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Masayuki Ozaki Wields The Patriot!
FOR GREAT JUSTICE! I think the Patriot makes a great weapon for Kotetsu. XD
Also, more Ozaki win:
Yes, he signed my Patriot with Elizabeth!!!
The final photo:
I never expected Ozaki-san to sign my crappy weapon of destruction. But, now I probably can’t use it anymore for cosplay purposes. :(
More material from New York Comic-Con 2011 coming up soon!
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10 Years of Shinigami, Hollows, & Lots of Fighting: My Love/Hate Relationship with BLEACH
(Glad to see Ginjo & Tsukishima make it to the party.)
Has it been 10 years already? It felt like it was yesterday when I began following Tite Kubo’s BLEACH. Back when the world was not in disarray, BLEACH was one of my personal favorite anime/manga series to watch/read. I just loved following the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, & friends. As much as the series’ storyline has deteriorated over the last 3-4 years, I will still see this series to the end. Why can’t I quit BLEACH despite being disappointed multiple times in the story? Maybe because the series still resonates in my heart, like an ex-girlfriend who I can’t seem to get out of my mind.
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BLEACH Soul Society Butlers at Garcon Cafe in Harajuku
Ladies, would you love to be served by these lovely gents dressed in black kimonos?
More information about Garcon Cafe’s BLEACH event can be found here. I want that Hollow Ichigo omelette!
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Rage Is One Scary Emotion: Yammy Llargo (BLEACH)
“Now, go ahead. Piss me off more, more, more… It’s only gonna make the way you guys die all the more messy.”
Off the heels of doing last year’s Ulquiorra Cifer entry, I want to take a look at one of the more interesting (but unliked) Espada in all of Tite Kubo’s BLEACH. Yes, the Espada who REALLY fluctuates in power, Yammy Llargo. He is both the weakest & strongest of the 10 members. What makes him unique is that his power is completely fueled by an emotion that plagues everyone & one that leads to so many problems, rage.
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Mental Health Month: An Important Lesson from the Jinchu Arc (Rurouni Kenshin)
May is currently Mental Health Month in the world of psychology. This month is used to spread awareness of mental issues, how they can impact one’s life, and how people need to take those issues seriously. With that in mind, I wanted to take a closer look at the final storyline of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin, the Jinchu Arc (Volumes 18-28 of the manga, also known as the “Revenge Arc” to some fans). This arc highlighed two characters, Himura Kenshin & Enishi Yukishiro, that went through severe states of depression. One managed to overcome it to continue living, while the other became mentally deranged.
POSSIBLE HUGE SPOILERS after the jump for those who haven’t read the manga.
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Swift Death To Evil: A Saito Hajime Retrospect (Rurouni Kenshin)
“You tame a man with money, you tame a dog with food, but there is NOTHING that can tame a Wolf of Mibu.”
If there’s one manga character that contributed a huge part in developing the personality that I have, it’s none other than Saito Hajime of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin. He is arguably one of the more stubborn characters in all of anime & manga. His appearance is also deceiving as he looks like a villainous character, but he’s actually a police officer. Saito is a great example of one who clings strongly to his beliefs despite the many changes happening around him.
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Japanese Culture Hard To Get? The Possible End of the Gintama Manga (in North America)
(The last thing we might see of the manga in America will be a scary black man who resembles Space Cobra & speaks Kansai-ben Japanese.)
Last week, I found an tweet stating that VIZ Media might be ending Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama with Volume 23. Amazon has the book up for pre-order with a description saying “Final Volume!” This is a huge concern as I liked the VIZ translation (although they had some huge misses) & the manga is still ongoing in Japan. With the Gintama anime making its comeback & the series being somewhat popular around the world, you have to wonder how much Japanese cultural references a non-Japanese person can take.
So, what does North America like about Japanese culture? Mostly things that are pop-culture/entertainment-related to a huge degree. Even if people are interested in those things, they may not be fully interested in the Japanese lifestyle (which Gintama parodies frequently). Why are some Americans not interested in the overall life of other countries? There is also the fact that there’s TOO much focus on entertainment. People would rather hear about who’s dating who, etc. than keep up with more educational & enlightening matters. Can we blame mass media for controlling what people should hear? Also, some might think “How does learning about other cultures make me feel better?” In a sense, some Americans are taught to mostly care about themselves more so than others.
The market for manga in the U.S. is mostly teens & young adults. Teens seem to crave action, drama, easy-to-follow plotlines, & strong, attractive characters in their stories. Volume 1 of Gintama doesn’t start off that way unfortunately while the series is technically episodic in nature. Also, Gintoki Sakata isn’t the typical JUMP hero as he can be pretty lazy, greedy, selfish, & hypocritical at times. In all honesty, Gintama is a title that reflects the real life of adults living in Japan. Do most American teens even care about the life of a everyday adult in Japan in the first place? Not when they’re fed information on lots of anime & manga that look cool, but may not have much substance.
