienced in the ways of the Xam’d and know how to control them. She quickly subdues Akiyuki and brings him aboard the postal ship leaving the military to continue defending the city. Akiyuki is now captive on the ship as Nakiami works to prevent him from being consumed by the Hiruko and turning to stone. He must find himself and what the Xam’d inside him seeks, trying to become one with the Hiruko in order to survive it.

    While Akiyuki is traveling the world, his home is under constant threat by the Northern Continent. The Southern Continent Free Zone military has moved to using the island as a staging ground for its renewed fight against the North. Akiyuki’s friends end up joining the military out of a sense of duty and become entangled with a secret experiment to create Xam’d for military use on the island. As the war progresses and everything is thrown into chaos Akiyuki and the rest of the crew of the postal ship find themselves in danger from both sides.   He must find his own path and discover the truth behind the Xam’d.

    This is probably the most original and engrossing anime since Ergo Proxy and the more I watched the more I enjoyed it. The series reminded me of a cross between Nausicaa and Last Exile. The animation is middle of the road compared to today’s standards. The character designs are cartoonish and simple as opposed to realistic. The animation is nice though and does well with the story which is funny, dramatic and lonely at the same time. A large theme with many of the characters is solitude. The story is large and complex with much of the background left to hints and whispers. You never get a sense of the whole picture and some of the details are never truly explained, especially in regards to the bio-weapons and the wars. You are thrown into the mix right away in the first episode and things are slowly explained as the series progresses, so at first many things are confusing. There are many characters, some of which are barely explained, but each is easily identified so there is little confusion about who is who. It would have been nice to know more about the history of the world.

    What might be interesting would be a movie or a short OAV set that tells about events from the previous war that are hinted at and touched upon in the series by Akiyuki’s father and others his age. There is much more potential in this world to expand and create spin-off’s. A nice side story dealing with a band of freedom fighters that show up near the end of the series would be entertaining as well. Whether that would be a good idea is up to debate, but it is unlikely there will ever be more of the series.

    My biggest complaint with the series is some of the unnecessary and rote sappiness as the climax unfolds. Love can only carry you so far, but to have that be a catalyst in the build up to the end seemed to be a bit cheap and lazy.  Considering the quality of the rest of the series up until that point, but it is what it is, it still ends up finishing strong.

Akitaku

In light of my growing disdain for the most rabid of otaku fan-boy’s I have recently coined a term that I feels best labels them when talking with other like minded individuals. This term is Aki-taku or Akitaku. By combining the, once derrogative, term otaku (essentially obsessive fan) with a condensed version of the name of their hallowed ground, Akihabara in Tokyo, I feel that I have sufficiently titled this particular member of the otaku group. This also is a poke at the otaku shortening of their haven, Akiba, which irks me to no end.

Time for a bit of a history lesson;

    Otaku traditionally means inside. I’m not sure at what point the term was utilized as an insult but I can definitely pinpoint it being widely used by the early 80’s. You may wonder why a word meaning inside, as in inside of ones house, came to be used to label obsessed fans. Until the 21^st century the true Otaku have been an incredibly anti social lot. They are known to spend much of their time indoors, in their rooms, locked away from everything else except for their obsession. Thus the term actually fits perfectly.

A few years ago I read a manifesto by a long time professed otaku and notable manga-ka (manga artist/writer) who assaulted the current flock of otaku who crowd the streets of Akihabara as being posers and dangerous pedophiles. Stating that any true otaku, her self included, would not be out in public, hanging out in maid cafes or street performances.  They would be locked away in their secret domains, because their obsession is the only thing that matters, everything else is useless and unnecessary. The traditional Otaku chooses their passion over contact with other human beings. Many traditional Otaku are also hikikomori (extreme anti-social shut-in, sometimes plain agoraphobics).

