Event: Japan Matsuri 2012

Last week (Saturday 6th October) I attended the fourth annual Japan Matsuri (第四回ジャパン祭り) in London. This year, the event was held in the middle of Trafalgar Square with a stage set up beneath Nelson's Column. We'd missed last year's Matsuri (held at County Hall) due to family commitments, so in this summary I'm going to be comparing everything to the first two.

The weather the previous day had been awfully wet. Miraculously, on the day of Japan Matsuri, the skies cleared completely and the sun shone down all day long. We had arrived before the 11am start time deliberately to scout the area before the crowds arrived, only to discover that the new venue had some stricter rules. Visitors weren't allowed to enter Trafalgar Square at all until the gates were opened. We peeped inside and read the slick pamphlets we were given. A small crowd of eager people gradually gathered, several of whom were dressed for the occasion in beautiful yukata.

Having had some festival experience previously we knew that the first thing we should do once we were allowed to enter was to ignore the stage events and head for the stalls around the perimeter of the area. We had come hungry. I picked up some oden early on (pictured).

Most festival staples were present in the food stalls, with okonomiyaki, nikuman, yakisoba, bentou, dorayaki and maccha ice cream on offer. One type of food notable for its absence was, strangely, fresh takoyaki. The takoyaki stands at the first two Japan Matsuri events had received a lot of interest from attendees and here they were all missing. In their place, several of the larger food stalls were serving pre-prepared takoyaki deep fried to order. It's not the same thing at all, so my takoyaki-loving partner went without his favourite festival treat this year. I can only presume that the fresh takoyaki stalls had run into problems caused by their relatively slow service (they require special equipment and couldn't keep up with demand swiftly enough in the past). It is a shame that it wasn't possible to compensate for this by adding more vendors to spread the load.

Another thing I noticed was less variety in the non-food stalls. The early Japan Matsuri events had dabbled in art displays, samurai armour costuming and there had been exhibitors selling books, magazines and merchandise. There was significantly less of that this time. Perhaps the proximity of the Piccadilly area and its Japanese bookshops was a contributor to this; still, I doubt many of the casual visitors were aware of JP Books, Mitsukoshi and Japan Centre a short walk away.

While the independent stalls had taken a hit, various Japanese associations had taken up the slack and added some traditional games to the list of activities on offer. Kingyo Sukui was my favourite. As the picture shows, real goldfish were replaced by bouncy balls, presumably to avoid problems over animal rights (the organisers stoically continued to call it Kingyo Sukui anyway in Japanese, or Net The Flotsam on the English signs). The prizes were humble with the best incentives available for scoopers who managed to catch 20 or more balls in their bucket. We failed to achieve this and walked away with some penny sweets and smiles on our faces. Other traditional activities on offer were making origami kabuto, yo-yo water balloons, chopstick 'races', calligraphy and a huge 'manga wall' outside the National Gallery. People were encouraged to draw their own manga on the wall for others to enjoy, so it of course immediately turned into a collection of messages in languages from all over the world accompanied by doodles of various anime characters. I liked the Fullmetal Alchemist reference someone had sneaked in next to Gintoki in my picture below. 13th October 2012 is a significant date in the series so they'd added the famous message from Ed's pocket watch as a subtle nod.

There probably wasn't that much space for a larger number of stalls in Trafalgar Square. When Japan Matsuri was held at Spitalfields it was able to spread traders through the labyrinth of passages and open spaces. Here, they lined most of the perimeter of the area. The famous fountains, statues and staircases dotting the area this year likely served as annoying barriers when it came to assigning additional space to exhibitors. The martial arts stage was a victim of the space constraints too; it was crammed in a corner and unless you were in the front row it was almost impossible to see what was happening.

Owing to the compact venue, even though we didn't settle to properly watch the events on the main stage until a couple of hours into the event we were able to enjoy the stage events from the outset. The organisers following up the opening ceremony with a pair of taiko performances and two choral medleys so the people buying food at that stalls could still hear everything that was happening. The acoustics in Trafalgar Square were surprisingly good! The noise generated by the early performances probably also helped draw in tourists from the surrounding area as the small crowds gradually began to swell. I'm afraid I can't differentiate between taiko patterns but the choral singers covered classic Japanese pop songs such as Shounen Jidai and Jupiter, along with a few staples Studio Ghibli fans would recognise.

