http://heiseidemocracy.com Modern Visual Culture Digest Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:06:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/06/15/hd-goes-to-ax-shingo-still-mia/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/05/22/haruhi-season-2-for-real-confirmed-proof-this-is-not-a-drill/ my eBay listings, wherein I have put up a chunk of my precious doujinshi collection for sale. Why? My GF is not as understanding as Danny Choo's wife is about Japanese nerd stuff, and unlike Kasukabe in Genshiken, she is not prepared to allow my otakudom to extend to dirty comic books and the like. Figures of girls - yes, computer games with girls - okay, doujin with naughty bits in them - not appropriate.]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/04/16/shame-for-sale/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/02/23/creatrors-cafe-set-to-open-in-akihabara/ TV's Patrick Macias. Remakes, relaunches, renewals, reimaginings, whatever you call them, making old things new is all the rage these days. On some level, it clearly smacks of laziness and a dearth of fresh ideas, but like it or not there's big money to be made in recycling things that would otherwise be lost and forgotten. For now at least. And while it's not nearly as widespread as it is in, say, the North American movie industry, this phenomenon is slowly but surely making its presence felt in the otaku realm as well.]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/02/22/everything-old-is-new-again-2009-is-1989/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/22/the-color-of-toei/ blogged in praise of a group of American cosplayers, saying that "Americans are really great at making weapons and stuff" and wondering "How can they carry all that stuff around??". The cosplayers in question have certainly put their hours in, and the results are impressive (although it'd be nice if there were some pictures from a better angle) but what's more interesting is the statement that follows. "I want to know more about the otaku of the world!" she exclaims "The Internet makes it easy to keep up with the latest productions in real time, so the number of otaku across the world is increasing rapidly" Now, say what you will about Shokotan. Shingo doesn't care for her, but I'd call myself a fan. Nonetheless, she raises a very interesting point, which happens to be something I think about quite frequently. In short, how is it that otaku in This Country and otaku in the Other Country can have so much in common, and work toward so many common goals, and yet still have so little contact with each other? ]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/10/on-the-international-brotherhood-of-otaku/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/07/new-vocaloid-character-information-megurine-luka/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/06/otaku-metaculture-otaku-no-video/ http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/05/kotobukiya-kannagi-series-vol-3-dog-girl-tsugumi/ Cafe Mai:Lish. The Kannagi animation team have really done a bang up job in this episode of recreating the Mai:Lish perfectly in 2D, down to the slightest detail. Have a look at some side-by-side comparisons.]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/03/real-life-origins-of-kannagis-meido-kissa/ the problems facing the transplantation of manga kissa to the new world, I got to thinking about the vast number of otaku cultural elements that are wildly successful in the Other Country, and simply do not exist anywhere else. Even in the relatively short time that I have been interested in anime and manga, the official releases seen in North America have seen an exponential increase in both quantity and quality. Things that it seemed would never get an official release even two or three years ago are now considered perfectly normal. It's now possible to find genuine gachapon in all sorts of places, genuine manga anthologies are showing up in otherwise normal locations, and translated light novels are coming out almost every month. However, at the risk of sounding ungrateful, we need to remember that an otaku's work is never done. For all the progress that has been made, it is important to remember how much further we have to go. Certain things are still not suitable for release in gaijin-land, and no matter how badly we may want them, they probably never will be. I promise that I won't make a habit of doing posts that are nothing but enumerated lists, since I think that pretty much every other blog on the tubes has got that style covered, but since it is the beginning of the year I would ask you to grant me this one indulgence. Without much further ado, I would like to present a list of ten things that will NEVER be officially released in English for a North American market. I would invite all those reading to please prove me wrong.]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/03/2009-the-untranslatables/ Happy New Year from everyone here at Heisei Democracy!]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/01/akemashite-omedetou/ countdown (or rather, a count-up) for the release of their new PC game, Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai ~Under the Innocent Sky I haven't heard much buzz about this, but I may just be out of the loop. It does look promising, but I've always been a sucker for a girl with feathers on her back. Does anyone have more information than I do?]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2009/01/01/oretachi-ni-tsubasa-wa-nai-countdown-begins/ Mistakes of Youth site. GO HAVE A LISTEN Topics discussed include, but are not limited to, the time that Antony and I assaulted Gainax headquarters twice in one day. I'll give that story a proper writeup someday, but in the meantime, here is some oral history of otaku insanity for you.]]> http://heiseidemocracy.com/2008/12/31/podcast-i/