“This nerdy bunch have come from America.” Don’t be an otaku.

From Wired News by Chris Kohler - TOKYO — Koji Igarashi, the producer of Konami’s Castlevania has a problem: Should the next installment of the storied franchise stick with Sony and its new PlayStation 3 console, or take a gamble on a hot new contender?

Fans are constantly asking him to bring the popular series and its whip-toting hero to Nintendo’s new Wii device, he said, but it’s not at all obvious to him how to build such a game.

Motion detection, the system’s coolest feature, has opened the door to a whole new kind of short-form entertainment mimicking real sports such as tennis. But that’s actually proving hard to work into narrative games like Castlevania, Igarashi said. If he were to create a version for Wii, he would be inclined to use the tilt controls only sparingly.

“With the Castlevania designs, I always want to have players sit and focus on gameplay for an hour or so,” he said. “But using the Wii controller as a whip for one hour wouldn’t work.”

The console wars have handed game designers a conundrum: Of the three major new platforms vying for dominance, which one is the right for them?

Microsoft is making grand overtures to Japan’s gamers, but has met with rejection thus far. And Sony’s dominant PlayStation brand faces its toughest competition ever in Nintendo’s inexpensive Wii console and its motion-tracking remote.
(more…)

This game looks awesome you can preorder it on amazon too: Final Fantasy III

Modern Anime Composition

Scene from The Big OThe use of color and shape in American cartoons is a direct descendant of seven minute Warner Brothers shorts. Bright primary and secondary colors, the same as from a small box of crayons. Objects have heavy black outlines. Bright contrasting colors, the same as on children’s’ toys. Every scene is filled with light even if it is taking place in a dark cave, and the camera angle is stuck in a perpetual three quarters view.

The simple shapes and simple colors are designed to appeal to the very young. It is designed to sell a product, like a bright colored cereal box. Japanese animation, in contrast, is not all produced for those who are still on their first set of teeth. Visual design and color schemes are wildly varied and custom tailored to suit the mood of the anime.

A “shining” example of how different style can be is the 1999 television series The Big O. The story is set in Paradigm City, the last remaining corner of organized civilization left in a post apocalyptic future.
(more…)

Less than Noble Heroes / Loveable Villains

Richer content is not the only important difference between American and Japanese animation. There are many other aspects that me anime unique. The characters in anime are more complex than in American cartoons.

Shiro Lhadatt, first man in space.Anime villains can have understandable or even noble intentions and can even be likable. Hero can be less than perfect human beings as well. There is a good example of one of these less than perfect protagonists from the 1987 animated film The Wings of Honneamise¹.

The film is set on an alternate earth and takes places in a country in the mist of a devastating cold war. The Royal Space Force (RSF) is largely viewed as a joke as well as a waste of precious money and resources. Astronaut Shiro Lhadatt is to become the first man in space, he and the RSF rush to complete the the world’s first orbital launch before their government is able to use the space launch as bait to start a war. When Shiro reaches space he uses the craft’s transmitter to send a message to the world to pray for peace instead of his government approved propaganda speech.

But Shiro isn’t a typical cartoon hero, earlier in the film he attempts to rape the young woman that took him into her home. The film clearly establishes Shiro Lhadatt as a heroic figure but many viewers are never able to forgive him even though the woman he tried to rape did.
(more…)

Old ruins are discovered under Makato’s high school. Late one night he and his friends are transported to the world of El Hazard by a strange girl who came out of the ruins. Then they are promptly recruited by the citizens of El Hazard to save the world.

If you enjoyed Tenchi you’ll really love this show. It’s got all the fun stuff in Tenchi but with slightly more realistic characters. All around it’s a light hearted Pioneer anime.

The character interactions in the series follow the Tenchi model: the nice girl, the trashy girl, and a clueless guy. But it is nice to see that there are women that are in love with someone other than the main character.

The show’s music is really great. It is classical with an Arab twist, which complements the anime well because the world of El Hazard looks very Arabian. The ending songs are jap-pop, but they aren’t bad.
(more…)

Two young members of the Abh imperial navy become trapped together in a small ship with enemy forces closing in. A deep friendship develops between them as elude and fight off pursuers while tiring to get back to Abh territory.

What it’s like:
Imagine Starwars, now remove magicians (force users) and make the Empire the good guys and you have the basic setup for CoS. Some aspects also seem to be borrowed from Babylon 5 (For example, hyper-space travel works much the same was is in Bab5). Also the animation is very high quality.

The 13 episode series spends most of it’s time developing the quasi-romance between the two main characters. Supporting roles and villains also receive a great deal of development. A friend of mine described the flow of the Anime as: “Plot, Plot, Plot, Plot, Space Battle, Plot, Plot, Plot…” The show was adapted from a novel and it shows. All the characters in CoS are as realistic as an Anime character could be.

The music from Crest of the Stars is classical, just like you’d expect from a great space opera.
(more…)

A young girl named Sakura accidentally lets cards with magical power escape from a strange book she found in her basement. Now she needs to use her own magic powers to recapture the cards (by defeating them in battle), with the help of a talking stuffed animal named Kero.

I can’t think of another anime that is very similar to CCS. Maybe it’s a bit like Sailor Moon or Tenchi.

The best thing about this anime is the characters. They are all quite vivid and written well. Sakura is sweet and determined about capturing cards. Her friend Tomoyo makes her costumes and is obsessed with recording Sakura’s magical feats on film. There’s a rival Card Captor from Hong Kong named Shoran Lee who is one of my favorite anime characters. His quiet, cool, strong, and wants the cards for himself. And that just scratches the surface of the interesting cast in this series. The series is able to stay interesting for 70 episodes and has spawned two great Card Captor movies.

The music in CCS is a mixture of jap-pop and classical. The opening sequence for the first season of the show is truly one of the the best openings I’ve ever seen.
(more…)

Western Influences in Anime

How could people from space possibly be
Japanese? That doesn’t make sense.Japanese animation (or anime) is very similar to Hello Kitty from a cultural perspective. Western fans expect anime to be all over the place when they visit Japan, but it is actually quite hard to find.

Some comic books can be bought at corner news stands but they kinds of things that anime fans want like DVDs, CDs, animation cells, posters, and trading cards require a great deal of work to find.

When I was in Kyoto on a study abroad tour to get to the Japanese animation store in the city I had to walk on block east to get on the subway, ride the subway from Ninth street to Third street, walk west three blocks, walk north halfway through a covered shopping area, go down an ally, up a set of stairs, and down a dark hallway. This store was the only anime store in the city we could find and it was only about the size of a 7-11.

Anime fandom in Japan can be described as a sub culture, and that’s the nicest possible description. Most often the Japanese call it an “Otaku” culture. Otaku is literally the Japanese word for house and it’s usage in this sense implies: “You’re such a loser that you sit around at their home all the time and watch anime.”
(more…)