Okay so, in case you haven’t been keeping up on anime blogs and stuff you would know that the Chinese show Xin Ling Zhi Chuang had copied several backgrounds from Makoto Shinkai’s Drama film 5 Centimetres Per Second. It was even accused of plagiarism in 2009. Problem solved right? Well no. See it just recently won an award. It won an Art and Literature award. Although the show’s production says that they have corrected their plagiarism of Shinkai’s work. This is back in 2009. Why are we still talking about it? Because they were lying. They said there will be strict consequences those who were caught plagiarising. So why not these guys? Just because they say they did something, doesn’t mean they did. I’ve seen these “Edits.” It looks the exact same.
But look, I’m not here to cause hate on the internet. I’m here because I’m here to ask: Why plagiarise? Seriously? There’s probably an extensive list of people copying other people’s work. The only two I can name off the top of my head is Marc Magiori who took a Studio Ghibli background without authorisation for a French film I believe. And Nick Simmons(The son of Gene Simmons) who pretty much added a few lines and coloured Bleach(And other popular manga series) characters for his comic book series known as Incarnate. He of course tried to get out of hot water by claiming homage, but we’re not idiots. We know what we’re talking about. Well most of us do.
Hmm it seems that people with power seem to plagiarise more. I mean, I could go and steal someone else’s blog post and re-post it here. The problem for me is that I can’t hide behind anyone. I’m here and anything you say, I’ll read. which means I will be called a thief and be kicked off the internet. Well not really. But you know what I mean. Also I reckon Gene Simmons’ kid is safe. He should know all about suing and the like -_- I’m not a KISS fan in case you couldn’t tell. And I’m not a fan of plagiarism either. Seriously people. You were given a brain. USE IT!
By the way sorry this was a short blog post. School has been hitting me hard and it’s kinda gotten me depressed but I’m feeling better. I’ll be writing a new post probably tomorrow.
If you like Discrimo’s writings and you would like to read more then…You have odd taste.
So all fans of anime have heard the word moe with mixed interpretations, sometimes they cheer, sometimes they rant, and sometimes the just want to go wtf… But who the hell actually knows what moe technically is? Moe is such a wide range of different characteristics tacked on often unceremoniously to those poor anime characters. Moe is written in Japanese as 萌え, the kanji meaning bud or sprout and being read a “mo” for its kun reading. The word is slang coming from the word moeru which means to bud or sprout and can therefore be interpreted as a pun referencing the “budding” of a preadolescent girl. It is also speculated that since the word moe (萌え) is a homonym of moe (燃え) which means burning the word could be a pun on the burning passion that fans have towards moe characters. However we are not here to talk about budding or burning, we are here to talk about moe which is slang! The slang definition of moe is “a rarefied pseudo-love for certain fictional character (in anime, the manga, and the like) and their related embodiments” according to Wikipedia. Characters who fit this definition (which is hella large) are called moekko (萌えっ娘) with the final kanji meaning female child.
So now we have the technical definitions of moe, WTF is it!? Well first to answer that question we will have to explore the history of moe, and immediately as we dive into the history we come across an answer to what moe it is, it comes from the fact that…. No one knows who invented the word moe! There are many different theories about moe’s origin like the above mentioned puns on budding and/or burning, but another theory is it came from Hotaru Tomoe from Sailor Moon. Tomoe’s name is written with the two kanji 土萌, and you guys had better recognize a certain kanji by now. Yes do too her characteristics and the kanji in her name Tomoe is viewed as possibly being the origin of the word moe. Another theory is it came from the online forums 2channel during the 1990s where posters used it to discuss “hybrids of lolicon and bishoujo genres”. The most commonly accepted theory is that it is a combination of the last two where at that time on 2channel Tomoe was at the height of her popularity.