Once we'd finished touring the stalls, it was early afternoon so we settled down on the steps opposite the stage to watch Ichikawa Hibiki and Akihiro in a lengthy Tsugaru-shamisen performance. The artistic appeal of shamisen is something that is lost on me, but Mochida Alika also participated with some minyou singing which was lovely, really drawing the whole thing together. Mochida has appeared at Japan Matsuri before. I recorded a short (and very wobbly) video to capture the experience:

She also taught the audience to participate in one of the folk songs. British reservedness was in evidence everywhere we looked. 

After the shamisen, there was an interlude for some Radio Taisou! NHK had brought Tago Hajime and two flexible assistants to London to coax the British festivalgoers through some exercise programs set to the music from NHK's radio calisthenics series. This particular event had the Japanese community on Twitter in stitches, as it's not really the kind of thing you'd see at a traditional culture festival at all - yet it's quintessentially Japanese and a surprising number of visitors became nostalgic watching it.

From our vantage point we had an excellent view of the crowd as the day went on. There were normal tourists mixed with local Japanese societies and people in martial arts outfits, cosplay, Lolita costumes, yukata and happi. Some people chose to blend traditional London punk hairstyles and makeup with Japanese festival wear. If I was more skilled at photography I could have had a field day taking pictures at Matsuri.

The stage events continued with some very young children demonstrating Okinawan Eisa dancing. Some of them returned a little later to perform a Yosakoi-soran dance (one of my favourite stage events every year). In between the dances by the younger participants, there was a strange stage event: Lolita Fashion by the Tea Party Club. I have to say that I found this one quite disappointing; it seemed to be more for the club itself and its participants than for the wider audience. One of the people in my party had spotted a few of the girls wandering around in Lolita dress earlier in the day and when she asked, I told her that the stage event would explain the style to her. However, after the fashion show had finished she was even more confused by the phenomenon than before. There was no clear explanation, just a long parade of pretty young girls in very expensive outfits, each with a similar-sounding name. If they run their fashion show again next time I'd prefer fewer girls on display and instead more description of the quirks of each type of outfit, to make it relevant to the non-cosplayers in the audience.

The final stage event we enjoyed at Matsuri was Nodojiman. As the regional subtitle 'The J Factor' implies, this is a live karaoke contest on stage, where a batch of hopeful local singers compete to win extravagant prizes such as flight tickets and vouchers. The rules require that the songs chosen must be in Japanese, so there was a range of skill on display from enthusiastic amateurs energetically grappling with Japanese pronunciation to native speakers whose main challenge was shyness. I recognised a few performers from previous years. Every selected singer gave it their best shot and performed beautifully for the crowd, so much so that it was genuinely difficult to guess who was going to win until the results were announced. I agreed that the chap who ended up triumphing had sung very well and earned his victory.

We decided to leave mid-afternoon as we had other things to do that day. Although I always want to see more stage events than I'm able to, by afternoon the queues for the stalls at Matsuri are intense and the crowds had become huge; a testament to the popularity of the event. Festivals in Japan are exactly the same when it comes to busy crowds swarming the stalls later in the day. Of the events we didn't get to see, the Nihon Buyo, Bon dance and Suzuki Naomi music show were the most regrettable omissions. The quirky retro music group Frank Chickens were also present, and after their fantastically memorable performance at the very first Japan Matsuri it was a shame we couldn't stay longer to see how they did three years later.

The final picture shows a glimpse of the teeming crowd around the food stalls from the relative peace of the way out. As I mentioned before, it felt as though there were far fewer stalls in general than there had been in previous years. Japan Centre had a very large area to themselves and a lot of the regulars such as Yoshino, Wagashi Japanese Bakery and Yakult were present, but the crowd could easily have supported two or three times as many food stalls alone and there was less variety than there had been in the past; I remember enjoying shiruko and other tasty treats in previous years. Hopefully as the event continues to be successful year after year, we'll eventually see it taking place in a venue large enough for the crowds it draws, with more and more exhibitors joining in to sell diverse foods, drinks and crafts.

All in all, I had a fantastic day at Japan Matsuri 2012 and will be visiting again next year!

