Go Sukashi! - is new to me, courtesy of my buddy Danny... And yes... I will be watching all of the episodes. I actually hope Go Sukashi! takes off to the point of a proper anime or Japanese live action type of producer steps in with funding for oodles of episodes 23 mins long each. I'll take 26 please. If this was a pilot episode and I was Gen Fukunaga... I'd pick it up. Enjoy the show...
Go Sukashi! - Episode 1
Go Sukashi! Episode 2 - if you dare...
Go Sukashi! - Episode 3 - If you make it past this and enjoyed it like me... subscribe to their YouTube channel
Oh James... James, James, James... (and Tina)...Why couldn't you have used official US licensed goods from GE if you were gonna plug anime, otaku, moe body pillow-ness on the sexiest show on NBC? Yes, I mean 30 Rock...
In episode # 69 (I guess they had to do something edgy for this ep#) James Franco sports a body pillow named Kimiko-tan. Not the cutest body-pillow in the offerings but the point is made loud and clear that the writing staff thought that this would be a funnay thing to totally blow out of proportion... And they were right. It was off the charts funny. No doubt a story similar to the "Love in 2-D" article found in the NYT was inspiration for otaku humiliation. But while one or two otaku may be humiliated that their secret love is now common knowlege, the majority will either laugh along with the gag, or have the confidence to stand side-by-side, arm-in-arm with their true love. I mean, if you can't shout your true-love's name from the rooftops then can you really say your love is true?
Maybe this article or episode 69 of 30 Rock has awakend the flame of passion in you? You can pick up your new 'almost' life-sized anime body pillow girlfriend at OtakuFuel, your online anime body pillow / girlfriend trafficker. Then you can turn your love-seat companion into a real life-companion... that also doubles as a pillow... that also makes for a shoulder to cry on... That alsoOKSTOP!
Missed 30 Rock episode 69? Well, you can check if NBC has it online at the time of reading this article, wait for it to come to DVD or re-run... Or you can just watch some behind the scenes while the embed below lasts... enjoy Otaku Franco...
What the heck happened to this CD / DVD supposedly not arriving until the end of October?!? OtakuFuel, just took down the pre-order date so I guess that means clicky clicky... order away! I'll be getting mine next week hopefully! What am I so jazzed about you ask?
Breaking away from the norm, Maru Music presents the First Major Label album from the chart-topping group AKB48! Their full-length album Kamikyokutachi, features 16 tracks, with several tracks topping the Oricon charts in Japan. This album also includes a special DVD, with three music videos with a multi-angle feature, which allows the viewer to study and learn all of the groups expansive dance moves and unique choreography.
AKB48 is the all female Idol group taking the world by storm. The group consists of 48 members (although I heard rumors that due to rotations there are actually more like 60+ of them! - this is unconfirmed though...), all singing and dancing in unison. Divided into three different teams, each team allows for a more dynamic live show. This allows one team to take the lead on one song while the other teams support the lead team in the background.
The fresh and sugary pop songs AKB48 brings to this album will make you want to clap your hands, jump and dance around the room. As the videos in the DVD show, the dance choreography is world class and highly complex. This level of professionalism is amazing especially considering the young age group of the "moembers".
AKB48 derives their name from the Akihabara area of Tokyo. Also called the Electronic city, this area is abundant with electronic shops, manga stores and is a destination for any true Otaku. In the center of Akihabara is the AKB48 Theater, where the group regularly performs. This residence along with their countless television appearances has made AKB48 a household name throughout Japan.
AKB48's popularity is not just limited to Japan; they have performed in Cannes and Paris, France as part of Midem and Japan Expo. Their 2009 performance at Webster Hall in New York was legendary amongst the US Otaku. In July 2010, they performed at The Nokia Theater in Los Angeles as part of the Anime Expo convention as the headline artist.
DVD Chapter Listing:
1 Ogoe Diamond
2 Iiwake Maybe
3 RIVER
Tracks:
1 RIVER
2 Baby! Baby! Baby! Baby!
3 Ogoe Diamond
4 Kimi no koto ga Sukidakara
5 Shonichi
6 10-nen zakura
7 Tobenai Ageha Chou
8 Namida Surprise
9 Choose me!
10 Enkyori Poster
11 Iiwake Maybe
12 Hikoukigumo
13 Majisuka Rock n' Roll
14 Sakura no Shiori
15 Jibun Rashisa
16 Kimi to Niji to Taiyo to
If you wanted to see how cute AKB48 was introducing themselves to everyone at Anime Expo 2010 - check out the AKB48 @ AX2010 video shot from an android phone by OtakuFuel.