So in the end, the origin is a complete shamble, we don’t know where moe came from or what the hell it is, so lets go and examine some more famous moe characters. One of those is Lum Invader from Urusei Yatsura who is thought to be the source of moe and one of if not the first tsundere, talk about win. Lum is viewed to be the first moe do to her personality and her looks. Lum has a fiery temper, but is very naïve being from another planet and so is clumsy and doesn’t always understand what is going on around her do to her innocence, a common characteristic that touches our otaku hearts. She is also bad at cooking and gets drunk incredibly easily and she dislikes garlic which we somehow find cute? Another famous mope characters would be Rei Ayanami who “helped” to alter the definition of moe (and significantly confusing fans forever) apparently meeting the moe definition for being incredibly popular. Her pale skin, blue hair, and calm/quiet/cold/freaky personality which have spread throughout the anime, manga, and gaming industry. However we all know the most moe characters in existence ever if you argue with me I will kill you simply because they were designed to be the most moe characters in existence… the cast from Lucky Star. Period. No other comments needed.
Now here is what we are left with. Moe characters are characters that meet some fetish of the fans, most often something to do with lowliness, childlike helplessness, innocence, and cuteness. This is all enhanced by different characteristics such as glasses, striped underwear, butlers/maids, tsunderes, and sisters. However as we have seen there is no clear definition, it is something that insights burning passion for budding adolescence, the above traits are simply what seems to be the most popular but moe is not limited to that in the slightest, it just takes the love of fans.Unfortunately this effort by companies to make characters as cute as possible so that fans will buy their product has (in many eyes) begun to go far. One example is moe anthropomorphism, a fancy way of saying making non-human things (animals, plants, appliances, your face) moe as well in an effort to basically kill the watcher through diabetes through sugary cuteness. This is giving the opposite effect sometimes though, by making people dump the show and write it off as just another moe collage. Yet there is still a demand for moe as Hayao Miyazaki has said in response to a question about otaku obsession with cute characters, “It’s difficult. They immediately become the subjects of lolicon fetishism. In a sense, if we want to depict someone who is affirmative to us, we have no choice but to make them as lovely as possible. But now, there are too many people who shamelessly depict [such heroines] as if they just want [such girls] as pets, and things are escalating more and more.” So some people love moe and some people hate it, sounds pretty standard for anime right? So if you come about thinking WTF is this moe in my anime decide if you can stand it, and try to ignore it. Moe is like big breasts, they get in your face but if you prefer small breasts they can be ignored well enough.
As the con season is wrapping up I have a question about anime conventions. Most conventions have been moving toward more general geekdom cons, including cons in my own town. What are your thoughts of the direction which anime cons are heading taking into account that most cons have gone.
So its me again, coming from the 5th layer of hell, the devil that survived the fieriest of games out there. Today I’m back with the first in a sub series about the thing everyone hates(except themselves) , that being trolls. Now I have heard lots of people talk about their experiences with trolls and there seems to me that there are many types and I’m going to set out to describe each type. In research methods terminology this is known as creating a typology; which is when a researcher studying a phenomenon divides the cases in their research to better present the data which has been collected.
1. The hit and run troll– these are trolls that leave one comment on a forum, message board, or a social network site and then don’t ever return to continue the conversation. An example if this was in episode 63 of the Gundamn podcast during one of their mailbag catch up shows when a troll posted a badly worded and very grammatically incorrect question and never post a another thing on that forum.
2.The fake debate troll– these are trolls who at first appear to want to have a real debate with you and then make no concrete arguments about the subject being disgusted and just throw insults at you. Too examples to cite a certain one, but check site with a comment section and you should find one.
3.The one word troll– these are trolls just leave one word on a comment section of a site. Usually its a hateful and homophobic comment, these are perhaps the saddest all of the troll types. Again check any site with comment section to find an example.
4.The hate on something and then buy it troll– These trolls are the curiousest type because they will be a huge fan boys of a certain franchise, and when a new product comes out from said franchise that is a little different they trashed it ,and say that they will never buy it, and they turn around and purchased it at the first opportunity.
