We’re back at Kami-con for 2012! For those of you unlucky enough to not be here, watch as Kibs and Siege man the booth and interview your favorite guests, we may even have a special guest appearance by the Birthday Boy, himself.

Please be aware that we are unable to control con-goers actions. While someone at the booth will be watching for any misbehavior, be warned that people may do things above the PG-13 level. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.

Today, Fukuyama Masaharu will be singing the theme song for the upcoming Doraemon movie, Square Enix to open up a new office in Montreal, and Gainax to distribute new wearable anime merchandise for your cosplaying pleasure.

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Today, New Square Enix title trailer, Maid Cafe Cosplay to the extreme, and the 15th Anniversary of DBZ

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I feel bad that this has taken me so long to get to, but more than a month ago now I attended Otakon 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the premier anime conventions in North America and the largest on the East Coat, Otakon is often proud to boast a large selection of panels, industry guests, and musicians from both Japan and America. Among the guests these year however was a guest with his hand in a little bit of everything: Japanese-American fiction writer, journalist, musician, college professor and lecturer both in America and Japan, and of course anime fan, Roland Nozomu Kelts.

As the author of the 2006 publication, Japanamerica: How Japanese Culture has Invaded the U.S., Roland Kelts appeared at Otakon this year not only to sign autograph and book signing sessions but also as the host of 4 different panels (Japanamerica and Japan’s Apocalyptic Imagination in Anime, Manga, and Art on Friday, Pop Culture From a Multipolar Japan on Saturday, and Japan’s IP Problem on Sunday) over the course of the weekend covering various aspects of his book, Japanamerica, and the research that went into it.

During opening ceremonies, Kelts was introduced as an “academic guest” –though Kelts himself complained it made him sound a little boring– and as such did a marvelous job in his panels touching upon some of the major academic approaches central to analyzing anime and the subculture surrounding it: art history, art theory, film study, anthropology, cultural studies, and business.

In Japanamerica, Roland Kelts tackles his broad subject in 9 different chapters, each with a different approach to looking at the anime/manga subculture in both America and Japan, and of course how the two interrelate. The first of these addresses the history of American localization and just what it was about early anime shows like Battle of the Planets that made them so appealing to American audiences. The differences in Japanese and American societies at the time called for a different kind of psychological fulfillment. In simpler terms; in an industry of children’s entertainment over-saturated with like-minded productions, anime presented American children with fresh new, different, and meaningful ideas.

*That is the English cover on the left of the above image, and the Japanese cover on the right with cover art by who I am assuming is NisiOisin (original creator of Katanagatari, Bakemonogatari, and Kizumonogatari) although I can’t confirm that and it could just as easily have been by one of the Katanagatari anime art staff mimicking his art style.

After tracing the appeal points of anime to Americans, Kelts takes the next logical step back in chapter two and examines just what it was about Japanese culture that produced such edgy mediathat was so drastically different from its American counterparts at the time. He points chiefly to Japan’s long history of cultural trauma, both from the multitude of natural disasters centered around Japan’s geographical location and of course Japan’s military history and relationship with America, from Admiral Perry, to WWII, to the Vietnam War. He points to the World Trade Center attacks of 2001 as America’s first real experience with social trauma that directly threatens the public and not just the government.

He draws parallels to the firebombings in Japan during WWII, in which American war tactics favored indiscriminate bombing of all buildings, not just military installations, where the Japanese civilians were not so fearful of losing the war as they were fearful for their lives. This kind of vulnerability affects a population and calls for a certain kind of shift in popular trends towards national empowerment. In the case of Japan’s casualties in WWII as well as the usual natural disasters it calls for subtle themes of technological power and man-vs-nature. He also suggests that the relative comfort and lack of trauma in modern Japanese creators(prior to the earthquake and nuclear plant meltdown) as a possible cause for the recent change in themes over the years.

A later chapter also addresses the appeal to branch groups within the anime subculture like collectors and cosplayers. The real hook of anime and manga could really be argued to be less in product itself and more in the fandom, which is not always a comforting thought, personally. Not to undermine this section in particular, but my own interest falls outside of the category so I’ll just set it aside, out of harm’s way, and move on.