In western cultures otaku is a term associated with anime and manga, but otaku is a blanket reference to any one with a dangerously consuming hobby. Next to manga and anime otaku (manga otaku outweigh the anime ones) one of the next largest otaku tribes are military otaku. Another large faction are train otaku, who obsess about everything train related. A train otaku restaurant recently opened in Akihabara, amid concern that it would cause problems with the anime/manga otaku.

The common theme is for the otaku to be holed up in their tiny room surrounded by any and everything related to their hobby; to breathe it in, live it, dream of it and fantasize about it. The traditional otaku is socially defunct and extremely single minded as well. They usually tend to have poor social interaction skills due to not caring for anything other then their obsession and even tend to chafe each other when they meet. True otaku tendencies can be very dangerous if their obsession is something such as with idols. This can lead to very unhealthy and dangerous thoughts and actions towards the idols or facsimiles. What makes this extremely troubling is that many idols are underage girls. So an overly obsessed idol otaku could be prone to not only attacking the idol but other underage girls who could be used as a substitute. What has been troubling lately is that the idols are getting younger and younger, leading to more dangerous possibilities, let alone the exploitation factor. Now, this does not mean that all idol otaku will attack a young girl; I’m not implying that in the slightest. What I am stating, which has been stated many times before, for many different cases, is that when the sole, obsessive, focus of one individual is aimed at a minor, even in a socially acceptable format, there is a higher chance of it leading to some form of assault. It’s just common sense that any magnified obsession can be more prone to planting the seeds of action.

I, like most westerners, refer to otaku almost exclusively within the realm of anime, manga and everything associated with such. I feel that there are different levels of otaku as well. I will use the term in a non-offensive way, but I will also use it as an insult and will fight anyone who try’s to call me an otaku. Although by some definitions I am an otaku, I still refuse it. There are Law and Order otaku out there but no one points that out…there are different, American, terms for those people..

             In the modern, public, definition of the label otaku, images of poorly dressed, socially inept, single, virgin, males comes to mind. They fawn over characters from their favorite series, buy up every bit of specialized merchandise related to a particular title, obsess over things such as voice actor habits and schooling. A comparable western fan would be a Trekkie.

The anime and manga industries have also been heavily courting the otaku since they have emerged as a major economical force. This means that a larger percentage of titles produced are aimed more specifically at these niche groups, as opposed to broader audiences. To the industry they would rather target the otaku, who will spend all of their money on any merchandise related to a favorite title, than the average viewer, who will watch the show semi-regularly as it is broadcasting and maybe buy the DVD’s when they come out. The otaku, easily lured by phrases such as ‘limited edition’ will buy every single piece of trite merchandise, related to their fandom, possible. It is easy to repackage something, add a small amount of flare, call it special, charge double what the original cost and sell out 10 minutes after launch. Case in point; when Evangelion: You are not Alone was released into theaters. It did phenomenally well. Soon they will be issuing a different edit of the movie and re-releasing that into the theaters. I guarantee it will make more than half of what the first version made in the box office, even though probably little was changed in the movie, which is just a remake of the first few episodes of the original TV series.

          The current otaku awakening has also brought about the moe-revolution. Moe (pronounced 'Mo A') is a term of endearment said when something touches your heart or is just too damn cute to exist. One thing that moe represents is the otaku view of women. Most otaku men don’t have the confidence to talk with women, let alone other men, yet they have desires and urges like everyone else. More often then naught the otaku will depend on imagined women to fill his needs, as best as possible. This idea, which is as old as the otaku themselves, leads many of them to actually shun physical relationships with real women, preferring to sustain themselves on their fantasies, than deal with the troubles of reality. Moe can represent the ideal otaku woman, which can fall in a number of categories, depending on someone’s predilections.