Event: Wolf Children film screening in London

Today I was lucky enough to attend one of the three London screenings for Hosoda Mamoru's 2012 film, Wolf Children (Ookami Kodomo No Ame To Yuki). We'd seen numerous posters for it in Japan over the summer and I'd been assuming it would be something I'd automatically pick up on Blu-Ray some day. When the BFI made it possible to see it in a (somewhat) local cinema with subtitles, it only felt right that we should support the event and enjoy it a little earlier. Hosoda's previous films, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars, were both very good, so I was looking forward to this one. The official summary is as follows:

Hana, a student at Tokyo University, is intrigued by a mysterious man who sits in on lectures despite not being registered to attend. Before long, they fall in love and she discovers that he is a wolf-man; he has the blood of both man and wolf and, as wolves have been extinct in Japan for many years, he is the last of his kind. Before long, they bring two children into the world – Ame and Yuki – who begin to display wolf characteristics, and as such may need to be brought up away from the outside world. As they grow older they will have to deal with their differences and decide which path to take. This beguiling, lyrical anime is a departure of sorts for Mamoru Hosoda who takes a fantastical idea and makes it irresistibly touching and relevant without ever becoming a mere genre piece.

We picked a Saturday screening in Leicester Square's Vue cinema. There was absolutely no advertising for the film (not even a mention on the schedule at the venue) so my plans to get a relevant photograph for this entry fell through immediately. It was like a secret event. The BFI's advertising had worked its magic though and there was no need to worry, the entire theatre room was packed with viewers. There was a good mixture of local people in the audience, from young children with their families to hardened anime fans.

With the screening being part of a special film festival, it's likely that most of the attendees loved cinema a little more than the average person, and accordingly peels of laughter could be heard whenever something funny happened in the film and there was excited applause once it had finished. It was good to see Wolf Children being received so well over here. The cinema staff were unusually courteous too when everyone was leaving. It was a good event.

The film itself was splendid, my favourite so far of Hosoda's works. I had deliberately avoided reading any reviews before the viewing, so early on in the main story I suddenly had misgivings; would Wolf Children fall into the usual pattern of most western-style feature films and require a big confrontation of some kind to serve as a climax? It did not, and stuck firmly to its premise without adding any distracting conflict or preachiness to the story.

Despite wolves featuring centrally, the characters are extremely 'human', likeable and easy to understand - rooting for them came naturally. The plot isn't complicated at all, but it invites the viewer to think upon it more if they'd like, to take the fantasy scenario as an allegory. Accordingly I felt as though I should dwell on the movie for a while after the credits rolled, absorbing the emotions fully and emphasising with the cast. It was surprising how much it moved me. Modern western movies rarely feature characters I can relate to at all. Here I could see aspects of myself and people I care about in Hana, Ame, Yuki and the others, so I was swept into their problems without having to think twice.

To say that Wolf Children was the most enjoyable Hosoda film so far is high praise. I look forward to the Blu-Ray release.

Today's acquisitions (13th Oct 2012)

Not a huge amount today but all very exciting. The Idolm@ster anime volumes 7 and 8 came from Yesasia's sale - they were discounted so I picked up the always-questionable Gravure For You special editions - and I also received Gakuen Basara 3. Gakuen Basara 4 was announced the other day so it must still be doing well. Last but not least is Kobayashi Yuu's HANAJI RANRA single from Maria+Holic Alive. I had originally put this on my list for Comiket 82 where it received a special early release, then found I was too physically exhausted to drag myself up to Media Factory's booth when the time came. Thankfully the CD was made widely available later on. The song itself is a furious blend of both Maria+Holic OPs with creative involvement from COOL&CREATE.

This month's issue of Newtype also arrived. Yet another Gothicmade cover (I wonder if I'll ever see the actual anime). Unexpected additions to the haul came when we popped into Orbital Comics in the city. I picked up the newest volumes of Otomen and Bakuman, as well as the Sengoku Basara 3 Complete Works artbook, which has taken forever to go into general circulation after suffering long release delays. It's a little annoying how the translation inconsistently shifts between romanisation standards (i.e. Mouri/Mori, Chousokabe/Chosokabe) throughout, but it's a pretty good adaptation of the book and thankfully keeps the Japanese-centric content intact even though the English version of the game purged it all. If they'd replaced it all with comments from the dreadful dub cast I'd have cried. There are some preview pictures at the official website here. It's a very solid release and worth picking up if you're a fan of the games.

Finally, I received a ransom note from Parcelforce for my last merchandise order, which has been trapped in customs for absolutely ages, so I should finally receive that on Monday, if the van arrives before work, or otherwise on Tuesday after a long trip to the delivery office.