Another chapter addresses Japan’s interrelated approach to producing and marketing toys and other collectable products like card games along side hit anime titles. The need to make a vast multitude of toys in Japan is tied to Japanese business practice, which is somewhat infamous world wide for being strictly number driven and at one point almost ruthlessly efficient. What this means is that Japanese businesses put a great deal of value on quality and productivity above all else and the emphasis on physical product is in part meant to counteract the instability of the anime market.

Perhaps you’ve never thought of it in regards to business, so I’d like to try my hand at putting a little bit of this into perspective: Think of every infomercial or every dollar store, super market, Target, or Wal-mart you’ve been to I’m sure you can recall all sorts of silly products that you laughed at, thinking, “What idiot thought this up?” Well consider for a moment that those idiots don’t just happen to own factories ready made to mass produce their terrible ideas. No, every one of those idiots has a backer of some sort who throws money at the necessary people to get their stupid product off the ground. Why are people so willing to pour money into these kinds of seemingly stupid projects? Because they’re banking on the venture to pay off, of course.

This idea of investment and projected returns is simple enough, but this is a point over which American and Japanese business can sometimes differ. In general, Americans tend to be remarkably open to the idea of throwing all their money down on preposterous gambles on uncertain products or ideas, especially when compared to the rest of the world; the Japanese however are just the opposite. Japanese businesses much prefer to produce only when they have some measurable sense of how well a product will do, and for stylistic and highly subjective ideas with no physical numbers -things like anime- making that leap of faith needed to throw down the money to make a product is difficult. One clear sign of this mentality is that once upon a time an anime would be contracted for a year long run at a time with between 49-52 episodes. In the 2000s that suddenly got cut in half to 2 season/6 month contracts with 24-26 episodes. And if you keep up with anime at all now’days you’ll realize that an average show will run just a meager single season of as little as 11-13 episodes.

In what some call a dying industry, the long term commitment to a project that may flop in three months, or even succeed but go stale after six months, the Japanese simply aren’t willing to trust their investments to any one series. As a result a sort of brand loyalty to trends has also become almost crippling in that many of the manga being adapted into anime are all similar in plot, story, and character types.

How can an industry be dying if they still produce so many new anime? you may ask. Well, in two other chapters Kelts goes on to explain how the entertainment businesses responsible for hit games like Pacman, as well as big name animation studios, are all remarkably small outfits with incomes significantly smaller than what many fans seem to imagine. A good deal of this is traced back to the early rise of anime in Japan, which Kelts addresses. The godfather of anime, Osamu Tezuka, while a great pioneer of animation in Japan is also one of the chief causes of the industry’s shortcomings, including the unreasonably low wages of animators in Japan.

Kelts also goes over Japan and the anime industry’s desperate struggle to get up to date with intellectual property(IP) laws. As it stands, Japanese artists have very little control over their intellectual property and yet the companies that do have little to no sense of how to effectively regulate or distribute said IP in the ever expanding and quickening sea of digital media. This idea of what Intellectual Property is and how it can/should be handled professionally, as well as Japan’s struggle with learning to adapt to American business practice concerning it, was the subject of one of Kelts’s Otakon 2011 panels: Japan’s IP Problem.

This concept of addressing intellectual property via the legal system is all fairly new even in America. Western comic book fans and generally current event aware geeks may be familiar with the dispute over the ownership of the Captain America character, spotlighted in lieu of the recent film. The Japanese generally don’t have these kinds of debates, as their legal system is not as prone to nitpicking the minor implications and specificities of legal contracts. As far as the Japanese tend to be concerned, when they sign a contract with a company the contract acts exactly as stated, with no room for abstract interpretations or semantics. America of course has made an entire business of finding and abusing any and all holes in legal documents in order to wiggle in and out freely of nearly any dispute. It is because of this lack of finesse in business law that many Japanese companies do not have adequate means to protect their own IP.