It’s hard to say which came first, the dating sim or the female stereotypes that appear in them. One thing for certain though is that the dating sims have greatly enhanced the presence of very refined stereotypes. Through the many years and trials of the galge (erotic dating sim games, lit 'Gal/Girl Game') industry trends have been set into place and certain things have taken the main stage. Among the most universal type is the subservient girl, the one who will do everything in her abilities to please the man as much as possible. Gentle, shy, innocent to worldly evils, ready and willing, but not a flusey. She will, with the proper timing, consent to anything, but she must be courted in the proper fashion. This is a very general stereotype found in the sims that can be broken out into sub categories; the book worm, the transfer student, the childhood neighbor, etc. Another prominent type is the tough girl or tsundere. The tsundere will also consent in time, but first you must crack through the rough, tomboy exterior to reach the shy, timid woman inside. One thing that the female’s in galge all have in common is that ultimately they are weak and need a mans guidance and direction in life. This idea fits snuggly with the still held view of a woman’s role in Japan, that of the dutiful wife, the idealized woman, yamato nadeshiko. Things have been changing and there are some independent, powerful women in Japan, but the classic ideas still exist and women in many ways are still 2^nd class citizens.

Many of these stereotypes have derived from the otaku fear of confrontation. That is one of the reasons so many of them are as reserved as they are. It’s not just an otaku trait, Japan as a whole has issues with confrontation, making it ease for the alpha type personalities to take control in most situations. The typical Japanese person would rather bow down, beg forgiveness and pay retribution than cause any form of protest from mistreatment. This is one of the things that make’s the Yakuza so effective; it’s easier to cow the masses with intimidation and the threat of confrontation than to actually use violence, although violence is par for the course with the gangsters as well.

A woman that is on your computer who will, after a prescribed course of actions, that are usually predictable, give her self to you again and again, without any form of payment required, is the most desirable woman for the socially awkward otaku. Many of them are content enough with their emotional needs being satisfied by the game that they easily can shed off any outright want for the real thing. This is a sort of self perpetuating cycle that only digs the hole deeper.

           From this reliance on the dating sim games to meet their psychological needs, the industry noted the draw for comic and animation versions of the sim game experience to achieve the same result with little to no user input. A slacker way of satisfying your needs, by sitting back and just watching the show or reading the manga, putting yourself in the place of the main character who represents your personality; timid, unsure, unconfident, but with an incredible animal magnetism that draws your most desired woman to you and only you, forever. With this arose the harem genre of anime, in which a main male lead would be flocked by a number of female co-leads who all represented different stereotypes. The female characters would all fight for the leads attention, in the hopes that he would ultimately choose her over the others (akin to reality TV shows like the Bachelor). All the while the viewer/reader is both carrying out voyeuristic tendencies and vicarious living. The system feeds upon it’s self and continues to churn out more series that refine the details. Tenchi Muyo spawns an entire industry of it’s own that has taken off and come to categorize anime as a whole. You have more and more harem anime being produced that feed off of the galge dating sim structure due to the overwhelming customer demand, or supposed customer demand. As the popularity of this type of exhibition grows, so does the fan base, which fuels the flames and generates more series’.  In the need to express the feeling that the viewer gets from such a series they have latched onto the word moe, which, for a time, has become the otaku catchphrase.

           With the anime/manga otaku fan base becoming an economical force to be reckoned with in the 21^st century everyone has been trying to cash in. This has given rise to physical representations of the moe galge fantasy, the most prominent and recognizable being the maid café. Places where awkward otaku can have interactions with real life girls who are being paid to pretend to fit their stereotypical needs. You can go and have a conversation with Eri-chan, the quiet bookworm maid, for 1000 yen an hour. It is the otaku version of the hostess bar, where the salaryman goes to unwind after a rough day at the zaibatsu. A place where he can buy the kind of conversation with a woman he wants as opposed to dealing with his nag of a wife and unruly children. It is a non-sexual, at least physically sexual, real life fantasy, which brings in money hand over fist. The maid café has paved the way for all sorts of hostess club type establishments that cater to the inept otaku crowd, filling the most desired fantasies. The current hot trend in this scene is for the hostesses to be bandaged, as if they received grievous injuries(2009). This elicits the otaku urge to care for them; the girl exudes that image of helplessness that the otaku, and other Japanese men, feed off of, the void that only they, the strong lead, can fill.