5.The inner franchise troll– In many franchises in anime or video game fandom, there are different fractions that like one part of a franchise and decide anyone who likes another part is a moron and sets out to hate on the other fans of the franchise. A prime example of this is the Gundam franchise,and the universal century fans vs. the alternate century fans.
6. The video troll- This species of troll usually is found on video sharing sites like youtube. You find will find them making videos of rambling, incoherent, nonsensical rants about whatever ridiculous topic pops into their troll heads. Examples of this type is xbox or playstation fanboys making 3 to 4 videos in their parents basements about which system is better because it has all the best games and the other is for “insert homophobic slur” and losers.
7.The private message or email troll- The most cowardly of the troll types. Instead of commenting out in the open on a forum or message board, they troll someone in email or a private message. Any website administrator could probably tell you about an email or 100 they reached from a troll.
8.The out context or straw man troll- You will find this type on 4chan using the green text to twist a commentator’s words so far around it bears no resemblance to the original meaning of the comment. On the internet is frequent known “straw manning” someone in reference to the straw man argument which is when someone misrepresents the position of another person.
The Straight Dope on Trolls– Here is a good video about trolls and is a good definition of what one really is.
Its Been a while since I had a post on here so I decided to cop out and pull up a top 10 list everyone loves those right?
The thought actually occurred to me while I was in the shower (where all world changing ideas are born) I noticed that most of my favourite characters in anime were Otaku just like me, so I looked up my list and favourite characters and lo and behold I got the convenient number of 10 different Otaku. Without further ado and in no Particular order here they are.
Edward – Cowboy Bebop
She…umm He..wait umm. This person makes this list simply because of how epic she/he is (we will go with she for now) Introduced fairly late in the series Ed stuck with me as my favourite character from the show. she was funny, Intelligent, Quirky, always hungry and Funny. Her hacking skills made her an essential member of the Bebop I remember panicking in a few episodes because Ed just wouldn’t take certain situations seriously, she would always pull through in the end though. her character design was unique and I found her rather cute which is why I firmly stick by the opinion of her being female. Honestly speaking if Ed was not added to the Cowboy bebop cast Im certain I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much.
Her character is not only put in the series for comedy, the last few episodes of her arc were very touching and are some of the highlights from Cowboy Bebop.
Erika & Walker – Durarara!!
ahh Durarara!! Why are your characters so Awesome? From the very first scene we see these two we know they are Otaku, their power levels are waaay to high to suppress. From the memorable scenes of them Packing a Life size Holo cut-out poster into their van to their Role playing with anime figures. All their scenes together are at-least packed with an anime reference or two. I especially loved the bonus episode 12.5 which was seen from the point of view of Walker. His narration rivaled Kyons’ from Haruhi Suzumiya, his monologues about reality and fiction are very funny and fun to listen to. I have to admit to having at-least said some of those things before.
Just like all characters in Durarara!! these two are bad ass, asking you to pick what form of torture you would like to be inflicted on you from a moe magazine is simply diabolical. In other words, don’t piss them off.
Ika Musume – Squid girl
She came from the bottom of the sea to conquer the land and ends up becoming a waitress on restaurant by the sea side. BUT, don’t let that fool you that’s just the beginning of her great conquest. Ika Musume is a very unique character her speech- quirks and blue tentacled hair certainly make her stand out. Her power levels are slowly revealed to us as the series progresses. My favourite one being the episode where she wakes up in the middle of the night to have a good Video Gaming Session, Super Nintendo gaming no less! She also occasionally references movies and some games as the series progresses. It may not be blatant but the signs are there.
Squid Girl is an awesome comedy show and if I have ever had a Licence wish before this has got to be way up there with the best.