News roundup: Aniplex USA licenses lots of things I want

It looks as though I'm going to be buying the TYPE-MOON Fes. -10th Anniversary Event- Blu-Ray set in the near future, since it's been announced that another episode of Carnival Phantasm will be included. Honestly, they really know how to ride their popularity. Seki Tomokazu was involved so it will probably be worth a watch even if the geekier TYPE-MOON references fly over my head.

I read Anime News Network's summary of an interview with the Psycho-Pass staff too. It's loaded with flamebait, and bizarre assertions such as an anecdote about the staff rallying against the producers trying to force them to make the series appeal to female viewers. Who can believe that, after looking at the character designs - courtesy of the creator behind one of Shounen Jump's biggest fujoshi hits in recent memory?

Hey, Seki's in that too. Sadly I can't watch it because nobody's licensed it for streaming here and Funimation hates foreigners. Nevermind.

Media Blasters have continued to worry fans by announcing a bunch of delays, including a big one for Ai No Kusabi which has been moved from December to March next year. It was on the same order as Steins;Gate part 2 (which was pulled from Funimation's schedule for a while) and the Blu-Ray set for Heaven's Lost Property Forte (which has been bumped back to next summer). Everything on that particular order of mine seems to be having difficulties...

Finally, and related to corporate hatred of filthy foreigners like myself, Aniplex USA announced that they have licensed three of the best shows current airing for the US - Magi, Sword Art Online and Zetsuen No Tempest. I'm happy that they're coming out and this early announcement is helpful (and most likely, it means these three great shows will receive decent premium releases) but it's frustrating to know that I'm going to have to pay a substantial premium again to have them smuggled into the country, just because Aniplex thinks that making it slightly inconvenient will brainwash me into purchasing a terrible Manga UK edition in a few years. Grr.

This news roundup was very pessimistic!

I've spent the evening catching up on Kintama, K and Zetsuen No Tempest via their simulcasts; each of them had excellent second episodes (Kintama's was technically the 254th episode). K in particular has improved greatly since its confusing initial outing, and Kurou is making my moe senses tingle dangerously.

Manga review: Genshiken second season 1

It's been five years since the last volume of Kio Shimoku's Genshiken was published in English. Coming back after such a long pause, there was a danger of disappointment caused by heightened anticipation. Thankfully, Genshiken's 'second season' lived up to the greatness of the original series and didn't miss a beat.

While I was waiting to read this particular volume (my partner got to it first), I was extremely amused to hear him abruptly exclaim "Madarame as the uke?! That's ridiculous!". I must note that my partner is not actually a fudanshi himself, merely a very understanding individual who has perhaps spent one too many evenings debating whether Sengoku Basara's Uesugi Kenshin x Takeda Shingen is a valid pairing (as opposed to his preferred Shingen x Kenshin). Hearing him getting so swept up that he started arguing with the book brought a smile to my face.

As it turned out when my turn came to read it, this volume is very heavy on fujoshi, which had been the focus of the plot a few times in the original series. It's funny to see how the current famous trends in the otaku world filter down into the pages of Genshiken; each generation of the titular club brings with it a very different feel. Of course, since this is the compiled tankoubon release which is subsequently further delayed until its English edition, the trends are always a little bit behind what's currently making headlines. The series parodied in the story are similarly affected; here references are made to shows such as Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari (which hadn't yet been animated at the time), Fullmetal Alchemist and Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei.

With most of the cast having graduated at the end of the first series, Genshiken's 'second season' requires that some new characters join the club's ranks. Series veteran Oono and prickly club president Ogiue successfully find three new recruits straight away, joining existing members Sue, who had been a popular minor character in the first season, and the indescribably annoying Kuchiki (it's difficult to understand why nobody has thrown him out yet, even if it's true that there's always someone like that in a group).

One of the fun aspects of a realistic series like Genshiken is seeing small reflections of your real life friends in the cast. I'd always been a little disappointed that nobody fit me that well before, but the surly new girl Yajima takes care of that, at least in terms of attitude, reminding me a little of how I might have been at that age had I actually been around other people. She even likes the same genres as I do. Yajima is accompanied by an irritating, cute and enthusiastic fujoshi, Yoshitake, and the dazzling Hato who spares no time in becoming the main focus of the plot for the bulk of these chapters. If the adorable Madarame was the de facto moe character in the original Genshiken, his replacement is every bit as promising so far. Madarame himself does occasionally appear, as do most of the other characters from his generation; fortunately the manga is careful not to let them completely sweep the reader's attention away from getting to know the new cast.