           Akihabara is on the eastern side of Tokyo. Tokyo it’s self is divided into 26 wards, or ku, Akihabara is in one of the wards with in the central hub that is skirted by the Yamanote loop train line. Until the 21^st century Akihabara has been know for being the center for commercial electronic goods. Its nick name is Electric Town, and it has earned the title. The main areas are that around the train station and the main road way just a block away. In both of these areas the streets are lined with multi storied buildings crammed to the gills with stores selling anything and everything electronic. Everything from small street venders to mega retailers such as Loax, which run a number of highly visible buildings through out the area. You can find any thing you would ever want that is electronic…if it wasn’t there is probably didn’t exist.

         Through out the shopping district there have been a number of anime, manga and video game shops, but they tended to be in the minority. Some of the otaku geared businesses were little more than cramped retail spaces packed with merchandise, making maneuvering in them a practice in patience. Across the street from the Electric Town exit of the station there is (or was) a large and spacious manga/anime discount store that occupied the 4^th floor of a building. By and large the stores dealt with manga and related anime/manga merchandise. During the night, on specific days, many shops would set up street side stalls in which they could hawk more goods. Many of these stalls dealt in the ecchi (hentai, porno) and eroge titles. This was a prime spot to pick up homebrew ecchi game and low quality hentai on the cheap. With all of this Akihabara was mainly known for offering a stunning variety of electrical goods. Everywhere you turned you would run into computer stores or cell phone kiosks, the appliance stores would have all of their demo air conditioner units on full bore and the sales staff tried to show you the newest vacuum cleaner. The more upscale establishments offered the newest high def TV’s and the biggest names in laptop technology. Sony has a retail location here as well, but their multistoried demo building located in Ginza, further south on the Yamanote.

    Something changed in the beginning of the 21^st century, something I have not quite been able to pin down yet, but I can at least pin down an event that made it bigger. In 2001/2002 a supposed real life story spawned one of the biggest dramas of the year, Densha Otoko (Train Man). The story originally spawned on the massive BBS system 2 Ch., about a hapless otaku who went to the network of like minded otaku for advice on love after saving a beautiful, non-otaku, girl from being assaulted by a drunk on the train. The series of forums spawned by this love struck otakus' need for help ended up generating a massive online myth and a novel. The novel in turn spawned a movie which spawned a live action drama series. The Densha Otoko franchise pushed the quest of geek love into the main stream and opened up the chided otaku to the world (Japan). The franchise was so successful that it helped push the marketing brains to realizing the potential goldmine these awkward hobbyists represented. Overnight it was the IN thing to be an otaku, and Akihabara had become their holy land, their sacred ground, where they could be themselves in public and indulge in their desires. Pretty soon more and more businesses catering exclusively to the otaku were popping up all over the area, increasing the presence of the tribe. More and more people flocked to the otaku banner as the new hot thing to do, much to the chagrin of many 'traditional' and 'authentic' otaku.

Soon the streets of Akihabara were flooded with street performers and hawkers luring in the hordes of otaku, with Sunday’s being the most crowded when one of the streets ends up being restricted to anything but foot traffic and performancess. Now the Electric Town exit of the train station is flooded with people, including groups of scantly clad sign girls and the ravenous picture snapping otaku surrounding them. Most people don’t care what the girls are hawking; they just want to fill up their cell phones memory with pictures of their cleavage. Otaku is big business in Akihabara, which used to be known for the best place to get the newest TV in the world, now it is known as the anime and manga geek holy land, filled to the brim with maid cafés and cosplayers.

    The term Akitaku has thus come about by combining both the tribe and their vaunted Mecca. These ravenous hordes of perverted, self righteous otaku demonstrate the worst things about being an otaku. They help to perpetuate the acceptance of being a socially awkward introvert who views the world through a pinhole lens. It has helped in reverting the standards of women by praising and selling subservient attitudes. Above all it has helped to dilute the very genre that spawned them by churning more productions out to make some quick cash through recycled plots and over the top merchandising ploys.