Yuki Nagato – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The silent member of the SOS Brigade joins the list and arguably has the highest power level among these. She’s primarily a bookworm and is the sole member of the Literature Club. She ditched her glasses after Kyon suggested that she looked cuter without them, I do not disagree. Her favourite kind of books are science fiction and when she gets into gaming she really really gets into it. My favourite episode is the Computer Club Duel episode because it showcased just how advanced this Humanoid Computer Interface really is. Right at the end she acknowledges that she enjoyed the entire experience, which is the first hint in the series that she actually has feeling. Nothing like gaming to loosen up an alien android.
In the Movie/sequel The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya her character growth is extremely immense and is quite shocking. Its an awesome movie and the fact that it currently sits at Number one on the ANN ratings is proof that I’m not the only that thinks this.
Konata Izumi – Lucky Star
Wow where to even start? She’s a high school Anime Otaku, loves manga, loves games, loves Visual Novels, collects some figures and is also a cosplayer. Yup the total package. Everytime i watch the show I find something new every.single.time. No kidding!! Konata is very very funny and is fun to watch and takes some of the common otaku traits to some extremes (or are they?) If I ever had a mascot Konata would probably be it.
Keima Katsuragi – The World god Only Knows
Nicknamed “The god of Conquest” because of his impeccable skills at dating sims or galge this maestro of a gamer even has his own website that acts as an online strategy guide for any decent Galge ever made. Yes people he IS the best if there ever was one. Spotting him without his “PFP” is stuff of legend something only very few eyewitnesses can attest to. He is not only confined to this hardware however he is known to have every console ever created to play at-least one dating sim, he has played them all ladies and gentlemen.
I really really love his monologues on reality and 2D vs 3D, the sad thing is I have said some of those things before and seeing someone else say them gives me mixed feeling. On one hand joy and satisfaction because im not the only soul who believes this on the other great shame because of how stupid and silly it is to say things like that. Here are a few quotes I can remember off the top of my head.
“Real girls has no flags to hit” “The game design for Real life is seriously flawed” “Life is just a crappy game” … and those are not even close to his best.
Ruri “Kuroneko” Gokou – Oreimo
We are introduced to her character in a cafe in Akihabara. Always clad in Gothic lolita cosplay in public, she will not be seen in any other way. Her favourite anime series is called “Maschera” which is clearly a parody of Code Geass. Her “argument” with Kirino (the main character of the series) on what type of anime is the best totally hooked me on the show. See Kirino loves magical girl/ moe anime and Kuroneko loves Fantasy/Mystery anime, these silly little arguments happen online ALL THE TIME so seeing it in an anime was really good fun. The fact that they become close friends because of this encounter was both funny and quite accurate.
She writes her own fantasy doujin light novels and role plays occasionally, she is also very good at video games this proven with one scene of her winning a tournament in one of the episodes. Oh yeah she can also create her own video games, beat that!
Hashida “Daru” Itaru – Steins; Gate
I tried not to include any characters from unfinished series but Daru stands out so much. He is a Computer Programmer that works for a self proclaimed Mad Scientist. Daru loves all things Akihabara especially maid cafes, He often references Geeky movies or shows to real life situations and loves too see him a good cosplayer bonus points if they are moe. His snarky remarks, perveted jokes and timely comebacks are what make him awesome though.
with the show still ongoing Im sure there is way more to come so check this space.
Tatsuhiro Sato – Welcome to the NHK
The idea of watching a Hikikomori (shut in) go about his daily life may sound boring at first but add a little otaku culture in there and you get one of the best shows ever created. Sato starts out your normal average Hikikomori (whatever that is) and slowly starts to attain habits, some more dangerous than others but ill save that for another post. The one “habit” that Sato went through that I enjoyed and related to (the most LoL) was his online gaming. Sato spent hours upon hours on what was clearly Final Fantasy XI. The amazing thing about this little arc is that within a couple of weeks or so he went from utter complete “newb” to the ranks of Guild leader for lack of a better comparison. He was clearly addicted and the story centres around his efforts to try and cure himself from this dreadful dreadful diesease.