One thing I did find strange in this volume is the initial reaction of the fujoshi characters to an otoko no ko who appears. Of all of the people I'd expect to understand attractive young men in drag, fujoshi would come close to the top of my list - it's not possible to walk past a single shelf in K-Books over there without seeing loving depictions of men in dresses! While there are often wry comments made in fan circles about fujoshi being unable to appreciate actual gay men due to the unrealistic nature of their fantasy material, everything I've seen in real life within the subculture has contradicted this stereotype; indeed I've seen a number of otoko no ko myself (not to mention fudanshi) and found nothing about them to be particularly surprising. When a man visits a BL space at a doujin event, the usual reaction I've observed is actually flustered, nervous excitement rather than the thinly-veiled disgust seen here. It's close to the reaction I receive as a foreigner when I show my face at a small event myself...

Anyway, the issue gradually settles down and only Yajima seems to have a problem with it thereafter, which is at least partially due to her own insecurity about her femininity. Perhaps I am reading too much into the gender politics of an otaku comedy manga.

I have to give special credit to Oono for saving the day with her ability to verbalise the complicated thoughts everyone is having. She doesn't have a strong presence most of the time, focusing on a hobby I find bothersome (cosplay) and smiling vapidly, but when she gets fired up she comes out with some fantastic lines which give an insight into the straightforward way she rationalises the crazy world around her.

Speaking of lines, one of the struggles I have reading Genshiken is that although the English adaptation is very good, I often need to think in Japanese and work out what they are actually saying to find something funny. I should probably be reading the Japanese edition in the first place when I'm having to mentally translate names and gags back into Japanese to pick up the reference.

One of the biggest problems for this is Sue. She's a foreign transfer student who stands around in the background with no consideration of social norms and occasionally reels off famous quotes from anime. Unfortunately, with this being the English edition, she's quoting them in English, and I don't always make the connection as well as I could between the two languages (especially as some lines have to be tweaked to even begin to make sense in English at all). The liner notes at the back of the book were the only way I realised that the single line "Dapple Kicking Beam" was a deliberately obscured reference to the song "Ringo Mogire Beam". There's no official translation of the title that I'm aware of, so obscuring the real name of the song would have been less confusing than doing so to an arbitrary English translation.

Sue's character in general is one of the weaknesses of the manga; as a guest character in the first series she was excellent. Here, given much more exposure, she's not interesting enough to be much more than a walking, cosplaying punchline for gags, which is a shame as it wears thin from time to time.

All in all, this volume succeeds in being more of the same, which is high praise in the case of Genshiken. The art is better than ever, the observational comedy is still there, and the cast has expanded to incorporate a wider variety of quirky otaku. There's even some mild dabbling in an unexpected romance subplot which I have to admit, I rather enjoyed. The second volume cannot come out swiftly enough.

And I'm perfectly happy with Madarame as the uke, as it happens. Reversible pairings are interesting!

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (streaming) first impressions

After the recent problems in the streaming world having led to temporary suspensions of most of Anime On Demand's titles for the Autumn anime season, I had been worried that Magi's delayed stream might also be affected. Having stoically waited through all of my Japanese friends discussing it on Twitter, and having turned a blind eye to the entitled leeches in the UK fan community who couldn't wait a few extra days to enjoy the series legally and support its local stream, the prospect of another wait wasn't too desirable.

It turned out that it was delayed another day. Fortunately, common sense prevailed in the end, and for now at least Magi has successfully made its UK streaming debut on Anime On Demand. Unfortunately, having come out on a Thursday this week meant that it was necessary to divide excitement between both Magi and Kintama, even before taking other great series into account!

Anyway.

I was raised in an era where the Arabian Nights were a frequent source of inspiration for books, television and movies. Before Disney's Aladdin became the definitive Arabian Nights experience for a generation, and before pervasive Islamophobia took hold in the west, the One Thousand and One Nights was one of the classic settings for stories of adventure and magic. With swashbuckling, mystery and a huge cast of characters to draw from, I have nothing but fond memories of growing up hearing about the exploits of Sinbad, Ali Baba and the others.

Ootaka Shinobu's Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic anime therefore had instant appeal even before taking into account its creator's hand in the well-received Sumomomo Momomo series and Magi's own impressive popularity within BL fandom. Set with the Arabian Nights as a backdrop, here Aladdin rubs shoulders with familiar characters from the old stories in a whimsical original adventure.

