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Cool Find: Alice in Musicland – A Vocaloid Musical

Donald Burr — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:52:09 +0000

Happy Monday, everyone! (Sighs and groans of protest emanate from the audience) Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: it’s a Monday, what can be good about that? Well, I’ve found something that will put a smile on your face, especially if you’re a Vocaloid fan. Hell, I think you’ll get a kick out of it even if you aren’t into Vocaloids. So grab yourself a bottle of MORNING RESCUE!!!! and read on!

I know, I know, a lot of you are probably yelling at your screens “Vocaloids AGAIN??!” Vocaloid fever has certainly swept the world, and there are quite a few people who just Don’t Get It™. I know a few of my friends fall into this camp, same with certain podcasters out there. I think what a lot of these naysayers are getting hung up on is that they are thinking of Hatsune Miku & friends as replacements for human singers. After all, when you look at events such as Mikunopolis (which was AWESOME!!! by the way), us anime fans can’t help but draw parallels to those famous virtual idols of anime such as Eve from Megazone 23 and Sharon Apple from Macross Plus.

Well, I think people who are thinking like this are missing the point. The way I see it, the Vocaloid characters are, to put it bluntly, window dressing. The real win here is the Vocaloid software itself, which, when you think about it, is an amazing technological achievement. And it’s the final component in the amateur song creator’s toolbox. Think about it. We now have computers on our desks (and in our backpacks and book bags) that are powerful enough to allow us to create music. High quality microphones are inexpensive and easy to set up, and with technologies such as MIDI, it’s easier than ever to bring music into the digital realm. But even if you’ve never touched an instrument in your life, you can still create great-sounding music thanks to “loop” and musical instrument synthesis software such as GarageBand, Reason, Acid, etc.

But the one thing that’s been missing is the human voice. Because, let’s face it, not all of us have the best voice out there. (And only Bob Dylan has the chops to pull off the whole “singing with a less than perfect voice” schtick.) So yeah, you might be able to create an awesome song, but you weren’t able to give it a voice. (It’s not like you could call up Hikaru Utada or something and ask her to record your song for you.) But now that Vocaloid is out there, your musical toolbox is complete. And there’s quite a selection of voices to choose from, one to suit every mood — Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len and Rin, MEIKO, KAITO, etc., not to mention their APPEND versions, etc., and more planned for the future.

In fact, Vocaloid has spearheaded a huge upsurge in doujin music. If you look on places like YouTube and NicoNicoDouga, you’ll find all sorts of people using it in new and interesting ways. (And, yes, old and derivative ways as well.)

OSTER Project is one such person. She has a wide ranging body of work, both original and cover songs/arrangements, and has worked on non-Vocaloid projects as well, including themes for net games and other material meant for actual human singers. And she has recently released a truly amazing work. Taking songs from her fourth album Cinnamon Philosophy, and borrowing heavily from classic Disneyesque musicals, she released a truly amazing video, “Alice in Musicland,” that takes our favorite Vocaloids and mashes them up with Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice in Wonderland.” The result: A truly amazing work that (IMHO) will appeal to even non-Vocaloid fans, because it appeals to one of our core ideals, the happiness and unity that music can bring to the world.

Watch it on YouTube or via the embedded player below the cut.

Bravo!!

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Cool Find: My Anime Girlfriend

Donald Burr — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:53:58 +0000

C’mon, admit it. I’m sure that, at least once or twice in your life, you’ve wondered what it would be like if you could date your favorite anime character. Well, as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for, because you might get it, and it might not be quite what you’d imagined it to be…

My Anime Girlfriend is a fun series of web shorts that details the life and adventures of Sid, your plain old everyman, who’s been extremely unlucky in love. One day his well-meaning colleague sets him up with Yuruki, a cheerful and very animated girl. And thus begin their misadventures in life and love, while taking on various anime tropes and stereotypes along the way.

This fun series is brought to you by the writer & executive Producer of Comedy Central’s Ugly Americans, and features Patrick Shepherd, John Gemberling, and the voice of SNL’s Abby Elliott.

Unfortunately there are only 4 episodes made so far. This is a really neat idea and I sincerely hope that the creators will continue with it; there is certainly no shortage of anime tropes and stereotypes that can be explored in any number of doubtlessly entertaining ways.