Sato is also the best candidate of what I call the Nerd recommendation syndrome (name subject to change and/or suggestions) This is the phenomenon that occurs when you recommend something new to fellow nerd and find out they have become an even bigger fan of the said thing than you. My favourite of these in the series is when Sato is introduced to the world of Dating sims and Akihabara. He spends a couple of nights playing borrowed games from his friend and within ended up buying model figures of his favourite characters. Im sure every one of you has a similar story….No?
This one is a little different, as the title suggests Tsukimi is a Jellyfish Otaku. That means she likes all things Jellyfish, yes she draws them in her spare time, she has books on them, she can name their scientific alias’ and can identify them by the color pallete alone. All this has nothing to do with anime or manga but its her passion that warrants her a place on this list. Because that is the one thing all these characters listed above have, Passion and Tsukimi is the best example of this.
Well there you have it? Wow looking at this list I only now realised there’s more females than males which is a far cry from reality. What are some of your favourite Otaku in anime and why lemme know.
If you are a fan of Dragon Ball Z, or any of the video games based around this amazing anime, then rejoice! Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi is set to come out October 25th, 2011 in America, October 28th, 2011 in Europe, and surprisingly November 1st, 2011 in Japan. The game will feature enhanced graphics of both the environment and characters, with the designs of the characters based off of their manga counterparts, and dynamic destruction of the environment, such as ki blasts cutting through the sky, or creating craters in the ground on impact. The game is also said to feature a character creation system! Meaning the ability to customize your own personal character’s looks, abilitys, and fighting style, which will be a nice change from the same old matches that always end up taking place. The character roster will feature more characters then Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2 ( including the return of large characters from Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, such as giant Janemba, and saiyans in in ape form. It is also said to have GT characters, such as Omega Shenron. The combat seems like it will return a lot of the mini-game type fighting mechanics the older games included, and the camera tends to make the game look very cinematic. The game looks like it will feature a very good story mode, which the last game lacked in. Here is the North American trailer if you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpQ6Pc5fwU
I have also heard that you can edit existing characters, I have not read this for a fact, but I don’t doubt it. I believe this game will be alot better then the previous entrys on the 360 and PS3, i’m hoping it will be like a next gen Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3. I am looking forward to this game later this year!
Usagi Tsukino and Maka Albarn – are their similarities?
Ok – so I remember when Sailor Moon first aired and I thought to myself – this is cool, I mean Usagi did whine but she was hot. And if you squinted just right when she transformed – woo hoo!!!!! Ok – everyone relax, I was in my mid twenties and according to Kimiko, you add 10 years so we were the same age! Geez! Where was I?
Oh yes – Usagi’s chest!
So Usagi wields the almighty Silver Chrystal to bringing forth peace and love into the world to protect everyone she cares about. Of course, there is a catch – if she does it like really correctly, she will summon a power never before seen and end her life. Wow – you need to read that fine print several times in the instruction manual before you fire that sucker up!
Then we have adorable, antagonistic Maka Albarn. Not unlike Sailor – you are exposed to her passionate side early on but then you quickly learn that she carries a lot of baggage. She is Meister to her Weapon – Soul and what is her purpose? Well at first you think it is to turn Soul into a death scythe by capturing 99 corrupt souls and one witch’s soul but you begin to see that she is trying to fill a void in her heart and protect the one’s she loves. The problem is, for her to reach her full potential, the Demon Hunt Schythe, she will have to summon all of her soul perception which could end her life. And the problem is – nobody seems to bother to tell her this!
So Sailor Moon can be attributed to many things such as being one of the first Anime that appealed to a lot of girls including many who didn’t like Anime. It also had a guy following but um for possibly the wrong reasons! Where would Cosplay be without the Sailors? In fact, just last week AAA Podcast News announced that Hot Topic would be offering a Sailor Moon costume for Halloween!!!!! Wait a minute, I’m distracted with the costume thing – oh yeah. So Sailor Moon had a lot of female characters to choose from – every flavor imaginable.