The casting is good, with Morikawa Toshiyuki's masculine voice being lent to the strange-looking Djinn, Uugo-kun, a particularly amusing choice. Aladdin himself is absolutely adorable, a tiny young boy with a surprising capacity for wisdom when it's needed. The main focus of this first episode is his meeting with a slightly cynical, but rather heroic version of Ali Baba. The two work well together and it looks as though their story will be a fun one to watch in the coming weeks. The only complaint I could make is that the stream's audio quality didn't seem quite right, as though it was struggling with bandwidth. If this persists when I give the second episode of K a look tomorrow, I'll try fiddling with my browser settings to find out what's going on.

Bizarrely the manga has yet to receive any kind of English release in the west to date, something which will hopefully change with the boost in demand from the anime adaptation. I'm tempted to pick up the Japanese tankoubon in the absence of an English edition in order to peep ahead between episodes.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic is (finally) streaming for free through Anime On Demand. I thoroughly recommend taking a look.

News roundup: Section23 January releases

Well, this was going to be a post about the first episode of Magi, but it never materialised. The reason is likely because of the TBS leak I mentioned the other day. In place of Magi, To Love-Ru (Toraburu) Darkness finally appeared on Anime On Demand today; I have far better things to do with my evening than watching To Love-Ru so this miscellaneous news post came about.

First up, Section23 announced their January 2013 releases today. I've often wondered why Americans refer to the monthly anime solicitations as a "release slate", without having been curious enough to try to find the doubtlessly boring original reason the term came into parlance. Anyway, here's what the US is getting from Section23 in January:

Saiyuuki Gaiden (DVD)
Fate/stay night TV Collection 1 (BD)
Persona 4 Collection 2 (BD/DVD)
Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1 (BD/DVD)
Mardock Scramble: Second Combustion (BD/DVD)

I'll be picking up Saiyuuki Gaiden, and then the BD versions of Mardock Scramble: Second Combustion and Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1. I'm content with the DVD version I already have for Fate/stay night, and Persona 4's diabolical release can get stuffed.

For the purpose of this blog it's going to be necessary at some point to settle on one name for the former ADV. Accidentally alternating between Sentai Filmworks and Section23 gets confusing.

The other exciting piece of news from the US was that Nagai Go's Cutey Honey and Mazinger Z will be receiving English-subtitled DVD sets next year courtesy of Discotek. It's strange seeing longed-for older series popping up more and more these days, when newer ones are still struggling to be profitable. I'll be preordering both series as soon as they're available!

It's time to resume my vigil, reloading the Anime On Demand website desperately. To finish, here's an exceptionally cute animated Panda Hero video from earlier in the week:

Anime review: This Boy Can Fight Aliens (Kono Danshi, Uchuujin To Tatakaemasu)

When aliens suddenly invade the world, Earth seems to be fighting a losing battle until Arikawa, one of the defense command staff, accidentally discovers a young man lying on a hill. Tests soon prove the impossible: this one teenager, Kakashi, has the power to defeat the attackers! Unfortunately, Kakashi has also lost his memory, and with it the knowledge of how to actually use his power. Moving Kakashi in with himself and his own commander, Shiro, Arikawa accidentally starts a strange triangle of emotions and relationships. A triangle that threatens the fate of the planet as Kakashi begins to question his own motivations! 

From up and coming director Soubi Yamamoto, and CoMix Wave, who spearheaded Japan’s new wave of independent anime production, comes a film that turns The War of The Worlds inside out: THIS BOY CAN FIGHT ALIENS!

Along with their extremely successful acquisitions of popular anime series and movies, Section23 Films has also been quietly dabbling in distributing a number of independent film projects from newer Japanese animators. These shorter, less mainstream productions tend to be a mixed bag, but I've come to enjoy watching them from time to time. The unusual aesthetic of This Boy Can Fight Aliens appealed to me more than usual, so it was a natural addition to my library once the Blu-Ray was available. Surprisingly, as well as making this short available on both DVD and Blu-Ray, Section23 went to the trouble of dubbing it too.

This Boy Can Fight Aliens is Yamamoto Soubi's anime debut. With a duration of just 30 minutes there's no time for expanding on a convoluted storyline, so the viewer is dropped right into the middle of things quite quickly. Since the film is so short I'm loath to go into much more detail than that; all I'll say is that the main conflict of this piece is ultimately not between the titular boy and the alien invaders at all; it's a more personal struggle for acceptance and understanding.