Go check it out today! Video of Episode 1 below the cut.

(Thanks to Twitter follower @predederva for this most excellent Cool Find!)

My Anime Girlfriend Channel
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Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Crunchyroll app now available for Android devices

Donald Burr — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:10:06 +0000

If you like the idea of high quality “all you can eat” streaming anime that you can enjoy anytime, anyplace, then in our humble opinion, you can’t beat a Crunchyroll membership. They have a truly awe-inspiring selection of titles, and they actively go after the latest and greatest from Japan. Many series that they feature are actually still running in Japan, and you can watch a fully English subtitled version of an episode literally hours after it has been broadcast in Japan. They also have an extensive back catalog of older/classic titles. And if you’re a fan of live-action J-dramas/K-dramas, they’ve got those too.

The nice thing (well, one of the nice things) about Crunchyroll is that not only can you watch it on your computer (Mac or PC), but you can also watch on a variety of other devices as well, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad (we’ve written about these previously). You can also watch Crunchyroll on several Internet-connected TVs and set top boxes, including the Boxee Box.

Well, if you own an Android-powered smartphone or tablet, rejoice, for now you can enjoy Crunchyroll on your device, thanks to the shiny new Crunchyroll app. With this fine piece of software, you can stream any of Crunchyroll’s titles, both current and older, on either your phone’s 3G mobile data connection, or over WiFi, and naturally includes subtitle support. In my testing the app has performed beautifully.

Unfortunately this app will only work for you if you have a Crunchyroll premium membership – but at only $6.95/month, you really should have one anyway. You just can’t beat this price, and you get the warm fuzzy feeling of supporting the legitimate anime industry. Win!

The app will run on any Android device running Android 2.1 (Eclair) or later, and is available for free in the Android Marketplace. Go download it today! Or, if you have one of those newfangled barcode scanning apps on your Android phone, scan the QR code below.

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Photos (and video!) from PMX 2010 (Updated)

Donald Burr — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:18:50 +0000

I’ve now been back home for a little over 48 hours, but am still recovering from PMX - I’m still horrifically tired and rather sore (thanks to having to shlep my stuff halfway across creation back and forth to our hotel). At least I’m not suffering the dreaded Convention Plague of Doom (knock on wood), thanks to regular infusions of Emergen-C (trust me folks, this stuff works wonders, it should be in every con-goer’s supply kit). Unfortunately, my return from PMX was greeted by a pile of work of epic proportions waiting for me to tackle it. Sigh. Which all means that it’ll be a while before I can complete the process of editing and posting the pictures and video I took while at PMX. (Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it all before. What can I say? *shrug*) In the meantime, please enjoy these PMX photo and video galleries I’ve managed to find on the internets. I’ll update this post as I find new ones. Also if you took photos or video at PMX, please tell us about it and we’ll add yours to the list.

(Updated 11/20/2010) I’ve finally started working on my PMX 2010 photos, and they’re slowly trickling up to Flickr. Check the photo gallery section on our website or visit our PMX 2010 Flickr set to check them out!

(Updated 11/21/2010) Otaku no Podcast co-host @msgeek93′s PMX 2010 Flickr gallery
(Updated 11/20/2010) LA Weekly’s PMX 2010 photo gallery and coverage of Innocent World and Baby the Stars Shine Bright (including pictures)
@patachu’s PMX 2010 photo gallery
PMX 2010 video from Cosplay in America
Japanator’s PMX 2010 Photo Gallery (part 1, part 2)
(Updated 11/17/2010) @jonno212′s PMX 2010 photo gallery
(Updated 11/17/2010) ani.me‘s PMX Photobooth (Day 1, Day 2, Flickr gallery)
(Updated 11/17/2010) @otakuforlife’s PMX write-up (comes to a somewhat different conclusion than I did, but at least they have pictures)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @cosplayvideos/ACparadise’s PMX 2010 CosFest Videos (be sure and check out all of them by clicking on their username on YouTube to access their YouTube channel)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @anirichie’s PMX 2010 highlights video (they promise more to come, so be sure and check back on their YouTube channel!)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @blackheavenfan’s PMX 2010 Facebook photo gallery
(Updated 11/20/2010) CatchKuma’s PMX 2010 photos
(Updated 11/20/2010) American Cosplay Snapshots’ PMX 2010 photos
(Updated 11/20/2010) AfterCon’s PMX 2010 highlights video
(Updated 12/04/2010) CNN’s report on Korean actor Jang-dong Gun’s appearance at PMX