Ergo Proxy

     Ergo Proxy is a 23 episode cyberpunk/post apocalyptic sci-fi anime that aired on satellite TV in Japan in 2006.  The series is an original production by the production company Manglobe.

    Years after the world was decimated by a global war, the remnants of humanity reside in domed cities, away from the poisons and dangers of the ravaged world. The domed cities operate independent from each other and are ruled by logic programs. Romdo is the shining jewel of the domed cities. Its citizens are humans with companion androids known as autoreivs. Re-l (Real) Mayer is a member of the Security Bureau in Romdi.  Together with her autoreiv partner, Iggy; they investigate and combat crimes against the domes citizens. Upon investigating a case of an autoreiv that was infected with a new and mysterious virus, they come across a powerful and unknown creature. Through investigating on her own Re-l finds that it is a being known as a Proxy. While tracking the powerful monster she crosses paths with an immigrant named Vincent Law who seems linked to the creature. After Vincent becomes involved in a murder he flees the domed city to the lawless wilderness with Re-l following close behind, intent on discovering the link between Vincent and the Proxy. Once on the outside world Re-l discovers that there are small pockets of humans living off of the land, away from the pampered and protected domes. She and Vincent discover truths about themselves, the Proxy’s and the domed cities, on their trek to Vincent’s home dome.

    This is one of the best looking and interesting TV anime ever made. It is highly detailed with realistic character designs and incredible scenery. In the beginning of the series the quality is of that found in many movies. The story and mystery is engaging but sometimes confusing. While you can compare this series to other stories it is very unique compared to modern standards. It is a breath of fresh air in a stale line of titles available. The main characters are well developed but the side ones are mostly left as 2 dimensional creatures. The story primarily focuses around Re-l, Vincent and their journey to discover answers about the world around them. I would easily include this series in my top 10 best anime TV series ever made. While the art is phenomenal in the beginning, one of two things happens as you get into the series, either they scaled back the quality or you got used to it.  In the later episodes the artwork doesn’t seem as detailed as it was in the beginning. Not that the art is horrible, it is still one of the best looking TV series ever and retains movie quality art through out.

    As the story progresses things tend to get confusing about what is going on, partially because there is so much that they don’t explain until the very end and partially because of reality being bent at times. There was one annoying episode that was out of place in a way, but was used to explain much of what was going on. There was another episode that they could have done with out that dealt with a Disney Land like reality. The end though did seem to be rushed a little and was a little disappointing with how quickly it wrapped up. What would be great would be a theatrical movie to follow up with the end of the series, but that seems unlikely and is unneeded to complete the story, it would just be nice to see a little more of this interesting world. The series, in the end, is very good, one of the best in this decade (2000-2009). If you are a fan of Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed or Noein you will enjoy this series.

    The series is currently available on disc in North America from FUNimation and includes an English dub version.

Akira

Akira is arguably the most preeminent anime movie ever made. It was released in Japan in 1988 and then the world in 1989 and 1990. It is Katsuhiro Otomo’s masterpiece that helped launch anime into the world stage and has created hordes of fans. This post apocalyptic cyberpunk tale is based on the manga by the same name. It was released during the run of the manga which ends a little differently.

It is assumed that anyone and everyone has watched this movie, regardless I will continue with my format and do a brief synopsis of it.

    In the 80’s Japan’s government was secretly grooming children who had an affinity for psychokinetic powers for military uses. The most successful was a young boy named Akira, whose power grew unchecked. Soon that power ran out of control and took over his being. In the end he destroyed himself, taking most of Tokyo with him. This explosion triggered the third world war. Decades later Neo-Tokyo is a thriving and successful megalopolis, with the horrors of war a memory of the older generation. The city is not a utopia though and street gangs are a rampant and dangerous problem. There is also social unrest with the student bodies and protests are staged to fight the corruption of the central government. During a fight between two rival motorcycle gangs one of the hoodlums, Testuo, crashes into a boy on an abandoned highway. As other members of the gang come to his rescue they find him badly wounded and near unconsciousness. The strange boy remains unharmed but before they can find out who the boy is military helicopters arrive. They triage Testuo and load him and the boy onto a helicopter. The rest of the gang is arrested and handed over to the police.

