The Kawaii Menace

Who knows when Hatsune Miku will be ported to the Mac? Until then, there’s the Delay Lama:

(Via Fellini 8.5)

If that’s too passé for your taste, you can listen to music made with Nintendo Gameboy chips at the Blip Festival. Want to make your own bleeps and bloops, but you don’t have any old video games on hand to take apart? Try quadraSID.

If tht’s too old-school for you, consider Reactable. (Via Fred.)

Update: Accordion Hero? Sure, why not?

(If you’re reading this at Anime Nano, don’t bother clicking through. This is just the traditional “no time to write” post.)

Nutcracker season is imminent. While I’m not on stage this year, I will be in the auditorium taking thousands of pictures during tech week. There won’t be time for anime or anything else beyond work, sleep and photography. Things should return to what passes for normal around the middle of December. There might be a book review or two, but otherwise don’t expect much activity here until then.

*****

If you need something to read, there’s plenty of fuss in the otakusphere about whether anime will survive. The most cogent discussion is, predictably, at Steven’s, here and here (be sure to read the comments). See also Avatar, Author and DiGiKerot.

Here’s another picture from the same event, this time a J-rock cosplayer.
(Read on …)

I found a site that makes Flash jigsaw puzzles from your pictures. Here’s a Suingintou from the Wichita anime festival last August.
(Read on …)

It looks I’ll have to watch more of ef — a tale of memories. The visual novelties in the first episode were entertaining, but none of the characters seemed particularly interesting. However, several of the more thoughtful writers on anime are impressed with the series, and Author declares it the top pick of the fall, so perhaps I missed something.

I probably am a little too quick to dismiss the shows I sample. There are good reasons for being picky: there’s a lot out there, most of it is of average quality or worse, and I don’t have unlimited time. In general, the sooner I drop a show, the better. The danger is that I’ll dismiss something genuinely good because it doesn’t make a strong first impression. This may well be the case with ef. Shugo Chara might be another instance; I only made it through half of the first episode, but those who like it, like it a lot.

*****

While the fall offerings may be disappointing, overall this has been a decent year for anime. Five series so far are on my “buy” list should they be licensed: Denno Coil, Seirei no Moribito, Oh! Edo Rocket, Baccano! and Mononoke. In comparison, only three from last year made my list (Suzumiya Haruhi, Ouran and Muteki Kanban Musume). I’ll probably add Moyashimon unless the quality drops, though I don’t plan to buy the Aspergillus oryzae plushie.

*****

Update: Jonathan Tappan has been posting pictures from his vacation in Japan.

Poor Sawaki. In the third episode of Moyashimon he learns that there are things with stronger fragrances than kiviak; in the fourth, he is publicly humiliated, he learns more about animal husbandry than he really wanted to know, and his stomach hurts. He ends up in the hospital, a particularly nightmarish place for him since he can see all the interesting microbes (including viruses) in the air there. Moyashimon is probably the most interesting new series of the fall — that I’ve seen,¹ anyway. It’s certainly the most unpredictable. I have no idea what’s going to happen next, except that Sawaki won’t enjoy it.

Addendum: the animators got careless early in the third episode and gave Professor Itsuki a mouth:

*****

Three episodes in, Ghost Hound looks to be a thirteen-episode series inflated to twenty-six. The story may yet astonish me, but the pace is glacial, and I’m losing patience. I’ll stick it out for a few more episodes, but it threatens to be a major disappointment.

When Chiaki is the focus in Minami-ke, it’s fun. Kana, however, is nearly as annoying as Tomo Takino, and Haruka is just plain dull. The principal motif in the fourth episode is tugging on skirts, which does not improve matters. I think I’ll pass on the rest. If I want to see a Ruri, I might as well wait until Nadesico is available again next year and enjoy the real thing.

Sketchbook explores the boundary between laid-back and comatose. It makes Aria seem like an action/suspense thriller. Sometimes that’s just what I need, but usually it isn’t. The fourth episode — or was it the fifth? They all blur together — is devoted to the cats that fascinate Sora. The bear-like top feline (I’d call him the alpha male, but like all the other characters in Sketchbook, the cats are too mellow to even consider fighting) wants to wear a collar. It’s a mildly entertaining story, like every other episode, and I don’t regret spending a half-hour on it, but there is very little substance there. If you’re in the mood for something serenely weightless, this is your show.

The show that l am enjoying most this fall is also the oldest, Alfred J. Kwak from 1989. There may be a political subtext to the story, and the subtitlers find plenty of occasion for historical notes, but the emphasis is on entertainment, not polemics. Although this is a children’s show with a straightforward narrative and uncomplicated characters, adults can enjoy it, too, particularly adults disappointed with the fall anime season.