At this point I could probably go over most of the points I found interesting in the book in detail, but I feel that defeats the purpose. So then, I’ll move away from the heavier subjects and just wrap things up with my feelings about the book.

What I love most about books like this in general, but specifically with Kelts’s personal approach, is that it puts the remarkably narrow vision of American anime fans into a comprehensive academic context. Too often American fans leave the real history, business, and cultural context of how the anime business and culture works in its native setting up to their imaginations. To be fair of course, they often have little to no way to really put things into context themselves, short of traveling to Japan and spending a few years to adjust, absorb, and then really examine the culture there. American anime fans are often even below the level of a normal hobbyist if only because, for all the time they dedicate to anime and manga, they have no real understanding of the artistic, literary, or business aspects of anime. This is part of what propagates bogus propaganda like “buy the official English release of your favorite series and help support the original creators!”

It really should go without saying but businesses DO NOT work via some kind of convoluted piecemeal system where every dollar you spend gets split up between the store you bought it from, the store’s franchise owner, the publisher/distributor, the translators/writers/localization team/dubbers, the Japanese mother company, the Japanese animation team, and then somehow at the end of the day the original artist/author. I hate to sound like the cynic (Oh who am I kidding? I love it.) but buying the English dubs, DVDs, and manga does nothing to support the industry abroad.

I could really go on and on about this but anything I say you could just as easily read about in Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop-Culture Has Invaded the U.S.. So, moving away from what may be a depressing or confusing subject for some, I’d like to point out that Japanamerica also covers many of the facets of Anime’s appeal in America in a clear comprehensive way -without being bogged down with arbitrary geek terminology- that makes it a decent starting place for people not acquainted with anime at all, as well as a real eye-opening experience for fans.

The book itself is not very long (less than 300 pages) and despite taking an academic approach to studying anime the writing style is not oppressively heavy and each chapter is broken into various smaller segments, so the book is remarkably convenient for picking up and putting down on the fly on top of being easy to read and process.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. is available in both hardback and paperback both online and in most major book retailers at prices starting as low as 10.00 USD new -even less used if you dig around a bit for good bargains online- and really, at those prices, there’s no reason not to pick up a copy and read through it.

I would have ended the article right there, but I’m just going to say it to get this off my chest: My favorite part of Otakon weekend was easily Roland Kelts’s Japan’s IP Problem panel on Sunday afternoon. I took a certain almost sadistic pleasure in hearing the horrified gasps of a room full of mortified anime geeks when Kelts began pointing out that not only do Japanese animators and comic artists/authors make a truly pathetic pittance for their work (especially when compared with American counterparts) but the American market shares none of its profits with the original Japanese companies, let alone any of the actual creators. In fact, more often than not, American licensing deals will shortchange their Japanese business partners, paying only a tiny fraction of the eventual profits in a flat rate payment up front after which point the Japanese see none of the American sales profit.

I know not many of you are probably not terribly savvy when it comes to basic business, so try and think of it this way: Imagine for example you sell a friend an old saucepan that you figure you’ve gotten your use out of for $10; then imagine that your friend uses that saucepan to cook spaghetti that he/she sells to other people for $5 a plate. In a few short days your friend is now sitting on $100 and still making a profit (now more than 10x what you got out of the deal) that came from your saucepan and he isn’t about to share. The sale was legit and by all means fair -what he does with it is his business now, he paid for it- and he’s not obligated to share, but you certainly can’t help but feel like you’ve been cheated.

before I let you go, I want to make clear that I really don’t intend to paint American anime companies as some kind of swindlers or villains here. Buying English releases will of course help support the companies that need your money to pay for bringing more of what you love from Japan to you here in the states, and it really is money well spent that supports to community you love. Just remember that the people you’re helping are the American companies, and that your money in no direct way affects the profits of the Japanese. No one wants to hear or see misguided and misinformed crusaders fighting piracy in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. The More You Know!

Anyhow, enough of my rambling. Once again Japanamerica: How Japanese Culture has Invaded the U.S. is available in both hardback and paperback, both online and in most major book retailers, at prices starting as low as 10.00 USD. So, go check it out!