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“Anime Podcasting for Beginners” panel at Anime Expo 2010

Donald Burr — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 18:28:07 +0000

Here, at long last, is the final edited version of the podcasting talk I gave at Anime Expo 2010. It’s more or less similar to the one I gave at FanimeCon, which I already posted to the podcast feed some time ago (that is why this isn’t being posted out to the podcast feed), but this version is slightly altered (a few new/changed slides here and there), and I sound *slightly* less scatterbrained than I did at FanimeCon.

I’m currently working on editing the photography talk, and will post that to the feed later today.

Anime Podcasting for Beginners Panel @ Anime Expo 2010 from Otaku no Podcast on Vimeo.

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Cool Find: Watch the classic 80s anime “Bubblegum Crisis” for free on Hulu

Donald Burr — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:46:38 +0000

I’ve been busy working up the next show, where I’ll FINALLY be completing my “Anime on the Cheap” segment I started over 9000 years ago (not really, but close enough), and so I’ve been exploring all the options available for downloading and streaming anime on the Internet. But I came across something that I really have to share with you right now, so here you go. Consider this today’s Cool Find.

Us anime fans truly live in a blessed time, thanks to the advent of computers, cheap (well, relatively speaking anyways) and fast (again, relatively speaking) Internet connections, and streaming technology. Gone are the days when you’d have to wait forever for a series to get licensed, and once it did, you’d have to wait over 9000 months between DVD releases, which you’d have to pay $30 or so a pop for. These days we live in a world where you can stream your favorite anime whenever and wherever you want, and — this is especially cool — often you can stream the latest and greatest series from Japan, literally minutes after they were broadcast there, and usually for free (or a very low monthly membership charge). (However, unlike most technology pundits, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that physical media is dead — I still buy plenty of anime DVDs (and now Blu-rays) — but it is definitely not the primary method of consumption any more.)

Of course, when you think online anime streaming, Crunchyroll comes to mind. They are indeed the darlings of the online anime streaming world, with a stable of many officially licensed shows and simulcasts, and an impressive list of partner companies and investors. But there are others. Not only do many of the anime licensors (FUNimation, Bandai, etc.) have their own streaming sites, but traditionally non-anime sites such as Hulu are now starting to stream anime. Hulu, the streaming site created as a joint venture between NBC-Universal, Fox, and ABC, has quite a collection of anime up for streaming, as it turns out. And they’ve just added one of my all-time favorites — and the title that got me into this whole anime thing in the first place – Bubblegum Crisis. Set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo (called “Mega Tokyo”), this classic 80s cyberpunk/mech/fighting girls anime tells the story of the Knight Sabers, four renegades out to fight a battle against the evil Genom corporation (think Microsoft) and their humanoid robot “Boomers” that regularly crash and go berserk (again think Microsoft). The show is thematically similar to, and is strongly influenced by another traditional geek favorite, Blade Runner. The traditional cel-based animation is gorgeous (and has a characteristic that modern digitally animated shows lack IMHO) and the classic 80s pop/rockish soundtrack still sounds surprisingly good even today. This is truly a treat for the eyes and ears.

Unfortunately they are streaming the dubbed version of the show. While it’s not my favorite, it is at least reasonably competently done and definitely listenable, and is a darn sight better than most of the other dubs of that period. (But it has one major flaw: they sing the song lyrics in English.)

So go check it out today!

