This is an extremely interesting interview with top anime studio Gainax’s copyright head 神村靖宏/Yasuhiro Kamimura, in which he explains how Gainax grew out of the dojinshi scene, and how it currently views dojinshi, garage kits and the like.
Interesting to see such views straight from the person concerned rather than some PR type, although I think he definitely falls into the “old media” camp, however relatively enlightened his views on dojinshi may be. I provide a summary translation of the interview (actually, it is almost complete) – original article by ITmedia here.
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Gigazine reports that the impressive anime 少女革命ウテナ/Revolutionary Girl Utena is due to get a fully remastered release. According to the article, the remastered 6 DVD box sets will be released in Summer and Autumn, and will have digitally remastered video, 5.1 sound, new extras as well as various extras released with the film. A remastered box set of the excellent soundtrack CDs will also be released. Not sure if I’d care to watch the whole thing again, but it is certainly tempting.
Ever heard of キリヤマ太一/Taichi Kiriyama? I hadn’t either, even being a fan of the three eroge to which he has lent his superb art direction. He deserves an introduction, and the reader also deserves an introduction to his (rather explicit) art.
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In a month!? And at 57, what powers of endurance. Asahi writes that he was suspended for 3 months, and demoted, now a mere chief clerk, down from section chief. Apparently came to light due to virus trouble, not an uncommon occurrence.
It seems all that hanging around in Akihabara looking for a breakdown in law and order has given the folks at Asahi TV an idea or two. Today on ナニコレ珍百景, loosely “What the hell is this, 100 views of the bizarre”, they aired a feature entitled “美少女の車軍団”, “Bishojo Car Corps”, covering the variety of itasha around – I couldn’t help but be reminded of Danny Choo’s article. This via Jabro, head on over there for more pictures.
Only in Korea. It seems two fans took the burning question of which character is best, Haruhi or Eva’s Asuka, so seriously they were forced to move it from an online venue to an offline one, and naturally the ensuing fracas was recorded for your viewing pleasure. Their online argument lasted 5 hours, no word on how quickly the brawl finished. Nobody seems to know who won either. Via Itai News, original Korean article here. View the tawdry spectacle here and here. The article explains it is an outbreak of “現Ｐ” (abbreviation of “現実PK” – “Real PK” – MMORPG buffs will know all about Player Killing), something which seems to be a phenomenon limited to Korea and China.
JAXA, the Japanese equivalent of NASA, has announced a program where products can, in return for an incredibly generous 0.1% of sales, brand themselves as JAXA “Cosmode” products. Via Gizmodo.jp and Asahi. No comment yet from the cosplay magazine whose name they’ve appropriated – I’m sure they’ll be fine. The products being held out as shining exemplars of this scheme are such charismatic items as water purifiers and heat insulating paint. Sure to drive consumers into a buying frenzy.
However, since it is basically just a logo with a commit clause to donating some proceeds to JAXA’s PR arm, any product should be able to participate – expect to see some tangentially connected items in stores soon, depending on whether consumers fancy donating to a tax funded government agency.
If I were to offer a opinion on this, this has all the hallmarks of an entrenched bureaucracy undertaking a half hearted attempt to commercialise their technology. How about putting the contracts for space development out to competitive tender instead?
Seeing this terrifyingly detailed comparison of the differences between DVD and broadcast versions of 俗・さよなら絶望先生/Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei DVD 2 compelled me to watch the DVD… and as I found in my previous look, it is as visually striking as ever, and with great originality, if at times overly reliant on wordplay. It is also strangely fulfilling to take screenshots of.
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What took them so long? Asahi reports that 20,000 US military personnel stationed in Japan are to be subjected to background checks to weed out those likely to cause a reoccurrence of something likely to further impugn the already dubious reputation of US forces stationed chiefly in Okinawa. They will be given “counselling” to help them suppress their soldierly impulses towards the citizens of Japan, and those that fail will be sent home. This is sparked by the most recent incident in a long line of incidents.
KFC’s Colonel Sanders will no longer be dressed as a maid at KFC Akihabara – by order of the management. By way of Akibablog, with more details at AkibaOS. Understandable that they wouldn’t get away with this for long.
There is a very interesting and detailed article on the figure and otaku scene in China (specifically Shanghai), as well as how Japanese companies operate there, over at Nikkei (onerous registration required to read it all), brought to my attention via foo-bar-baz. The interview with Alter’s China office is especially interesting. Surprisingly, it is not a market completely awash with fakes, and seems to be growing healthily. I provide a summary translation below for your information and enjoyment.
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This is 田中ユタカ/Yutaka Tanaka. His stories tend to be more sentimental than the norm – or perhaps they are normal and the unsympathetic treatment is not. Anyway, they are full of warmth. He is extremely prolific (in fact there is a suggestion several authors use the same pen name, or at least that plenty of assistants are involved). You may also be familiar with the erotic anime adaptation of Virgin Night (初夜), based on his work. He has a slew of normal (non-H) manga published as well, but I am concentrating on the H part of his portfolio here.
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