A few days ago something struck me as interesting, albeit a little strange. I’m a fan of a good amount of Japanese music. In particular, I’m a great lover of Japanese electronic music, especially that produced by a man named Nakata Yasutaka (中田ヤスタカ). Nakata Yasutaka’s name is perhaps best known through his work as half of the post shibuya-kei/electronic duo Capsule. However, he also works as a producer for many successful musical acts such as MEG and Suzuki Ami, not to mention his lesser known projects like COLTEMONIKHA and Nagisa Cosmetic. One of the groups which Nakata produces is an electropop trio named Perfume. For the uninitiated, Perfume is currently one of the most popular musical acts in Japan. Their latest album “Triangle” which was released on the 7th of this month debuted at #1 on the Oricon weekly charts, as did their 2008 album GAME.

Now, I suppose it’s fair to say that Perfume is most recognizable through two specific elements of their music and image. One is the synchronized, well choreographed dances which accompany all of their songs. The other is the heavy electronic influence of Nakata Yasutaka; the highly vocoded vocals and heavy use of synths. These two essential part of Perfume, while appealing, are also largely responsible for an aspect of the group which I initially found repulsive when I first noticed it long ago- Perfume lip-syncs their live shows.

When I first realized that Perfume lip-synced their music, I was torn. I loved their music, but I couldn’t help but feel as if it was somewhat cheapened by the fact that they only pretended to sing at their concerts. Understandably, it’s hard to sing while dancing complex choreography, and vocoding their voices correctly in real time would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Even still, I was distressed by this revelation. Since this incident, I’ve come to see that many artists in Japan lip-sync their concerts. This may not seem to be very far removed from the situation in the United States; obviously, many artists in the U.S. lip-sync their shows and use auto-tune on their records. The crucial difference between the two countries in this regard is that in the U.S. such practices are taboo and thus secretive, whereas in Japan they are accepted amongst audiences and are usually very obvious.

So I got to thinking- why is it that the Japanese have such a seemingly high tolerance for artists which ‘fake’ their sets in contrast to America, where a lip-syncing artist is prey for the tabloids and entertainment news? On the same token, why does Japan have such a high tolerance for artists which are clearly not as talented as their Auto-Tune’d albums would suggest? The idol industry in Japan is filled with singers who don’t have the best singing voice, yet still achieve great success through the clever tricks of their studio technicians and producers. Again, in Japan’s case such singers’ lack of natural talent isn’t so much hidden as much as it is ignored. The focus seems to be elsewhere. This led me to ponder another question- how do I justify my taste for artists which seem to have little inherent musical talent?

As I mentioned before, the focus of the Japanese audience doesn’t seem to be the artist’s level of talent. I can only speak for myself when I say this, but when I think about the criteria by which I normally judge a musical act it’s usually the inherent talent of the artist in question. “This melody is clever.” “These lyrics are interesting.” “His/her voice is good.” These are examples of common thoughts which, when I think them, usually lead to the conclusion, “This act is talented.” However, at least when presented with cases such as Perfume, the Japanese seem most concerned with the act as a whole. This includes the music as well as the personality and image/gimmick of the artist, the presentation and performance. This lies in stark contrast to the ‘traditional’ mode of appraisal which judges an artist purely by the amount of inherent talent present and not necessarily the end product.

If there’s a part of the Japanese entertainment industry which is indicative of this, it’s got to be the the part dealing with idols. An absolute requisite for an idol is beauty, as is an appealing personality or image. As such, when an idol performs as a singer, the Japanese audience appraises the idol based not only on her singing talent but also on the rest of her image. Would Morning Musume be appealing were it not for the group’s image and performance? I don’t think so. If Morning Musume was composed of ‘unattractive’ girls who didn’t dance, wear outfits, or have cute personalities, Morning Musume would not be nearly as popular as it is today. I’d say if you asked (honest) Morning Musume fans in Japan the same question, you’d get the same answer. Those who argue the contrary are lying to themselves. Listening to an idol sing is much less about the music in and of itself than the music in relation to the character of the idol and the collective experience of the idol’s image/character as a whole. In the same way, going to a Perfume concert is less about the music itself, and more about Perfume’s presentation and persona. Of course, Perfume doesn’t really fall into the idol category, and their music is enjoyable independent of their image. In my opinion, it’s the work of Nakata Yasutaka which makes Perfume quality electropop which holds its own without any gimmick. Perfume’s image and presentation merely serve as an enhancement, augmenting the audience’s collective experience of the trio.

As far as otaku culture is concerned, examples of this attitude can be seen in the Japanese cosplay scene. American cosplayers place a great deal of importance on the creation of one’s own costume; it’s standard at American anime conventions for the cosplay contest’s rules to include making one’s own costume as a requirement for entering. In Japan it’s quite different. Japanese cosplayers have no qualms about buying costumes from a store, unlike American cosplayers which largely revile the concept. Instead, Japanese cosplayers are more concerned with the presentation of the character, the performance as a whole. Maybe it’s a stretch.