Soul Eater also offers a lot of choices in female characters to enjoy. There is the patron Marie Majoiner, there is the feisty Tsubaki Nakatsukasa and one cannot forget the excellent Thompson Sisters. Soul Eater also boasts as a source for many the Cosplayer.
Both of these anime are great choices. One is readily available for your viewing pleasure. One is so rare that you truly need to know someone with a VHS – preferably stereophonic!
Check them out – they have great music as well.
One last note – in a taste test between the two – many respondents chose Soul Eater for its large amounts of Blair. Pum Pum Pumpkin Yummy!!!!!
Is he a creeper? Is he a perv? Perhaps he is just looking for sausage?
Good day everyone and please forgive my delay in starting. Perhaps in the forums I will list the cause of my strife but I must not dwell on such triviality as it could distract me.
My name is Noshgard but please call me Nosh. As my title suggests – I am one of the senior members here but I love anime. On top of this, I love AAA Podcast which is why I chose to throw my thoughts onto the screen and see where they land. My goal, and yours should you choose to accept it, is to help build a burning desire for you to give all Anime a chance regardless of its age. Ok – maybe not ALL Anime but you get what I mean.
There will be a common theme for the Anime I tend to watch I’ll leave it to you to determine what that is.
I love all things Japan and have since, well, the 60’s. Anime in the 60’s was very one dimensional in my mind but it was still unique compared to the C-R-A-P I could watch in the U.S.
Oops – a side note – I have focusing issues, I tend to ramble sometimes as there is a lot of information fighting to come out first so please stick with me when I drift. The important thing is that all of my thoughts are interrelated so you can find where I am headed – I hope. Where was I – oh yeah. So Trixie’s chest! No, not Chistina’s chest which has been great since like 1998 but the original Trixie. It was normal. I can honestly say that I didn’t pay it much of a mind. Now, compare this to say Canaan which is physically about the same size and yet she is much more accentuated. Is it a sign of the times? Is it a dialogue on how Anime has changed?
But Nosh, Trixie was a ditz and Cannan kicked serious butt! Yes, I agree – Cannan kicked serious butt yet Trixie was no slouch. She drove the Mach 5 many times when Speed petered out. She was a serious Helicopter Pilot and, not unlike the lovely Canaan, she was actually quite good with a handgun. Granted she didn’t have Alphard after her but she was quite handy with Assassin’s who were.
So if you are looking for thrills – give Canaan a try. And if you are looking for retrospective – give Trixie the respect she deserves!
Hey Guys! Z-ComiX here, how is your day going? So, I wanted to try out some new Blogs to see what sticks so I thought to my self: “Web comics are fun, and people love them, why not try something like that?” So out of it spawned the idea of Manga Modification!
So, Basically, MM is going to be a series where I take a page of a manga and alter the text so that it says something witty about anime/manga/Japanese stuff. I’m just testing the waters right now to get my niche so you probably gonna see a lot of blogs with ideas like this.
Enough of my blathering! ON TO MM!
Original Image From “Caramel Theater”
So Today’s comic is about something I will never understand… Yaoi. So many of the girls that I know who enjoy anime love yaoi for some reason. NOT SAYING I’M AGAINST IT! I just don’t personally enjoy it!
So, Anyway if you like this idea and want to contribute a page from you favorite manga, send me a PM on the forums or e-mail me a link/file at ZDA@bigstring.com! Or, leave a comment below for the next parody! The funnier and over-the-top the image, the more likely I will use it! but please, no hentai guys, I wanna keep this to a PG-13 Rating at most.
Another famous mope characters would be Rei Ayanami who “helped” to alter the definition of moe (and significantly confusing fans forever) apparently meeting the moe definition for being incredibly popular. Her pale skin, blue hair, and calm/quiet/cold/freaky personality which have spread throughout the anime, manga, and gaming industry. However we all know the most moe characters in existence ever if you argue with me I will kill you simply because they were designed to be the most moe characters in existence… the cast from Lucky Star. Period. No other comments needed.