Incidentally, it’s worthwhile to listen to the Dutch dub as well as the Japanese. I like the Dutch opening song better, even if the other is sung by Megumi Hayashibara.

1. I haven’t yet seen Kaiji and I’ve only watched the first episode of Shion no Ou so far. [↩]

What does it mean to be a Lolita? According to Momoko Ryugasaki, it’s not just a matter of frilly clothes:

I have no strength, no stamina. I run really slow, and I can’t even swim. I’m hopeless at sports or anything physical. but I am quite happy with these failings of mine. After all, there’s nothing charming at all about a Lolita who can run a full marathon and clock a pretty good time doing it, is there? If a Lolita is assaulted by a hulking thug and uses judo to throw him over her shoulder, that’s just bad for her image. The weaker a girl is, the better. For a maiden, being frail and high-strung confers status. Once in a while at morning assembly there will be a girl who faints from anemia, and every time I see that I gnash my teeth with envy. Exasperating though it may be for those around her, a girl is decidedly cuter if she cannot do a single thing for herself — if she doesn’t even know how to tie her own shoelaces, I do not want to become the kind of woman who competently balances work and play, and is physically and emotionally robust, and is more suited to protecting than to being protected. I have no wish of becoming a woman of the world who has tasted both the sweet and the bitter things life has to offer. I don’t ever want to eat anything bitter — I plan on living my life by filling myself up with only the sweet. And if that gives me cavities, I’ll cry. If treatment is required, I’ll ask to go under general anesthesia because I hate pain. Call me a sissy and laugh if you will, but this is how a girl ought to be. She should just avert her eyes from the harsh realities and life and, without ever lifting a finger, dreamily devote herself to fantasies that will never come true. If she believes that one day those fantasies will miraculously come to pass, that’s all that matters.

Although Momoko, the narrator of Novala Takemoto’s novel Kamikaze Girls,¹ calls herself a “Lolita,” there is no mention of Dolores Haze and Humbert Humbert in the book. Instead, the novel begins with a smart-alecky disquisisiton on the Rococo aesthetic — “… hey, round is cuter than square” — connecting it to punk and anarchism. Eventually Momoko gets around to talking about herself. She’s the high-school-age daughter of a Yakuza reject, whom she uncharitably but accurately calls “the Loser.” She lives out in the boonies near but not convenient to Tokyo, attempting to lead a Rococo life while surrounded by rice paddies in every direction. To raise money for more frills, she places an ad offering the counterfeit Versace clothing her father used to sell. Finally, on page fifty-two, Ichigo Shirayuri arrives on her elaborately tricked-out 50cc scooter to buy a jacket and begin the story:

The person had straight bleached-blonde hair down to her shoulders, wore blue eye shadow and bright red lipstick, and had on a navy-blue school uniform comprised of a short jacket and a very long skirt with a prodigious number of pleats, which dragged on the ground. On her feet were — well, it would sound good to call them “mules,” but actually they were cheap purple slip-on sandals of the type moms wear when going out to the neighborhood supermarket, and their sparkles glinted in the sun. Wow, a sukeban, and a super old-school one … Who knew bad girls wearing outfits like this still existed?

Although they represent mutually alien cultures, frilly-ass Momoko fascinates the hicktown Yanki. Ichigo frequently visits Momoko, and gradually a friendship develops, despite their having virtually nothing in common beyond outsider status. In the course of the novel Ichigo introduces Momoko to pachinko, the two search for a legendary embroiderer, Momoko gets more deeply involved with Lolita fashion, and Ichigo gets involved, too. The story culminates in a girls’ biker gang showdown, in which Momoko, to her credit, fails to live up to her ideal of the useless, helpless Lolita.

Takemoto didn’t worry much about plausibility when he wrote the novel. Although Momoko’s skill at embroidery is believable given her attitudes and history, what happens at her favorite clothing store is pure wish-fulfillment. What happens when she plays pachinko machines is plain fantasy. Ichigo’s unsuspected resource is just a little too convenient, if nicely ironic. And so on.

What salvages the book is Momoko’s voice. Sometimes playful, sometimes sarcastic, usually ironic and detached, the narration undercuts any latent sentimentalism. Momoko tries not to take anything seriously, and it’s not until the final pages that she lets her mask slip.

Kamikaze Girls was made into a movie, and apparently a pretty good one. I might track it down someday, though I expect that I’ll find it as disappointing as any other movie based on a book I like.