The recent minisode of the Gintama Podcast discussed the fate of the manga in America. Doc, the host, made an interesting point about how the anime joked frequently about being cancelled & ending prematurely. The VIZ descriptions can be a little wacky. Also, in the chapter (Episode 138 in the anime) containing the cover character of Vol. 23 (Kanemaru, the Black Dragon), there was a comment made by Shinpachi that an all-black Yorozuya group would never sell in Japan. However, it’s hard to imagine an American publishing company (humor book publishers might be a different case) make a joke about ending a book run. One final note is that the Japanese jokes & references get even more obscure in later volumes of Gintama. Granted we don’t know the actual sales numbers of the VIZ manga, is it worth it to continue translating Gintama to an audience that may never get the jokes?
Regardless, VIZ still gets a lot of props for localizing the greatness that is Gintama and publishing 20+ volumes. In any case, we’ll have to wait until this August to truly find out what will happen then. (UPDATE: The title is officially canceled).
We’ll just make due with the anime, right?
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The Popularity of One Piece Among Adults
(The latest volume of One Piece: Volume 61, which set another record in copies sold.)
About a month ago, popular Japanese TV channel, NHK, conducted a survey on people who read Eiichiro Oda’s super-popular manga series, One Piece. And this was the result of their study.
Apparently, 88% (rounded to 90%) of adults in Japan read the manga frequently. The teen demographic appears to not read One Piece or might not care enough to end. Though here in the West, you don’t see too many teenagers read or talk about One Piece.
Let’s take a look at why One Piece is supposedly more appealing to adults than teens/children.
(For those unfamiliar with One Piece, you can visit the One Piece Wiki for more information.)
Deep Story Behind The Humor
The story of One Piece is often very humorous. But, it does have some very emotional & sometimes dark moments. Need some good examples? Read the Water 7 (Volumes 34-39) & Impel Down (Volumes 54-56, the most recent storyline to be translated by VIZ) arcs.
Compelling Characters
The Straw Hat Pirates are a wacky cast of characters and all diverse. But most importantly, they are a FAMILY. The antagonists of the series are seriously great as well because their behavior doesn’t always reflect their personalities & vice-versa. Mr. Crocodile (a well-known antagonist in One Piece), Buggy the Clown (the first major antagonist), & Aokiji come to mind.
Very Western
The character designs look very Westernized. Japanese adults may find the artwork very different & appealing from other manga series because it doesn’t look “Japanese” or heavily Asian-influenced.
Growing Up With One Piece
One Piece started serialization way back in 1997. Adults in Japan most likely grew up with the series and may have a better appreciation of the stories much more than the younger audience does.
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Now, why is that the younger audience might not be reading One Piece (both Japan & also in the West)?
4Kids Fiasco
For those who don’t know, the American cartoon company, 4Kids, licensed One Piece years ago and heavily edited it to fit the Saturday morning cartoon audience. Unfortunately, this drew the ire of many fans and also scared off potential new fans of it. This has some ramifications to this day as I recently heard a teen say that One Piece is not one of her favorite anime series because of the 4Kids localization.
Lack of Teen Angst
This is probably a huge issue. A few people have told me that the teen market in the U.S. usually loves stories with lots of teen angst & drama. One Piece doesn’t seem to have too many situations like that. It’s sometimes hard for them to relate to certain adult emotions & situations that the One Piece characters have experienced.
Ninjas Are Better Than Pirates
Yes, this might sound a little silly. But, some people take this very seriously. A notable example would be Naruto. It seems to be more popular than One Piece to the younger demographic. You can credit that to the anime being shown on Cartoon Network in the West. Pirates are commonly seen in Western pop culture, while ninjas provide something different, foreign, and unique in the West. You can say the same regarding the idea of “death gods” (shinigami) in BLEACH, another popular series.
Preference of Magazines/Scanlations over Tankobon
There are teens who probably do read One Piece. They’re just not bothering to buy all the volumes or catch up on past material. Kids are either reading copies of Weekly JUMP or reading chapters online. You would figure that with teens craving instant gratification, they might actually go back and read past volumes/chapters. But, there’s the problem of information overload and/or not enough disposable income to buy volumes.
The Art
A lot of people can’t seem to get into the art style, both in the anime & manga. Yes, it can be pretty unusual. However, the art style is original and it stands out above a majority of manga titles out there. Not everyone wants all art styles to look the same, right? One’s personality can reflect his/her art style. Oda’s love of pirate comics and wanting to draw what he wanted is probably why the art is the way it is.
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One thing you have to wonder is why NHK decided to conduct the survey (even though it’s probably apparent). Was it because of the numerous records the manga has broken in terms of sales? Did they want to show that manga isn’t just for kids? Are they trying to tell Shintaro Ishihara that he shouldn’t regulate One Piece? NHK is an educational channel, after all.
The thing that One Piece does well better than a LOT of series is capture the spirit of adventure, which practically a majority of adults can relate to. The world we live in is full of challenges. We’re not always satisfied with certain things and we try to reach new heights. Everyone’s definition of adventure is different, but we’re all seeking it, in any shape and form. Another point is that One Piece provides a great appreciation for the outdoors, something that is somewhat lost in the post-industrialized world we live in today & something that people should experience because being out in nature teaches us many things about ourselves & the world.