Today, Zone-Enders on the 3DS, Sailor Scout Uniforms, and Funimation releases more Classic Anime.

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Today, stealthy censors, Piccolo is the mayor, and suikoden no more?

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Hey fans! I dunno about you, but it seems like there are many things that can be said about which convention is the best, or the most interesting, or the most accessible. There are so many conventions out there nowadays that it’s hard to determine which one is the most important or pivotal to the industry it supports. Even if you break it into types of cons, like gaming or anime, there is still no clear front runner no matter how you slice it. However, one of these cons stands out for me personally, as it was the first convention I ever attended and the only one I have attended more than once to date. And that convention is Otakon.

Now, I could go on and on about my previous experiences at Otakon. The stories alone could fill an entire article! But instead I want to use my past experience in order to highlight the sheer quantity of things that are occurring at Otakon versus the meager number that I am able to relay to you, the fans.

Let’s start with what is probably one of the most common things in any con, the cosplaying. Honestly I’ve never really understood cosplaying. I did it once several years ago and still wonder to this day as to why I did so. It was tremendously uncomfortable in the heat, and having to stop every few feet so someone can take your picture doesn’t really interest me (I don’t care if you “have” to take my picture; I have to get to the bathroom!). And while some of the costumes are pretty neat, the vast majority of them are kind of boring. Honestly I’d be shocked if there was a single cosplayer at Otakon this year that made me want to stop and take their pic-

Is that DJ PON3?

Huh. Well, that was kind of cool. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I was just saying that the odds of there being any cosplays that really interest me this year ar- DOC SCRATCH?!

Wow, I didn’t expect that. I mean, I know Homestuck’s been getting more popular but dang. That was actually pretty awesome. Well, at least now that I’ve seen that I can rest assured that there won’t be any more that… That…

K-Kamen…. Rider. I… I love Kamen Rider. You… you magnificent son of a…

Okay, okay! So there are some really neat cosplays here at Otakon if you can manage to keep your eyes peeled. But I refuse to be side tracked any longer! There is no way that I am going to-

GUNDAM FIGHT!

READY!

GO!!!

All right, I give! I give up! I don’t even care about cosplay, and even I am impressed by some of these costumes. It’s a nice diversion between events to see the different costumes, especially if you’re a bit of a crowd watcher like some of my friends.

But let’s move on to two of the other big events going on at Otakon, the Dealer’s Room and the Artist’s Alley. If you’re like me and are looking for some sweet swag while you’re at the convention then these are two rooms you’ll definitely want to check out. The dealer’s room is full of different vendors, selling everything from anime and manga to figurines, games, and more! I would definitely recommend it as a great first stop for the shopping fan, but don’t just stop there. I know that the sheer amount of stuff in that room alone can seem overwhelming at first, but if you have a hankering for art then I cannot stress visiting the Artist’s Alley enough. It is full of many talented artists of a variety of different styles, selling anything from full scale fan posters to comics they’ve created. Personally I stopped by just to support two web comics I read on a fairly regular basis, The Devil’s Panties by Jennie Breeden (http://thedevilspanties.com/) and Kiwi Blitz by Mary Cagle (http://www.kiwiblitz.com/). And if you see that any of your favorite web comic artists are attending then I definitely recommend swinging by to see them. Even if you can’t buy anything like I did it’s always nice to show your support in person, and who knows? You might even see something that you never would’ve seen anywhere else!

But enough blatant consumerism! Let’s get into the room that fills me with the most pride, both as a gamer and as a fan, the Game Room! Honestly my biggest disappointment about the con this year is that I wasn’t able to spend as much time there as I would’ve liked. And while I can’t bring back the awesomeness which is several hundred gamers all coming together at once to play as a group, I can show you the scope of my personal sanctuary, my home away from home.

Behold! The glory that is the Game Room!