1. The Japanese title is Shimotsuma monogatari, or “Shimotsuma Story,” which is more accurate but less intriguing than the English-language one. [↩]

I haven’t had much time for anime or anything else recently, but I did manage to watch the first disc of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Good grief. I think I’ll watch Cat Soup again; that’s a model of clarity in comparison. I suppose everything will make sense in the end, but seven episodes into Utena, it’s absurdity upon absurdity, combined with swordfights, silliness, pointed chins and a minimal animation budget. Surrealistic though it is, it remains mostly on the right side of the line between silly and stupid, and I am curious to see if the writers do make ultimately something coherent out of the nonsense.

*****

Here are a few odd links. Click at your own risk.

A term I didn’t need to learn.

So kawaii.

I didn’t really need to see this. (Found it here.)

This is worth looking at.

Is Ahiru no Quack, or Alfred J. Kwak, the greatest anime of all time? Wonderduck thinks so, but he might not be entirely unbiased. This Dutch/Japanese production from 1989 looks like it could be suitable for children and tolerable for adults. Those who are disappointed by this fall’s offerings might want to check it out; if nothing else, it’s a different style of art and animation than is usual these days, and it features Megumi Hayashibara.

My worry is that it will become an agenda-driven show in which the messages overshadow the characters. I also wonder if the translators are reading too much into the story.

I’ve spent my recent lunch hours investigating Second Life. This virtual world may have a lot of potential, but I find it disappointing. It’s fun to learn to fly and customize your avatar, but once you’re past the orientations and in Second Life proper, it turns out that there’s nobody there.¹ There’s plenty to look at — elaborate buildings and landscapes, stores full of clothes, hair, skins, eyes, wings, animations, etc. — but wherever I go, I’m almost always quite alone. When I do encounter someone else, he is generally as disinclined to begin a conversation as I am. There are some busy sites with lots of visitors, but I dislike virtual crowds as much as real ones. I have yet to find a congenial spot.

It hasn’t been a complete waste of time. Some real-life musicians stream live performances while their avatars stand on virtual stages, and the music is occasionally quite good and offbeat. When’s the last time you heard virtuoso musical saw? Supposedly some well-known musicians like Suzanne Vega occasionally give virtual concerts, but I have yet to recognize any of the performers listed on the schedules. There have also been some discussions announced that look interesting, but never at times I can attend.

So, is there anime in Second Life? Well, there are Naruto fans, as demonstrated above. Quite a few shops feature clothing, hair, shapes and skins inspired by anime and gothic lolita styles, and there is quite a bit more that’s Japanese. I found one virtual shop devoted entirely to general anime cosplay and another exclusively to Sailor Moon.

(Notice how much of the snapshot above is blurry. It takes a long time to render all the fine detail, and if your computer, video card and connection are not the absolute fastest available, expect to spend a lot of time waiting for your system to catch up with SL.)

So there are anime fans in Second Life — somebody had to make the wares and rent or buy the virtual space for the stores — but finding them is not easy. There are over a hundred anime groups listed, a few with hundreds of members, but they don’t actually do anything. There are no meetings, discussions or events in any that I’ve looked at, and no newsletters. The only anime-related communications I’ve received were announcements of new costumes. In contrast, I receive regular updates from various SL musical and dance organizations.

There are a few haibane around:

If I do continue to visit Second Life, it will be for the music, not anime.

One unexpected pleasure: shopping for clothes. In real life, it’s a pain; the styles don’t appeal and the sizes are never quite right. Clothing your avatar, however, is fun. Penneys might not have much in the way of kimonos, but in the virtual world they’re easy to find. I haven’t yet seen any Abh uniforms, but I did find some other outfits of note. Snapshots below the fold.

(Read on …)

1. There are supposedly 40,000 to 50,000 residents logged in when I visit, but they all must be playing hide and seek. [↩]

In the second episode of Ghost Hound the story finally gets going. There’s a summary of the kidnapping eleven years ago as it is understood by Tarou and the townspeople. He has another dream, this one about the beginning of the events then, and he discovers a eerie realm near the shrine where Miyako lives. We also get a hint about what the title refers to:

The other series I’m watching this fall so far — Miname-ke, Mokke, Moyashimon, Sketchbook — are just lightweight entertainments and nothing more. With Ghost Hound, it looks like there will be a substantial series, after all. It’s still in the expository stages and the shape of the main story isn’t clear yet, but I think it’s going to be worth following. The main problem for me will probably be remembering that Ghost Hound isn’t Lain redux. This may be difficult, because there are significant parallels, from overlapping realities to the visual and sonic distortions.