This was my wife and I's 11th year in a row attending Anime Expo. To be honest there were more than just a few years when I begged my wife to agree with me to spend our summer 4-day weekend some place else... I'm always glad she drags me there once I am actually there though... The lines have always been long, it has always been hot and most assuredly... disorganized. In spite of all the bad that I seem to associate with it ever year, I always seem to be looking forward to a few things that will happen while I am there. The rewards I reap always out-weigh the heat, lines, miles and miles on the pedometer and drama... Speaking of drama, there has been a ton of drama behind the scenes at AX for several years now and I beg you if you are privy to any of it that you leave your thoughts on it out of the comments section. :)
John Hwang did another outstanding job of capturing this years Anime Expo. Please give his Youtube channel a shout-out and a thanks if you enjoyed it. His Youtube channel id is: vegiwrap. His documentary highlighted many things I didn't have time to get to this year, and I even spotted a few peeps I know in his video! Are you in there?!?
My personal AX 2010 highlights:
Meeting Masakazu Morita. Masakazu Morita is the famous voice actor for Ichigo Kurosaki in one of my favorite animes... The Bleach anime of course. Coincidence that I was wearing my Ichigo Kurosaki otaku t-shirt when I bumped into him? Me thinks not... He was super cool and even extended his hand to greet me. Next to him is Nabeshin Shinichi Watanabe. Sorry the images aren't better, they were from a cellphone camera...
I think the cosplayer I liked the best was the Kamina Jack Cosplay:
I've worked with Danny Choo a tad through email in the past and have been one of 8 billion of his contacts across the social whoring platforms for many years now. So naturally, at one of his meet and greets I had to say hello... He's a very down to earth comrade in person (just like on LCD!) and has a genuine love for what he does. It's admirable that he offers his advice in honesty and hopes chaps will listen... In the image below you can see how some of his fellow hobbyists joined a few of their 'daughters' together for this nice photo-opp:
One of the most embarrassing things that happened to me was an autograph rejection from Megumi Nakajima (If you are wondering who the heck this is, keep in mind that this article was written in July 2010 - I suppose this won't be funny to me until I read this again in August 2010). Megumi Nakajima and May'n ticket stub:
The best surprise was an introduction to something I've never heard of before, but now have one more reason to visit Japan and Akihabara... AKB48. Don't judge, my wife dug it too:
Every year it's something new to focus on. For a few years all we could do is watch anime online from our cell phones while waiting for concerts and main events or watching new anime titles in the video rooms, another couple of years we tried the cosplay thing, another year we supported Clem's Gundam model building workshop by heckling him to death from the back, another year spent focusing on the dealer room and spending way too much cash. And still another year exploring dojin-soft and other Japanese video games.Speaking of the dealers room, this year the Gundam model shop and the copic marker store were huge and front and center. They really scored on real-estate this year. The Bandai booth was VERY well done:
Will I kick and scream to not go next year? Probably not, as I really wanted to make it over to the artist alley and show some support to the copics, doujinshi, modelers and crafting communities... But alas never made it due to time constraints. There is a lot of doujinshi that I want to explore, and until I can get over to a full-meal-deal convention like Comiket in Japan, I think the artist alley at AX will have to do. I don't mean to say that their work is less impressive or anything... It's just the number of those following it here are lacking. And without the support the volume is just much lower in the US. All and all, I guess you could wrap this article up with I'm still looking forward to next year, due to the tingling I'm still experiencing from this year.
Okay, so I thought I was a big-time Otaku having every spare inch of my walls covered with anime wall scrolls. However, I am now forced to re-evaluate my thinking. I just ran into this this site called WhatIsBlik.com where they have the most amazingly fresh and modern ways to decorate your walls, while not giving up your Otaku status.
Want to be immersed in the Atari yester-years? How about even further back, let's try some of the first video game ever... a tribute to "PONG"? Yes please. For some of the younger Otaku, they have a Super Mario Brothers theme! Skip to the end for a real hard core Super Mario Fan that got all techie with his new wall decals and motion sensors...
All the decals are self stick and re-stickable. Easy self install, and if you make a mistake, no sweat, just move it! If you want to see more of this goodness in the otaku style, then email them and tell them to start making wall decals of scenes from your favorite anime! On that note, if you could have any of them in your house, apt, bedroom, whatever, what would you choose?!?
I'm thinking a whole bunch of SD Gundams would be king. Although..., I must say that I have really been enjoying this "Summer Wars" kick I've been on... How about a battle scene featuring King Kazuma?!?! WOOT!