Ahh, Heaven. But no time for bliss, my memories will have to do for now! Because we have not yet gotten into the meat of my convention experience this year, the events that dominated most of my time as I ran around the convention center like a chicken with its head cut off. What am I referring to you ask? Why the panels, of course! It’s hard to believe, but this is the first time that I’ve actually attended a panel while at Otakon, and as such I had no idea as to what I should expect. It’s incredible. At any given time there are as many as six panels running simultaneously, each with its own unique content, ranging from fan speculation to industry insiders. Even with the bulk of my energies focused in this direction I was still only able to attend a small handful of the panels I wanted to, and even then I felt like I was being pushed to the limit. Suffice to say that if you’re bored while at Otakon, you just aren’t trying hard enough. I also brought back a few recordings of fan and industry panels as well, so be on the lookout for them over the next few days.

Speaking of content, one of the perks of going to the convention as press was that I was able to get an interview with Tony Oliver for you guys. It was a great experience and a real pleasure getting to speak with one of the industry’s most established voice actors. On top of that I was also able to attend a few press conferences for you, gathering new information on the upcoming series “Angel ScandyS” and meeting with Makoto Shinkai. And while I’ll leave the info on Mr. Shinkai up to my good friend Tyto, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what you think of the interesting new direction the anime industry is going in with a series like “Angel ScandyS”!

But you know what the scary part is? Even after going over all of that, I’ve still only scratched the surface of all of the stuff that’s available to do at Otakon! There’s still anime screenings, movie premiers, masquerades, and concerts to attend, not to mention workshops, karaoke, and manga libraries to hang out at! The simple fact is there’s far too much stuff going on at this con for meager beings such as I to cover it all adequately. I can only hope that what little coverage I have managed to bring back to you, the fans, is enough to sate you. And if not I highly encourage you to check out the con next year or even some time further in the future. There’s no shortage of things to do, I promise you that much!

Until then though, I hope you do enjoy the content we have procured for you and that I’ll see you around! Until the next con update this is Bargain Gamer, logging off!

Three days after Otakon 2011 weekend and I’m still recovering from the headache… I’ll save you the nitty-gritty for the time being and just make a few comments on the state of the convention scene itself. I am certainly in no position to be calling myself old, but when I see the kinds of kids running around anime conventions in recent years I can’t help but feel like there has grown some distinct gap between myself and this new generation of anime fans. I feel like I just don’t get what kids are after when they attend conventions and Otakon, with its sheer size, is quick to remind me that I’m in what has become a distinct minority.

Let me just say right now that nothing I say or imply here reflects in any way on the opinions of 91.8 The Fan as a whole, or the administrative staff.

Once upon a time, anime conventions were a place for obsessive know-it-all fans to go and socialize with other wannabe know-it-alls and swap ideas, opinions, and recommendations: That is no longer the case. Anime fans have grown in great number but the cumulative knowledge seems to been spread all too thin and too few fans seem to show any desire to expand their reach. I feel it’s a safe generalization to make when I say that no one out there has seen every anime ever made, so when I go to a convention, where I see some kids spending their entire weekend hopping between screenings of their favorite show, talking to other fans of their favorite show, taking pictures of cosplayers dressed as characters from their favorite show, and rummaging through the dealers’ room to buy merchandise of their favorite show, I can’t help but feel like there is a serious disconnect.

This is not to say that there is any one, and only one, way to go about enjoying a convention, but I can’t help but think that those kinds of con-goers are wasting an otherwise perfect opportunity to broaden their range of interest, learn a little about the subject of their hobbies. And there is so much to learn! Through the academic lens, the study of anime and manga combines elements of literature, film, art, cultural studies, and anthropology in a single concentrated subculture phenomenon that has taken the Western world by storm in less than half a century.

On this subject, I can’t help but feel like the fan panels at most conventions, and in Otakon in particular –one noted for its considerable size within the East coast con circuit– have lost a great deal of credibility. As I said, there was a time when only the nerdiest of nerds could be found attending anime conventions, or indeed even hear of such things, and naturally the highest echelons of nerdom could be found running discussion panels, educating their fellow nerd on diverse subjects of philosophy, symbolism, and details of Japanese culture and the anime industry both local and foreign. This is no longer the case, as many panels, while still well intentioned and with hearts in the right place, are often grievously under-researched and poorly informed. The ideas are still there, which is a relief, but the overall tone given off by most panels is still that of sorry half-baked approach.