Cool Find: K-ON, MikuMikuDance Style! (Updated)

Donald Burr — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:45:06 +0000

Yes, dammit, I’m still on my K-ON! kick. I’ve gotta cheer myself up somehow now that the show is over (although there is a movie coming, we don’t yet know if it’ll be new material or just a retelling). And before you start whining: yes, I like K-ON!. No, I don’t “OMG LOVE!!!!11″ it, nor do I consider it God’s gift, or the greatest thing since sliced bread, etc. Yes it’s moeblob at its finest, but it’s still good clean cheerful lighthearted fun. No there’s no overarching plot (and to those of you who complain about it, I invite you to go look up slice of life). I think alot of the haters and whiners are just expecting way too much of the series. Not that that would have made much difference anyway – after all, you know what they say, Haters Gonna Hate. Anyway I discovered K-ON! during a period of my life when I quite frankly needed a great deal of cheering up (alot of stuff going on, most of which was not good), and it helped me stay sane and did in fact put a much needed smile on my face, and it will thus always have a place in my heart. So there.

Anyway, enough jibba-jabba. By now you’re probably thinking to yourself “oh joy, here comes another fan-made video of them playing along to K-ON’s music.” Not exactly. It’s true that one of the many things I like about K-ON! is the music from the piece, and the fact that the publishers took the rather extraordinary step of publishing versions of the K-ON! music with various instrumental tracks missing, and including sheet music — the idea being to make it easy for people to pick up an instrument and play along. And play along they did. If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, it has helped generate some interest in learning how to play an instrument. A quick search of the YouTubes will result in plenty of evidence to corroborate this. Of course not everybody is, erm, cut out for it, shall we say. But there are a few who have achieved legendary status.

No, what I speak of today is just as cool, but in a different way. See, there’s this other thing popular with otaku these days, and that’s the Vocaloids. This is some pretty impressive voice synthesizer software developed by Yamaha that, given lyrics and a melody, can synthesize a voice singing said lyrics to said melody. (I’ve written a bit about it here before.) Pretty amazing stuff. There are quite a few different voices available, including arguably the most popular of them all, Hatsune Miku. And as the Japanese are wont to do, they’ve created cute anime representations of these voices that have become extremely popular in their own right. So popular that they are frequently the stars of many fan-made videos. And the software used to make most of these is called MikuMikuDance. It looks to be pretty powerful, capable of animating a single character, or multiple characters, all combined with a surprisingly powerful physics engine. If you’re curious, you can even download it yourself (Windows only, sorry) if you feel creatively inclined.

Well someone had the bright idea (and the 3D modeling chops) to create models of our beloved girls from HTT and insert them into MikuMikuDance, to have them perform various songs from the series for our enjoyment. And they have done an amazing job. I’m no expert, but the motions they make to play their instruments look pretty authentic (or darn close to it anyway).

Check out two videos, one for “Listen!” (first ED from Season 2) and “Utayo!! Miracle” (second OP from Season 2) on YouTube, or via the embedded players below the cut, and be sure and check the “related videos” on each for more MikuMikuDance-ified K-ON!.

Updated! 02-Oct-2010. Feel like taking a shot at making one yourself? Well then you’ll want to go grab MikuMikuDance (link above), and you’ll also need the K-ON! girls’ model files. The site’s in Japanese, but I’m sure you can figure out which files you’ll need. ;-) Note that the file above Ritsu’s without a picture is Azunyan. This Crunchyroll thread also contains some other useful pointers. And if you do end up making something, tell us about it!

(And don’t worry, this K-ON! obsession of mine will burn itself out. Eventually.)

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Cool Find: Chad Vader

Donald Burr — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:01:37 +0000

A long time ago, in a grocery store far, far away…

Sure, life in the Empire looks pretty glamorous. You get a shiny powerful spaceship capable of destroying entire planets with a single blast. You get to rule over legions of subjects that cower at your might. You get cool powers that you can use to crush your enemies (and win over the ladies). And you can participate in cool dramatic lightsaber duels. Unfortunately it’s not always so… especially if you’re Chad Vader, the inept, less charismatic younger brother of everybody’s favorite Sith Lord, Darth Vader. Without the necessary skills to join the Empire, Chad is relegated to living his life with the goal of attempting to take over Empire Market, a grocery store filled with crazy, offbeat employees and even weirder customers. And thus forms the story of Chad Vader, a fun spoof of Star Wars (as well as many other sci-fi movie concepts) produced by indie filmmakers Blame Society Productions.