The most charming thing about this short film is the wonderful art style, which seems to be dividing reviewers online. Personally, I adore it, especially the garish use of bright colours and the scratchy look to the artwork. The style of the drawings isn't unusual to anyone who has ever read a BL manga, but to see it in anime form is a rare treat. Yamamoto also uses a lot of quirky manga stylings in her animation which might turn some people off; she's not afraid to cover the screen in text to emphasise a point, rather than using pictures or words as a normal director might.

Having mentioned the BL aesthetic I should probably state that this isn't actually a BL story in the slightest. All of the main characters are male, and all are living together, but there's nothing shady about it. It's implied that two of the characters may be in a relationship but how far you read into it is left entirely to the viewer. The core message of the story is a sweet, universal one.

I found that This Boy Can Fight Aliens left a strong impression on me, which many shows fail to do even over a considerably longer runtime or with a much larger budget. That it was all driven by one creator is impressive. If the visuals don't appeal, or if you think that it's impossible to feel satisfied by dipping into a story for half an hour knowing that it's probably not part of something bigger, it's best to stay away, but if you like short stories and want to try something a little different I'd definitely recommend it. It's my favourite so far of all of the independent anime shorts Section23 has made available in the west.

The Blu-Ray picture is lovely, and there are some interesting extras included, most notably some short experimental anime produced by Yamamoto Soubi. These are a welcome inclusion even if there is some significant variance in the video quality.

Section23's release of This Boy Can Fight Aliens is available for a budget price from most stores which carry American DVDs, including Amazon. A new production, entitled Kono Danshi, Ningyo Hiroimashita (This Boy Picked Up A Merman) will be available on DVD soon in Japan, complete with English subtitles. I'm tempted to wait a little longer before importing it, just in case Section23 decide to follow up with a Blu-Ray release of that one as well.

Nico Nico Douga: Kill Me Sannin

I think I'll highlight the occasional find I've enjoyed on Nico Nico Douga (or as I'm supposed to call it now, Niconico). One of my weaknesses is watching Miku Miku Dance videos, and this is a parody of the Kill Me Baby ending sequence, only with ninja, pole dancing and extra mischief. There are worse ways to spend three minutes.

Manga review: Princess Knight (Tezuka Osamu)

"Set in a medieval fairy-tale backdrop, Princess Knight is the tale of a young princess named Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne. Women have long been prevented from taking the throne, but Sapphire is not discouraged and instead she fully accepts the role, becoming a dashing hero(ine) that the populous is proud of. 

The playful cartooning style of Princess Knight is comparable to that of Disney, à la Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Considered by many as one of the first major shojo works, inspiring comics for girls such as Revoluntionary Girl Utena, Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon for generations to follow. A rare shojo property from the godfather of manga, Princess Knight has been long considered one of Tezuka's most popular works worldwide."

I have always viewed Princess Knight (Ribon No Kishi) as one of the holy grails which belonged in my manga collection. Its pedigree is impeccable; coming from the pioneer Tezuka Osamu himself, it's an early shoujo series loaded with fantasy, cross-dressing and heroics. When Vertical finally announced that they had acquired the series for the US and would be translating it into English, released across two deluxe volumes, I was naturally thrilled.

It was therefore unexpected that after reading the two Vertical books,I came away with mixed feelings. I can't fault the English version specifically at all, aside from one confusing translation error (the lead character is referred to with a feminine pronoun by a character who is later shocked to discover that Sapphire actually is a girl - it's a key plot point so the error is frustrating). The translation reads well overall and the dated feel of the dialogue comes through intact, and a lot of the plot elements which don't make much sense were directly brought over from Tezuka's script itself. For example, the story goes to great lengths to place itself in a fantasy world, with regions given simple names such as Goldland and Silverland. However, when characters are banished, strangely they are sent to actual countries (Italy and Africa). I found this quite jarring; even if Italy and Africa are supposed to sound exotic and far away, since we don't actually know where the fictitious countries the cast come from are supposed to be it's impossible to get a feel for how ominous the punishments actually are.

The script itself is one of the major stumbling points for me. Events go back and forth at a breakneck pace, and nothing is ever dwelt upon for more than a panel or two. Important characters die - the body count is actually rather impressive for a shoujo story - and fall in love abruptly, and yet nothing feels as though it has any gravity. The main romance is the only one which is given any time at all to develop as every other character is susceptible to falling in love at first sight and then acting as though their life is over if things don't work out.