Is the ‘Japanese mode of appraisal’ superficial? Maybe. But at least it’s honest superficiality. And, it’s superficiality of the positive sort. As long as people don’t refuse to listen to music on the basis of the singer’s looks, I could care less if they enjoy music sung by modestly talented idols or go to lip-synced concerts. Ultimately, humans are irrational beings. If we like something for superficial reasons or enjoy something in spite of negativity, all the more power to us. Maybe the key to enjoying music like Perfume is to regard it as the product of many individuals rather than just the members of the group- the producer, the choreographer, the designer, et cetera. Maybe the key to enjoying Jpop is an approach of, “Do I like this for what it is,” rather than, “Is this artist inherently impressive.” Hell, this approach works for a lot of things. As long as one can differentiate between the two, I don’t see why not. Just pray you can make the distinction.

~Sam

After introducing ourselves, we (Sam and Jamie) start off this terrible idea in internet hijinks by talking about the manga Liar Game by Shinobu Kaitani. After that, we talk about Solanin, an Eisner Award nominated manga by Inio Asano. Enjoy it.

We also play some promos:

Anime World Order
Ninja Consultant
R5 Central
Also, DIY promos for Fast Karate for the Gentlemen and The Greatest Movie EVER podcast because I couldn’t find their promo files.

Opening song: My Brave Face – Cymbals

Ending song: My Favorite Things – Toki Asako (of Cymbals)

Download

Being the young age I am, I never rode the “early waves” of anime fandom in the United States during the 1980s and early ’90s. In fact, this past year marked my first attendance of an anime convention, the con in question being FanimeCon in San Jose, California. My experiences at the convention were mixed, but all in all I had a pretty swell time. It was the first time I’d ever seen the creators of the cartoons which I spend so much time watching. It was the first time I’d met other fans as batshit zealous as I. That said, it was also the first time I’d seen so many of the annoying brand of “otaku in USA” in the same place. It’s pretty sad that most of them are my age, but I get the feeling that this problem is timeless. In the same way we have Naruto fans today, back in the days of old I prior mentioned the bane of American fandom was probably Ranma 1/2 fans. That’s not to say that fandom hasn’t degenerated since; I’m pretty sure there was a good deal less sign toting and “glomping” at older cons. In fact, I’ve got pretty good evidence of the anime con’s decadence since those days; the AnimeCon ‘91 con guide.

Back in April, a friend of mine was at her local recycling center dropping off some crap one weekend, also taking a look at old books which had been left behind. Among other things, she spotted a thin black volume with “anime” printed on the front. My friend brought it home with her. Come Monday, she brought it to class and showed me. Naturally, I was quite interested in the book as it turned out being the convention guide for AnimeCon ‘91, the grandaddy of FanimeCon. My friend, not really an anime fan, didn’t appreciate the value of the document. Skipping a couple of months forward, she went ahead and just gave me the thing a couple of weeks ago. I’ve got it next to me now.

One look at this treasure reveals that a lot in fandom has changed since 1991. To start, I’ll just name the Guests of Honor.
-Hideaki Anno
-Johji Manabe
-Leiji Matsumoto
-Haruhiko Mikimoto
-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
-Kenichi Sonoda
I don’t want to sound like one of those people who harp on and on about the “good old days,” but let’s be honest; anime convention guests today can’t touch this. Leiji motherfucking Matsumoto, people. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that part of the reason we can’t get guests like this anymore is that, simply put, the majority of American fandom(let alone con attendees) just don’t deserve it. My experiences at FanimeCon this past year, as well as in my school’s own anime club, have shown me that most anime fans in America are either annoying idiots or just don’t care about the creators of the media they claim to love. Usually both. At least the Ranma fans of times past didn’t attention whore in the halls with stupid dances. At least they knew who Rumiko Takahashi was. This can all be partially attributed to fandom at large getting younger, with the majority of con goers in their teens by my estimate. Regardless, if I were a creator invited to a convention filled with thousands of people like this, would I want to come? If I were a con organizer, would I want to invite legitimately good creators to my con so they could bask in the pestilence that is modern fandom? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding “No”.

This con guide has shown me what we’re truly missing. Back then, con attendees could have dinner with the guests of honor, provided they were respectful and didn’t act like asshats. The guests held long workshops on their craft. They could walk the halls freely. Good luck pulling that off today. I don’t know the answers. I’ll just go back to watching my cartoons now.

This con guide is a real relic. When it’s not making me jealous of old people, it’s an interesting and informative look at the history of fandom. If you want the scans for your own archival use or whatever, download them below. If the link goes dead some day, just let me know and I’ll reupload.

Get it here.

~Sam

Edit: The program is up on flickr now. You can check it out in the Artifacts of Anime Fandom (otaku archive) project.