    While in central booking, Kaneda, the gang’s leader, notices a beautiful young girl. He convinces that authorities that she is a part of their gang as they are let go. Outside of the station he finds out that she was arrested at a protest the night before and is part of a guerilla resistance group. This group broke into a top secret government facility that is still doing tests on children and kidnapped one of the original test subjects. This test subject is the same boy that Tetsuo crashed into. Due to both an interest in finding his friend and getting laid, Kaneda joins up with the resistance group. During another mission into the facility he finds that Tetsuo has become a part of their experiments. His powers soon grow out of control, like Akira’s, and everyone must race to stop him before Neo-Tokyo is destroyed.

    This movie is now over 20 years old. Yet I still think the animation can hold up to today’s standards. The amount of detail put into the creation of this film is astounding, even more so that it was done entirely by hand in Otomo’s modest production studio. While the character designs are not realistic they are still well done, classic Otomo style, like that found in his recent series Freedom. One thing that the movie was credited for at the time was that it utilized technology that matched the characters mouth movement to the worlds they spoke, lending it to a more realistic flow. The scope of the story was wholly original and unique; I have not really come across much that imitates the story. The soundtrack as well is creative and entertaining. Another soundtrack I can think of that is close to resembling Akira’s would be that for the Ghost in the Shell movies. This movie is truly one of my all time favorites, while it has been replaced at the top of the pile by other movies it is still the one movie, anime or not, I have watched the most. I have literally watched this movie over 200 times. It was my first introduction to anime as anime when I was lucky enough to see it in the theater. A few years afterward I bought the subtitled VHS copy. In the summer between 8^th grade and freshman year of high school I watched the movie at least once a day, sometimes two or three times, for lack of anything else better to do. This movie, like so many others from my anime generation, say that this title was the beginning of fandom.

    Even in Japan this is considered one of the important classics and is still highly regarded. While it is over 20 years old it is still viable and watchable today. There is some dating to it, linking it to the 80’s, such as some of the characters clothing and hair styles. More subtly it can also be viewed as a criticism on social excess in Japan in the 80’s. Yet the story is futuristic and can also pertain to societal excesses today. Otomo may have slipped into obscurity in recent years, only marginally successful with Steam Boy but his work is still no less important or incredible. He may not be Miyazaki but he can still be considered a creative force in the world of manga and anime. Take some time and rewatch this classic if it has been a while since your last viewing and remember what the industry and technology was like when it was created. Compare it to current films and decide for your self if it can compete with them. I think it does and I will always have a love for this movie, my baptism to anime.

Memories

Memories is a theatrical anthology of shorts that came out in the 1995. It is made up of three independent vignettes done by 3 different directors. The shorts are, Magnetic Rose, Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder.

    The first short, Magnetic Rose, is a beautifully detailed futuristic drama that deals with the crew of a salvage ship discovering the mother lode in a derelict space junk yard. Two members of the four man crew leave the ship to investigate an asteroid with a house built into it after picking up a distress signal. As they explore it they discover it was the residence of an opera diva from the previous century. While searching for anything valuable to scavenge they are attacked by the automated defenses of the residence. As they fight to get back to their ship they discover that the automated systems have gone haywire with years of solitude and soon they have to fight between reality, fantasy and their own pasts to make it out alive.

    The second short, Stink Bomb, is a comedic yet sinister romp that deals with the possibility of biological weapons falling into the wrong hands. A young assistant at a bio research facility accidentally ingests a top secret military bio weapon thinking it was a cold remedy. He passes out to wake up the next day still at work, finding everyone in the facility dead. After calling an ambulance he realizes he took the wrong pill and quickly calls the government alerting them to the problem as he heads out on his own to Tokyo to meet with them. Unknown to him, the effects of the weapon emanate from his body and as he recklessly travels to Tokyo he endangers millions of people’s lives. The power of the weapon increases with his stress and as the military tries to capture him his stress level increases exponentially.