The story of how Chad Vader came to be is one of those great stories that illustrate the power of social media. Friends Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda created the series for a short film festival, only to have it canceled after two episodes. Rather than giving up, however, they decided to release the series on YouTube… to tremendous success. Chad Vader has appeared on several notable magazines and TV programs, and Matt Sloan, who provides the voice of Chad Vader, was even selected as the voice of Darth Vader in a few video game titles, including Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It’s even been favorably viewed by The Man himself, winning the George Lucas Selects award for the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards of 2007. They’ve even published several DVDs of the series along with various other pieces of show-related memorabilia (Merchandising! Merchandising!).

Definitely worth a look, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not. Check out Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3 (the current season) on YouTube.

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The TJX Crew Invade J-Town

Donald Burr — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:49:32 +0000

If you live in or near a city of reasonable size, odds are that it has a fairly sizable Japanese-American population, and that it would have some form of Japantown. Perhaps it’s nothing more than a collection of several Japanese or Asian markets or restaurants along a particular city block, or perhaps it’s a huge section of town completely devoted to Japanese-American businesses. Some of the more famous are San Francisco’s and San Jose’s Japantowns (San Francisco’s being one of my favorites), and Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo (which I still haven’t made it to, despite the frequent protestation of one of my co-hosts). Whatever your town has, though, it should be your sworn duty as otaku to visit such a place. Because you will find all manner of things that will interest you there — anime and related goods (Japan Video and Media remains one of my favorite stores to find this kind of thing, and I make it a point to stop in whenever I’m in the area); Jpop, Jrock, and other Japanese music; Japanese household goods; cultural items (decoration, bonsai, etc.); clothing (get your cosplay on!); and, most importantly, FOOD!!! It’s the next best thing to visiting Japan, and is a hell of a lot cheaper (maybe…)

The TJX crew recently visited Markham, Ontario‘s J-Town (map) and shot this nifty little video in which they sample such delicacies as yakitori (one of my favorites), Mitsuya Cider “ALL ZERO,” onigiri (I have fond memories of these – during our Japan trip in 2004, most nights we’d pick up a pair of these at a konbini and they’d serve as our breakfast the next morning); and “korokke,” or croquettes.

Be warned tho – watching this is gonna make you hungry! (A trip to your local Japantown should take care of that though!)

Cool Find: Shira Oka Demo (Updated)

Donald Burr — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:37:42 +0000

The dating sim game is one of those quintessential staples of otaku culture. Equal parts visual novel, choose-your-own adventure, “sims” style simulation, and harem anime, this style of game basically puts you, the (usually) male protagonist, in various situations with a variety of (usually) females, and your job is to talk to (or otherwise interact with) them as you go through your (virtual) daily life. By making the right conversational/action choices, you can raise a character’s “love meter,” eventually causing them to “date” you (at which point, congratulations! A Winner is You!). If you fail to accomplish this within the proscribed time limit, then… oh well, better luck next time! Many of these titles do in fact include salacious content, but there are many titles that don’t. (Also some games are released in both “explicit” and “tame” versions.)

Most of these games are of course produced in Japan, and remain largely unknown to a non-Japanese audience. In recent times however a few companies have arisen that license many of the more popular titles and translate and release them for western audiences. Some of the more well known of these include JAST USA, Aksys, and MangaGamer. And, like the anime and manga worlds, there are quite a few unofficial fan translations out there as well. There are a very few non-Japanese developed games in this category, but the love-sim industry remains largely Japanese-dominated.

Well one company is hoping to change that. Okashi Studios, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, has been working these past five years to bring to market one of the first full-fledged American-made commercial dating sims — and their efforts are finally available for public viewing. Shira Oka: Second Chances puts you in the role of someone who has been given the chance to go back in time and relive their past. Will you make the most of your life? Will you end up with the girl of your dreams? Only time will tell. The game is, of course, filled with the traditional assortment of female character types, and has the typical anime art style. The game also gives you an interesting mix of traits that you can alter for character customization. And all of this is backed by an impressive roster of American voice talent.

Unfortunately the game isn’t complete yet (they’ve been in development since 2005). However, playable demos are now available! Grab ‘em today for Windows (alternate download site) and Mac (alternate download site). (Good on them for supporting Mac right out of the gate!) (UPDATE: The download is also available via BitTorrent.) The company hopes that this will spur on the development and growth of the American bishoujo industry.