Anyhow, check out the pics or mosey on over to WhatIsBlik yourself to see the full arsenal of their super nifty plastic wall paper: WhatIsBlick.com
Assuming you have the 8'x8' space required to stick-up this Scene from the DS version of Super Mario Brothers you get 24 decals in this set to arrange your Mario escape. The 24 decals are separated into 3 - 26" x 40" sheets.
I'm guessing these are gonna be great for the grown up gamer with way too big of an office... What room of yours would you put them in?
By the way, if anyone knows how he rigged the sound up, contact me to give me the 411. :)
So this is an oldie, but I don't think there are many people that really know about the Japanese gaming scene, so I decided to write about one of the most interesting albeit least played titles I own. Let me explain...
You love moe? You love WW2 military stuff? I mean really, really, really love WW2 military stuff so much that you consider yourself an expert on it? Then you'd probably appreciate the level of thought that went into mashing up these two genre's with a very high level of... dare I say accuracy? What made WW2 tech-heads decide to make the gear from WW2 to also be moe is beyond me, but since this Japanese XBOX 360 games original release (I think 2005)... the theme has somewhat been nurtured with various moe/gear mashups. Hold the phone... I bet you the idea was born in a similar way that Oreo cookies got their name... Imagine a deadline conscious game developer (big-boss) is screaming to his team that he needs new ideas, and not the same-ol'-same-ol'... An intern scribbles the acronym for World War 2 on a piece of paper in order to silently joke with his colleague across the table... BAM! The colleague reads, "MM2" with his dyslexic optical nerve and because he's otaku... MoeMoe2 is born! Yea that's what happened. I'm sure of it now.
I must admit that even if you know little or nothing about WW2 gear (that includes me), and you just want the game for the moe aspect, there is plenty of that. Although a simple Google search of this old title provides enough screen-shots to probably save you the $65+ it would cost you to view it on your own Japanese XBOX 360. I must say the girls are very cute (well, when they haven't sustained battle damage anyways). I'd really like to see some line art or fan art of this series to give me a chance to practice coloring with my copic markers all the moe goodness. If you have some line art or fan art, or heck even a finished product of your own marker rendition of anything moe, find me on Facebook, leave a comment or friend me in another way you can (side bar of this page).
Wrap up:Get Moe Moe WW2 for the strategy element, or to support the developers that came up with this moe-ww2-mashup. However it finds itself on my "Yea, I own that" shelf as something that I pull out only when fresh otaku are born but haven't seen how creative and sometimes comically insane some of us are. The reason for this is... For me, there is just not enough balance between moe and game-play to sync the 2 elements together well except conceptually. Some animations of cut scenes or the dialog would obviously have cost more to develop, but would have improved my rating. Most stores are sold out now, and it is kind of a collectors item, but dig around... I'm sure someone will be selling their copy... who knows, I might even give mine up at some point. ;) Check out a preview of Moe Moe WW2:
HoodieBuddie Finally! A hoodie, with Betty White antennae to stuff in your ears!
Okay so it's not a "Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend" hoodie. Nor, could it ever replace my Domo-kun hoodie, but Betty White was a safe bet for a start-up company. If you fan HoodieBuddie on facebook be sure to tell them that you want to see anime related prints on their hoodies. Besides, Betty White antennae are cool and all but wouldn't you rather them be coming out of say... Konata's head?!?
Every otaku I know has an MP3 player... or so I thought. Maybe some of you are just pretending to own an MP3 player now that HoodieBuddie is common knowledge?!? Hmmm...
Don't go rush out and try to find one of these at your local mall though... HoodieBuddie is an LA-based company that's just opened a web-store selling their hoodies in a variety of colors and sizes with some non-anime related prints which all of course have these covertly hidden earbuds built into the drawstrings, which connect to an also covertly hidden MP3 player (obviously not included for a $50 hoodie). Yes, in case your pocket was not a good enough place for your MP3 player, this hoodie has a pouch that your MP3 player is sure to not out-grow. Their hoodies come in a bunch of different looks with medium-weight solids in a bunch of colors, including green, blue, and red. The designs are varied as well. Unfortunately no anime related hoodies can be found in their online store... yet.
Despite their borg-type-construction, HoodieBuddie can actually be thrown in the ol' washin' machine. Not sure about how your MP3 player will appreciate that though...
Grab your hoodie / headphone / MP3 holder at HoodieBuddie.com
Question: Do you think this guy is really wearing a HoodieBuddie or do you think he just has his regular hoodie drawstrings stuffed in his ears to look cool?