    The third story, Cannon Fodder, is a stylized and socially critical adventure that takes place in a 1984 type world. In a city that is always at war with an unknown and distant enemy country the business of the day is operating the large cannons that dot the cityscape. One way or another the resident's of the city work in jobs relating to the cannons and their operations. Our story follows one lower class family in a day of their life, the father works on a cannon loading crew, the mother works at a munitions factory and the son goes to school to learn the finer points of operating the cannon. As we progress through the day we see the realities of the underclass grunts coinciding with the son’s childlike fantasies of the magnificence of operating the towering behemoths. The citizens don’t really know why they are fighting or who they are fighting, in the end of the day they are safe and sound, their job is done and they live to see another day of the same thing.

    Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira, Steam Boy) is the overlying name behind the movie. Magnetic Rose is based on a manga of his.  He wrote and directed Cannon Fodder and produced the entire movie. Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue) wrote the script for Magnetic Rose which was directed by noted music video director Morimoto Koji. Stink Bomb was written by Otomo and directed by Okamura Tensai (Wolfs Rain).

    Each story is unique and different in scope and message. Out of all of them Stink Bomb is my favorite, for its comedic value alone. Magnetic Rose is beautiful and haunting while Cannon Fodder is very unique. I enjoy this movie and have since I first viewed it in the mid 90’s. Even with its aged it is still a good film. The animation isn’t of the highest quality compared to today’s standards but it is still quality none the less. The soundtrack is highly entertaining and well done, with each sequence having diverging styles. Most people will find something to enjoy from the movie. It took a long time for it to be released in America and is currently a little hard to track down. It is one of the gems of the industry and deserves a spot on every collector and fans shelf.

X the movie

X the movie, is the feature length adaption of the manga by the same name from the ladies of CLAMP. This acclaimed supernatural bishonen story was also redone as a 26 episode TV series. Seeing, in my opinion, the TV series was a pile of garbage, we will ignore its existence and only talk about the movie.

    We find Tokyo at the turn of the century and on the brink of an epic supernatural battle that will decide the worlds' fate. Hidden in the shadows exist two forces, the Dragons of Earth and the Dragons of Heaven. Each group has its own vision of the future of the world and the power to make their vision true. The members that make up these groups gather in Tokyo as the final battle is about to begin. With them, comes the one person who will decide the winner and the loser of the battle, Kamui. According to the mystics of both groups Kamui will return to his home of Tokyo and join with one of the forces, thus causing his equal, another Kamui, to join the other force. Both Kamui will fight to the death to determine the winner and the fate of the world.

    Kamui returns to Tokyo, unaware of the plots around him, after the bizarre death of his mother who died while giving birth to a mystical sword. He returns to find answers and to reclaim something of his lost childhood happiness. Instead of finding peace he is involved in the struggle between opposing ideals. The Dragons of Heaven see humanity as needing their guidance and careful tutelage to progress to greater things. They strive to protect mankind from the shadows while it continues on its course. The Dragons of Earth see humanity as blight on the planet and wish to return the world to the natural order of things. Kamui inadvertently drags his childhood friends, Fuma and Kotori, into the battle as he tries to reconnect with them. The Dragons of Heaven quickly bring Kamui into their fold and introduce him to their leader, the blind prophet Kanoe who tells him about the unfolding events. With all of their convincing and pleading Kamui is resistant to join either force and chooses to distance himself from the struggle. Fate proves otherwise and he can not escape making a choice. When Kotori is kidnapped and Fuma is approached by the Dragons of Earth, Kamui can no longer sit idly by and watch the world collapse around him. As time runs out he must accept his fate and help to choose what will happen to mankind.