Those who are acquainted with me personally are likely to know that I have a real fetish for almost anything from pre-1950 America. I’ve been known to rant for extended periods of time on everything from the life and work of H.P. Lovecraft to the genius of Orson Welles, often to the boredom and frustration of my peers as we sit in the school library waiting for pep rallies to end. For this reason, playing 2K Boston/Australia’s 2007 game BioShock for the first time brings me great pleasure.I started playing this game around one week ago, a couple of days after I received my new computer in the mail. This computer, a Gateway laptop, in addition to being my first notebook  is the first computer I’ve owned with any decent specs to speak of, such that I can actually play games with detailed graphics. I’d had my eye on BioShock for a while, but since I own no current-gen consoles other than the Wii I hadn’t been able to play it. So, I decided I’d use the game to test my new machine’s capabilities. Boy was I surprised.

Just to get it out of the way, my computer runs the game on max settings, so it passes the suck test in my book. As for the game itself; I can’t believe I didn’t find a way to play this game sooner. It’s no exaggeration when I say that this is one of the best games I’ve played. Sure, it’s not perfect. I’ve been told that the First Person Shooter element of the game has it’s flaws, and I’m inclined to agree. If I was a regular FPS gamer(I’m really not) I might actually give a damn. The RPG element isn’t perfect either; it’s a bit limited in it’s scope, and as Yahtzee will tell you, the moral identity of any decent character in the game will inevitably be at one of the extremes of the spectrum.

But, this isn’t where the game is meant to excel. Rather than being excellent in its gameplay (which isn’t bad by any measure- in fact, I really like it), BioShock’s trump cards are it’s plot, characters, and above all, it’s mood. Some of my fixation on these “less tangible” elements of the game can probably be attributed to my aforementioned affinity for stuff of this nature. However, this game’s excellent characterization and strange plot which seems simultaneously derivative and highly original both serve to set the stage for one of the finest uses of a video game as a medium for storytelling that I’ve played. The game features some of the most compelling game characters I have seen, my favorites including Sander Cohen, the mask-wearing psychopathic artist who lords over the city region of “Fort Frolic,” and the game’s main antagonist Andrew Ryan, the filthy rich entrepreneur and genius engineer who founded the underwater city of Rapture in which the game takes place.

I do not know how I feel about this

Plot points aside, where the game shines the most is in its manipulation of mood. As one steps through the dark underwater utopia-gone-mad, one hears the scream of a maddened city dweller- perhaps even a gunshot- all alongside the creaking and moaning of a city beneath the sea struggling to stay sturdy amidst the ocean tides. And then, as if to lighten the situation- you hear an old radio squeaking out the likes of Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and The Ink Spots. You spot an advertisement for genetic modification on the wall in the style of the idealistic “Dick and Jane” pictures of suburban life prominent in the 1950s; it’s splattered with blood. It is this contrast of old and new, perfection and the macabre, which makes this game so appealing.

Of course, it’s done before. Just take a look at the Fallout series. It’s pretty clear that the developers of BioShock took a hint from the post-apocalyptic/1950s juxtaposition present in the former series. I’ve got no complaints. BioShock is easily one of my favorite games, and I haven’t even finished it. It’s even inspired me to play the Fallout games from the beginning, as I haven’t actually done so as of yet. This post barely scratches the surface of why this game is outstanding. I can’t wait for the sequel to come out in October this year. Play it; you won’t regret it.

~Sam

I wrote way too much about a game that came out 2 years ago. Oh well.

Because of the new found versatility which comes with “real” hosting the blog as a whole is going through some changes. I’m currently in the process of designing it to my liking. Once that’s more-or-less accomplished I’ll resume with semi-regular posts. Hopefully having my own site, combined with summer vacation will allow me to be more consistent in my posting schedule. Time will tell.

~Sam

In this consumerist culture in which we live, there are times in a man’s life when a simple purchase constitues a milestone in his existence. His first car, his first home; these are but a couple of examples of material items which often serve to mark a man’s place in the world’s social hierarchy. They are the rites of passage, the coming of age rituals of capitalism. This past Saturday I stepped up to the holy altar of otaku manhood and creepy fandom and became a man myself(who the hell am I kidding)- through dakimakura ownership.

So yeah I got a dakimakura. It was one of the items I harvested from Vol. 14 of Dengeki G’s Festival, and the main reason for buying the magazine in the first place. The character pictured is Ootori Naru from the latest visual novel by famed company Navel, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai (俺たちに翼はない). Admittedly, I’ve only played through a small amount of the prequel, Oretsuba ~prelude~ but hey, whatever. It’s pretty much everything I expected. It’s soft, it’s sexy, et cetera. I’m sure you all have read reviews of dakimakura before so I won’t bore you with the details. I’ll just say that it was in good condition when I unpackaged it, it serves its purpose well, and I would buy dakimakura through G’s Festival again. For more pictures, check out this. Big thanks to Seiya for facilitating my acquisition of Naru-pyon.

Oh and I changed the blog name to something less banal and unimaginative. Long live Bashtarle, by the way. -sb