1. No, seriously, WTF? Do you remember my whole Zac Efron is Kira thing? Well, every so often I still get a comment either of the original posts of this theory, generally from people who got linked to it much later and find it amusing. But lately the post has taken on a life of its own, with a group of people roleplaying various Death Note characters and Disney kid actors. It’s terrifying. You can read it here…if you dare.

2. You Will Be This Guy No Matter How You Try Not To Be. Over at Topless Robot, former animeOnline rock star Bryan Hartzheim doles out the ten most common gaijin types you’ll find in Japan. My personal favorite is “The Obnoxious Europeans Who Masquerade as Americans.” DAMN YOU, EUROPE!

3. The Mainstream Media’s 4chan Obsession Continues. I can only imagine that moot has been begging for interviews or something lately, but the New York Times now has a piece on 4chan. I can’t really go into the details because I seem to be having trouble getting through to the NY Times today, so here’s hoping you have better luck with it.

4. NatsuComi Cometh. Comic Market 74 (2008 Summer) is very nearly upon us, so ComiPress favors us with a history of Comiket.

The end! And now, I will do something terribly unusual: I will go sit outdoors and watch a bunch of sweaty guys hit balls with sticks and run around a vaguely diamond-shaped field, in an effort to celebrate my dad’s birthday. You kids have fun with the above while I cheer for the Giants.

Posted by gia in Features, Required Reading • Comments (10)

You may have noticed that it took me a couple of days to recover from Comic-Con this year. I’m blaming it entirely on the fact that after leaving a giant mass of over a hundred thousand comic/movie/game/anime nerds…only to head to Texas to spend time with a small, huddled mass of them instead. Talk about poor planning!

But never fear, there’s plenty for you to read while I continue to catch up with my e-mails, google alerts, RSS feeds, and– oh yes –my sleep.

1. Gurren Lagann Love - ANN has a spiffy interview with TTGL producer Yasuhiro Takeda, my personal favorite Gainax employee/co-founder Hiroyuki Yamaga, mech designer/animation director Yoh Yoshinari, and character assistant director Masahiko Otsuka. They didn’t really ask any fun questions– it’s more about story structure and the like –but it’s always fun to read the Gainax guys going on about stuff. So check that out here.

2. For The Nerd With LOTS Of Time To Spare - Boston University law student Joshua M. Daniels wrote a 36-page paper on the extensive alteration of shows like One Piece by companies like 4Kids, which he suggests violates the “moral rights” of the original creator (which you may recall from that whole TOKYOPOP pact thing). He moves on to argue that fans have an interest as strong or perhaps even stronger than the original creator’s in maintaining the integrity of the work, and that fansubbing may be a justifiable form of market correction.

Now, obviously in the case of One Piece the FUNimation version is available, uncut and whatnot, and as for everything else, well, most anime isn’t heavily altered when released in the US anymore, even if it appears on TV. So, it’s not really an argument that would be valid for most anime– if it’s valid to begin with. Still, it’s definitely an interesting read for anyone interested in the (very) in-depth legality of some current issues– from the point of view of someone with some actual legal training.

3. I Wasn’t The Only One Getting Free Stuff At Comic-Con - NPR has an article about librarians scoring free manga for their libraries at Comic-Con, as well as other comic books. The article includes some words from Eva Volin, a comics fan and librarian who was also one of the judges for this year’s Eisner awards.

4. Your Series Rec Of The Week - Animanachronism has a nice article up about Hoi-Hoi-san, an OVA and manga franchise about an otaku toy who becomes a cockroach-slaughtering robot at night. It’s a really cute show and a nice write-up– read it, then watch the OVA.

5. Required YouTubing - JapanProbe’s got a video about life in a Tokyo shantytown that’s a great watch, especially if you want to know some of the truth behind the occasionally romanticized shantytowns that appear in anime.

Keep busy, kids!

Posted by gia in Features, Required Reading • Comments (5)

I’ve got a few items on the required reading list today, but it was Brigid’s tip over at MangaBlog that made me decide this had to go up today.

Now, my favorite work by Osamu Tezuka is Unico (my first anime ever, prior to my knowing what anime was…or what Japan was, probably). But a close second? Black Jack. And now Vertical has posted a free preview of their Black Jack release (due out at the end of September).

But there’s more to read! And I’m not just talking about my Expo stuff, either:

• Comics212’s Christopher Butcher has a two part, fairly in-depth look at the U.S. manga industry– and make sure you hit up the comments, too.
• For fans of Gundam 00, Gunota Headlines has some details about where the characters are at the beginning of season 2, courtesy of Newtype, Animedia, and/or Animage, no doubt.
• Over at Icarus (NSFW), Simon has links to two excellent pieces: Sporadic Sequential’s 5-point plan for Kodansha’s world takeover (for a chuckle) and Katherine Farmar’s tips for new comics publishers (for food for thought). Also, if there are any VIZ (or other manga publishers) reading this, you should definitely read the comments on Simon’s post for some interesting marketing initiative ideas from Simon and John Jakala.

Keep reading, kids!

Posted by gia in Features, Required Reading • Comments (2)

So I’m playing around with some new editorial ideas, one of which is what I’m calling “required reading.” If it sounds familiar, I sort of previewed it in my roundup a couple of days ago– I haven’t decided if it’s going to be a regular round-up feature or its own once a week deal.

But see, there are a lot of great blogs out there that touch on matters near and dear to the anime/manga fan’s heart, and I don’t always get to write about them because it’s not especially news-y. So I wanted to create a way for me to do that without doing an individual post for each thing I find. Sometimes there are a half-dozen in a day, and other times there’s nothing.

So, here’s the first edition of the “weekend required reading,” which as I said is tentatively its own feature but possibly something I’ll include periodically in a daily roundup– let me know your thoughts!

The Myth of Supporting the Industry, from Sporadic Sequential. It’s a look at the idea that the industry is trying to guilt its consumers into supporting it. As I said in my comment on the post: I don’t support the idea that fans should support the industry for the industry’s sake, it needs to produce a product people want. But I do think fans should be willing to spend money on the products they enjoy– even if it’s buying the legit version long after they’ve downloaded and watched it. (Or hey, if you want to bypass supporting the US companies but still want to support the Japanese creators, you could always import the DVD from Japan. $_$)

Manga Killed the Comic Book Artist from art school comicking teacher Ryan Cody, who bemoans that most of his students want to create manga– more inspired by Rumiko Takahashi or Masashi Kishimoto than Scott McCloud or Jack Kirby. An interesting debate ensues in the comments, where some people agree and others say that Cody should try to appreciate that American comics don’t appeal as much to the market that his students are a part of these days.

How to Survive as a Small Yaoi Publisher part one and part two. Western yaoi creator Alex Woolfson talks to hentai (not yaoi) publisher about what pleasures and pitfalls a small yaoi publisher in the US might have to deal with– particularly apropos as Iris Print closes up shop, Seven Seas’ yaoi line ceases before it begins, and Drama Queen remains quiet and troubled.

And, just because I love linking to myself: Shall I Compare Thee To a Summer’s Anime. If any of you missed my summer 2008 anime preview when it fell off the front page, there it is in all its glory.