You can also take a look at the promo video below the cut, and find many other videos (including some gameplay examples) on their YouTube channel.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Cool Find: Moments with TK

Donald Burr — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:04:09 +0000

Angel Beats! is one of the more interesting anime to come out of the Spring 2010 anime lineup. The story (and screenplay) was conceived and written by Jun Maeda, one of the cofounders of Key, the visual novel company famous for such works as Kanon, Air, and Clannad, many of which were later adapted into successful anime series. (Kanon, in particular, is a fantastically moving piece and is one of my all-time favorites). However, unlike these, Angel Beats! is not based on a visual novel, but is an original creation.

While it doesn’t come close to Kanon or Clannad in terms of story and character depth — part of this is no doubt because Angel Beats! was only given a 13-episode run — it was still interesting and enjoyable. A full review is forthcoming.

One of the more unusual character in the series is TK, a strange guy who tends to bust out some flashy dance moves at random times, and speaks in a weird mix of nonsensical Japanese and English phrases. But his antics are always humorous and he seems to be a fan favorite, as evidenced by the many pages and videos devoted to him that can be found across the intarwebs. One video in particular aims to collect all of the “TK moments” sprinkled throughout the series and present them back to back.

Can the universe handle this overwhelming level of TK-ness compressed into a single point in space-time? Check out the video to find out. And definitely check out Angel Beats! – I sorely hope that this thing gets properly licensed soon.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve found ourselves the real-life Ritsuko Tainaka

Donald Burr — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:09:16 +0000

Yeah, I know, you might be thinking “wtf? two Cool Finds of the Day” But this is just too cool to pass up…

I love K-ON!. I admit this proudly and with no hesitation. And if you want to diss me for it, or think less of me as a person because of it, then you can just suck it. Yes, dammit, it’s moeblob at it’s finest. No, there isn’t any Grand Overarching Plot(TM) to the thing. (Hello? McFly? It’s a slice of life…) And no, I’m not saying it’s the greatest thing in the known universe. But, gosh darnit, it’s FUN. And it actually contains some decent music pieces. And, if anecdotal evidence (and a search of the YouTubes) is to be believed, it’s spurring people on to discover the joys of music (or pick up an instrument that they had let languish for a while). Which makes K-ON! “OK-ON!” in my book. (Yes, I know, lame pun.)

One YouTuber in particular is having a grand old time with K-ON!’s music. Meet Senri Kawaguchi, professional drummer, who started playing at the tender age of five. And, by the way folks, she’s only 13 years old now!!! (What were YOU doing when you were 13?) I wrote about her previously, back when I happened across her stunning rendition of “Don’t say ‘lazy’.” Well, she’s been busy since then, cranking out renditions of many other K-ON! themes and insert songs.

Like I said before, I really doubt Ritsu herself could do any better. As one YouTube commenter put it, it would be a travesty if they ever decided to make a live action K-ON! and didn’t cast Ms. Kawaguchi in the role of Ritsu.

Below you can enjoy a clip of her drumming along to “Watashi no Koi wa Hotchkiss,” one of my favorite songs from the series. You can watch her other videos (K-ON! inspired or otherwise) at her YouTube channel, or find out more about her (if you read Japanese… if not, perhaps The Fish might help) at her official website. She’s also got a Facebook fan page, which, thankfully, is (at least mostly) in English.

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Cool Find of the Day: VOCA-ON!

Donald Burr — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:33:12 +0000

Welcome to Cool Finds, a new category/segment/whatever where I will be bringing cool anime or manga related things I happen to find in my journeys around the interwebs. Could be a website dedicated to a certain series/character, a video, a game, whatever. Either way, I’m sure you’ll like it. So enjoy!