Finally, One Piece teaches us that we should be able to do as we please. Japanese adults are sick and tired of living under supposed “perfect conditions”. In the story, all the main characters are basically wanted criminals by the World Government (a group that defines what is “good” and what is “evil”). They don’t care, because as long as they have each other and keep doing what they believe is right, then things will be fine. I don’t know if it’s just me but I see some real-life One Piece in the recent Egyptian & Tunisian protests. (This could be a subject I might actually have to research. Any helpers?)
I did not get into One Piece until after the time-skip and boy, what was I missing. Absolutely hilarious, heartwarming, & very well-written. I was one of the many fans who didn’t like it first, but got into it again after some thought. Guess I’m now part of the club that loves pirates bonding and showing the world how to pursue your dreams & goals.
Say it with me, I…WANT…TO…LIVE.
Special thanks to Thomas for his help on this entry.
A great summary of an NHK World segment on One Piece’s impact on adults can be found here.
One Piece was December 2010’s manga for the Manga Movable Feast. A great list of entries on the series can be found in the One Piece MMF Archive.
For more One Piece goodness, you can check out the Unofficial One Piece Podcast.
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“Ichigo & Rukia” Trending On Twitter
(It’s official. They’re the most popular anime/manga characters in all of Twitter.)
Wow, what is going on in Twitter land? This morning, I heard from someone about the BLEACH main characters, Ichigo Kurosaki & Rukia Kuchiki, being an item. So, I browsed Twitter Search and found out “Ichigo & Rukia” was a trending topic on Twitter. Hell, the topic was ahead of Thom Yorke, Amazon Prime, Bruna Surfistinha, and others (even Justin Bieber!). A good question is what has led to both Ichigo & Rukia to be part of a worldwide trend that got on the front page.
Is it because of Episode 310 (which finally highlights the end of the drawn-out Arrancar saga covered in Volume 48 of the manga)? Perhaps so. Fans of the manga have noted that the farewell scene between Ichigo & Rukia (Chapter 423) did not happen at all in this episode. People thought that this would be the last episode of BLEACH. Were fans visibly upset at all this and decided to vent their rage through Twitter? Also, are there really a huge number of BLEACH fans all over the world (more than Naruto & One Piece)? The answer lies in this document about a project being made to create a worldwide Twitter trend for IchiRuki. (Special thanks to Kim Huerta for the link.)
So, how does a topic end up trending on Twitter and end up becoming worldwide in the first place? A lot of factors have to be put in consideration: the amount of users tweeting about the topic, the time zone, the pace of the tweets, the influence of the topic starter, and incentives to promote the topic. Although a study conducted by HP last week reported that most trending topics are made because of traditional media news sources, this is not the case for the IchiRuki topic as multiple users made it a worldwide trending topic.
It looks like a lot of careful planning went into making IchiRuki a front-page worldwide topic. How did the IchiRuki community reach Tite Kubo, Masakazu Morita (Japanese VA for Ichigo), & Masashi Kudo (character designer for the anime)? Are the power of passionate fans that strong? Though in a sense, Twitter is a tool meant for fun & interesting diversions. It’s a platform that has created a community the likes the Internet hasn’t seen. You can reach many people in a matter of seconds with Twitter. The channel of communication is extremely open. The 140-character limit is actually fun, because it challenges people to be very creative with what they want to say.
An interesting article on the psychology of Twitter states that people are starving for community (in many forms) and Twitter fills that need. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? This can go both ways, but the fact is this: users can socialize with people with similar interests much easier than in a forum. It’s easier to band together as one huge group and IchiRuki is a good example of how Twitter redefines community.
It’s also amazing to see how popular BLEACH is all over the world. This is how it looks like in my eyes right now.
One Piece - Popular in Japan
Naruto - Popular in U.S.
BLEACH - Popular worldwide
You can credit BLEACH for being popular worldwide because of the many unique personalities of the series. Ichigo is loved because he really wants to protect people and that’s something most people can relate to. Rukia is loved because she’s not a fragile main heroine and a woman who is tough, though her character should be more relevant. Some of the villains are interesting (especially Ulquiorra). Although there are a LOT of characters, they are what makes BLEACH appealing (even though the story isn’t always too great). There’s also the fact that the story takes place in a very modern setting with fantasy elements. Do people appreciate series that take place in today’s world with a hint of fantasy? What are your thoughts?
Anime fandom has now shown it can take over Twitter. What else can we expect from them in the future?
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An Ode to Kagura (Gintama)
“Sorry I don’t have any BANG-POW-BOOM. You don’t have to say anything. I know. I’m the only one who can handle you jerks. I’ve GOT to be the heroine, uh-huh.”
With Lunar New Year upon us, I wanted to take a look at a notable Chinese-ish anime/manga character. This character is none other than Kagura, from Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama. She is probably one of the more unique heroines in all of shonen manga. Her personality is absolutely hilarious, but what makes her stand out is the fact that she is arguably the strongest character, physically, in the whole series (even stronger than the main character, Gintoki Sakata, and a majority of the male characters) and that she’s a lead female that is pretty blunt & headstrong.
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