    This is a CLAMP series true and through. It also has not aged well, it came out in 1996. It integrated some CG that looks childish and low quality with today’s standards. Before my first viewing of this movie a man I ran into told me above anything else the movie was eye candy, and at the time, 1997, it was true. The characters fit the CLAMP bill, impossibly skinny waists, long limbs and large eyes. Most of the male characters are just as feminine as the female characters. Poor artwork aside this is one of CLAMP’s best works. It is by far the most depressing and twisted story they have come up with. I prefer the movie over the TV series for the fact that it is more bleak. I love stories that don’t end happily and this one is one of the top on the list. For a number of years this movie was my number one favorite anime movie because it was so dark. It may not be anything new, hell Evangelion had the same basic premise, but it is delivered so well that it stands out among the rest that are similar. I think it only should have been a movie even though the manga started running before the movie was made. It is nice, compact and tidy with little room for anything else. The manga/TV series flesh out the back ground of the characters and how they all gathered and what motivates them, which I think that just lends to watering the story down. The manga/TV series also adds more to the events dealing with the main struggle, which I also think waters the story down. Unlike many titles I greatly enjoy, this one was perfect as an hour and a half package of doom and misery. For a taste of the darker side of CLAMP, if for some ungodly reason you have never seen this movie, please do. Otherwise watch it again and remember where they first showed the ruthlessness they played with in Code Geass.

Ghost Hunt

Ghost Hunt is a 25 episode horror series based on the manga by the same name which is based off of a series of light novels by the same name that aired on TV in Japan in 2006 and 2007.

    This shojo horror series follows a small group of paranormal investigators as they solve a number of cases involving haunting. The main characters are; high school student Mai Taniyama who has latched onto high school student Kazuya Shibuya and his paranormal investigation company.  Kazuya’s company SPR utilizes technology to observe and prove/disprove the existence of paranormal activities. At first Mai elects to stand in for Kazuya’s assistant after she injures him, but once he returns she continues to aid the company, mostly due to her attraction to Kazuya. As she spends more time working with the investigators on the various cases she begins to understand the world they live in and believe in peoples abilities to interact with the super natural.

    The series is split into 8 separate chapters. Each chapter is a multi-episode investigation story. The different chapters have nothing in common with each other but they will sometimes reference an event from an earlier chapter. Ultimately you only need to watch the first chapter first, and then the rest can be viewed in any order. The first chapter introduces all of the main characters and brings Mai together with them for the first time. All of the chapters involve the group of investigators solving cases of haunting's, from the ghost of a lost child to a haunted school.

    This is single-handedly the creepiest anime I have ever seen. Even though its intended audience is teenage girls, this show is entertaining for people of all ages. I would suggest a mature audience due to some of the subject matter. The more frightening story would be the second one where the team investigates a possible possession of a young girl in her house. Even though it is just a cartoon the use of atmosphere, psychology and sound effects matches that of any great live action horror film. I was very creeped out and a bit disturbed during part of the story, as was a friend of mine. Once that happened our respect for the show increased greatly. 

    Initially, with the first few episodes, the series seemed a waste of time. It seemed that it was going to be yet another story dealing with a motley yet lovable crew of teenage ghost busters. I decided to give the series a customary 5 episode test run and was glad I did. The first story wrapped up and did little to impress us as it was little more than an introduction of the cast. The second chapter started and we were drawn in by the end of it's first episode.

    While there is the ever present love story between Mai and Kazuya, the stereotypical cast of characters (too cool monk, blond priest, creepy medium) and a propensity for odd ball antics, the series as a whole is very entertaining and creepy. As it progresses each chapter seems to become darker in subject matter, such as one dealing with a man who would kidnap and torture/murder people because he thought he could live forever. It isn’t original by any stretch of the word, but it is well done and enjoyable. The characters, while type cast are enjoyable. There’s something to be said for a cartoon that can scare you. Even though the series is initially aimed at the shojo crowd I wouldn’t leave it to them exclusively. Fans of Blood, Jigoku Shojo or Monster would enjoy this series as well as fans of plain mysteries and ghost stories.