I have a feeling that Tezuka revised the storyline a number of times during the course of its original run, effectively making things up as he went along. Since this edition is based upon a later version than that which was originally serialised it's impossible for me to say whether this was originally the case or whether it was subsequent revisions which harmed the flow. The plot seems to change direction far too often, and characters who appear significant are frequently introduced then dispatched with no fanfare whatsoever. I found some chapters were quite difficult to read as a result of this pervading air of chaos.

The second problem with Princess Knight is more of an issue; the characters. It's a fairy tale, so most of the characters are intentionally simple and stereotypical. I accept this. But what I find harder to accept is how the reader is expected to root for Sapphire herself. She's a born victim, sobbing bitterly about how unfortunate she is at every opportunity, and although she has a support network so vast it would make anyone jealous, she doesn't seem concerned at all by how many people she inconveniences or how many lives she ruins in her endless quest for self pity. The manga was originally published in the 1950s, but I think that had I been a young girl in Japan at that time I'd have harboured exactly the same misgivings as I do now about Sapphire's character. Sapphire has also got a dreadful habit of leaping to completely irrational conclusions and getting herself into trouble for absolutely no reason, which she always attributes to bad luck rather than the result of her own foolishness. Most of the struggles she faces in these two volumes could have been solved instantly in the first place had she stopped dithering and weeping long enough to explain herself. Her Prince Charming fares little better and comes across as a simpleton until the later chapters, when he suddenly becomes more heroic.

Much praise is given to Princess Knight's treatment of women in an age where shoujo manga was written by men and women were expected to be submissive and gentle, however this was one of the aspects where I felt the books were weakest, disappointingly. The humans in the story stick to very rigid gender definitions, with a strict male/female divide and allowing social norms to dictate everything about their lives. Even a rebellion by the court ladies doesn't go far in challenging these ideas. As for the main story, Sapphire is only a 'princess knight' at all because she was born with both a male and a female heart. It's implied that normal people who only have one or the other don't have any way to choose their path in life. Sapphire is shown to be an able fencer while she has a male heart but as soon as it's taken away she becomes a feeble creature, inexplicably unable to draw on the very same muscles and training she possessed moments earlier to continue the fight. If anything, Sapphire is closer to being an early example of the current 'moeblob' archetype; she's a simpering, cutesy damsel in distress rather than a strong female role model to inspire young girls.

Far more interesting are the supporting cast. They are not blessed by Sapphire's superhuman luck and as a result tend to be more well-rounded and intelligent, and over the course of the story the number of characters who overcome the limitations of their physical gender increases. Hecate, the daughter of one of the main demonic antagonists of Princess Knight, was probably my favourite. She represents a much more positive female ideal by being both powerful and witty, with a strong will of her own. While Sapphire sits back and lets things happen to her, Hecate actively works to change her own destiny with no help from her cruel mother or absent father. Indeed, the demons in the story don't have hearts at all, female or male, and therefore conduct themselves in a much more liberated, natural way. If the story had been about Hecate, who proves that Tezuka could write strong female characters when given the chance, it would have been significantly more enjoyable.

Ultimately, Princess Knight failed to impress me as a work of fiction. Perhaps my expectations had been too high, and perhaps having read several later Tezuka series first I'd been spoiled by his more nuanced stories - his work is experiencing something of a revival in the English speaking world lately so there's a wealth of truly excellent books waiting to be bought. I don't regret purchasing Princess Knight, though, because for all of its shortcomings it gives a lovely glimpse into the manga world of its time.

Every single panel of the tale is delightfully illustrated. It's plain to see that Tezuka was using a great deal of reference material when it came to anatomical details, particularly for the non-human characters. There is also no printed screentone to be found, yet the artwork is just as detailed within the confines of its style as modern works. Every last texture and pattern is painstakingly rendered in ink by the artist and his assistants, and the result is stunning. One thing that I found less appealing was when he'd 'borrow' (in the most generous sense of the word) entire character designs from famous western comics of the period, from Popeye to Walt Disney cartoons. Because I grew up familiar with these old caricatures, seeing them reused like this is surreal, giving the manga overall something of a collage feel. It also gives it less chance to have its own identity, and some of the sillier gags clash with the cute, rounded designs Tezuka came up with himself.

When all is said and done, I don't think that Princess Knight is a classic story, and I'm not sure I would recommend it today to either regular manga fans or a younger modern audience; it's dated and the plot too complicated to feel completely satisfying. However, these two books shine as historical relics, and for anyone curious both volumes of Vertical's translation are well worth the asking price at Amazon.