That doesn’t apply to all panels of course, and many are still remarkably well hosted, and of course there are also industry panels which are less about ideas and more about news and insight. Once upon a time industry panels were a way to talk with men and women working in the American and sometimes Japanese anime industry. While the Japanese industry guests still manage to remain mostly career oriented, many of the American industry panels have in recent years devolved into spectacles more devoted to appeasing squealing fan-girls than reporting on upcoming projects, or providing insight to the inner workings of the localization industry. But then Hitler did always say that logic was best saved for the few and emotion for the many.

I mentioned half-baked so I can’t help but segue into a rant on cosplayers. I’ll try to keep it brief and as civil as possible, I promise. I cannot help but find myself astonished, con after con, at the number of halfhearted, lackluster, and downright lazy cosplayers there are. I understand that in America cosplay is more fun than function, but I should think that anyone willing to make their own outfit would have enough basic appreciation for tailoring to settle for nothing less than acceptable quality and accuracy. It is truly astounding how many people are willing to wear terrible looking outfits, and somehow convinced that the outfit is actually passable.

Maybe I’m a bit of a stickler about these sorts of things as someone who used to design and make my own outfits from scratch but making clothes is really an all or nothing hobby. If your product isn’t perfect, then you’re not done with it, and if you’re not done with it, you don’t wear it out in public. Now, I understand that it’s something that should be none of my business so long as the people concerned are having fun, but that certainly doesn’t stop it from being about as annoying as ugly wallpaper, whether I have to look right at the wall or not.

I’m not just going to sit and fuss though, as I did manage to enjoy myself at this year’s Otakon. The rare gems among cosplayers that are actually impressive to see bring me a genuine sense of pride, though for what I’m not sure. Several of the fan panels were informative, interesting, and well presented, including a number of different panel hosted by Otakon celebrity guest, Roland Kelts, author of Japanimerica – How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. that detailed some of his findings in the relationship between Japan and America via anime and manga, both culturally and financially, and a panel on the rising trend of using comics in schools and other educational facilities run by a wonderful host who is himself a math teacher. (I must confess I was late to his panel by about 10 minutes and never actually caught his name)

There were also a number of exciting premier screenings for films like Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, Trigun: Badlands Rumble, and Makoto Shinkai‘s Hoshi O Ou Kodomo: The Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below. There were also a number of practical workshops, including Learn To Play Go, Who Wants to Be a Voice Actor?, and So You Want To Be Published providing useful information to interested parties.

While I can’t bring myself to berate the staff over it, I can’t ignore that the scheduling was less than stellar, with a number of common interest panels and screenings arranged over the same time slots, forcing fans to pick between whether they wanted to watch their favorite show, go to a fan panel on it, or go to the show’s distributor’s industry panel. And as much as I fuss over the lack of quality in many of the panels, I did say that the ideas and points of interest are all still present, and I really was hard pressed to choose certain panels over others, and still found myself rushing across the convention center from panel to panel, as there was no shortage of interesting events going on.

One last thing I need to throw in is how Kinokuniya (a well known international Japanese book store) has in recent years seriously cut back their convention stock to almost exclusively artbooks and CDs. While I can understand that these are the best selling items, I go to these conventions largely for the imported goods, and for Kinokuniya of all shops to all together stop carrying the bulk of their manga is a serious disappointment. Though this certainly didn’t stop me from spending grievous amounts of money.

In any event, however much I can find to complain about, I certainly can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself. So then, what’s the point of this, apart from a nutty anime fan going on yet another rant? To let you know that I’ve got a number of reports and recordings of panels, events, and press conferences just waiting to be written up and posted for your viewing pleasure. So, I hope you’ll look forward to my forthcoming Otakon reports!