Vocaloid is a pretty amazing piece of vocal synthesizer software developed by Yamaha of Japan. By supplying it with lyrics and a melody, you can have it synthesize the singing of said lyrics, using your choice of a variety of voices, both male and female, based on samples taken from actual voice actors/actresses and singers. The result sound surprisingly good. Compare this to the good old US of A’s entry into this space, the hilariously bad Microsoft Songsmith. (Don’t believe me about the hilariously bad part? Then take a look at this. Or this. Or even this.) (Yes, I know, Songsmith doesn’t do exactly what Vocaloid does. With Songsmith, you sing the lyrics, and it’ll create a melody around them. But the concept is similar enough that I think it applies here. Besides, my blog, my rules.) Anyway, the Vocaloid software is so popular that the Japanese have even created anime-ish representations of the various voices, as they are wont to do. One of the most popular is Hatsune Miku, who is so popular that she has “released” not only quite a few albums featuring her singing, but is featured in several games as well.

Anyway, a popular pastime among some otaku is apparently to take popular music, be it anime theme songs, Jpop songs, etc., and substitute in Vocaloid-created vocals instead of the original vocals. Well, one otaku took this one step further. He or she took K-ON!’s opening theme, “Cagayake! Girls” and Vocaloided (is that a verb? If not I declare that it should be) the lyrics using Hatsune Miku’s voice. But they didn’t stop there, oh no! They went on to create a new version of the K-ON! opening animation, featuring the Vocaloid characters instead of the usual cast. The animation is spot-on accurate to the original. They even did a good job (IMHO) in matching the various Vocaloids to whatever K-ON! character they were replacing. I cannot imagine how much effort this took.

Check it out on YouTube or via the embedded player below. Enjoy!

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The Awesome Music of Macross Frontier

Donald Burr — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:14:59 +0000

Recently I finished watching Macross Frontier. I’ll be posting a full review to the blog in a while, but in short, I was absolutely, positively blown away. Fantastic animation, very engaging storyline, and simply awesome music, which isn’t surprising coming from a series whose whole premise is based on the concept of the power of song.

The only thing I knew about Macross before this was that Robotech used parts of the first Macross anime, The Super Dimensional Fortress Macross for its first story arc (The Macross Saga), and that they heavily edited the Macross storyline to fit within the Robotech continuity. (One of these days I must view it in its original form.) So I’m still a newcomer to the Macross series.

Anyway I highly recommend you check it out, even if you’re not familiar with the rest of the Macross-verse; the story stands on its own, and you don’t really need to know much of the Macross backstory to enjoy it (plus there’s always Wikipedia). In particular, the music is, as I mentioned before, spectacular. As an example, here is J-Pop artist May’n (who provided the singing voice of Macross Frontier diva Sheryl Nome) singing one of the ending themes of Macross Frontier (and my favorite song from the series), “Northern Cross.”

The Music Video of Haruhi Suzumiya

Donald Burr — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:50:22 +0000

So I was prowling around the YouTubes tonight, giving my mind a break from dull repetitive tech writing, when I found this little gem, an insert song from the Haruhi Suzumiya OST titled “God Knows…” (It was used in the scene where Haruhi and Yuki fill in for two of the members of a band who couldn’t perform in the school festival due to illness – if you want to see it, it starts at about 10 minutes into the season 1 episode “Live Alive”)

But, damn, what a catchy tune!! I spent most of the rest of the evening with it on auto-repeat, much to the detriment of our neighbors.

I have no idea how I missed this the first time… oh wait, actually I do. It’s because when I watched Haruhi, I was watching the English dub. And in the English dub of Haruhi, they committed the cardinal sin (in my book anyway) of ~~translating the song lyrics~~ replacing the Japanese vocals of a song with the English voice actors/actresses singing it in English. FAIL. I’m sorry, even though I have nothing against English dubs, especially if well done, I absolutely abhor the dubs where they (attempt to, usually badly) ~~translate the lyrics of songs~~ dub the vocals in English as well. (EDIT: I actually meant when they have the English voice cast sing the songs in English and replace the Japanese audio with that. I know they have to translate the lyrics anyway for the English subtitles, which I don’t mind. English is hard.)

Anyway, the version of the song used in the anime is truncated; the full-length version was later released on various singles and Haruhi soundtracks. Well one fan decided to take it upon him/herself and make a “music video” of sorts using the full-length version of the song, combined with footage from the part of the anime where it was performed. Obviously there’s some repetition (since the actual song is longer than the version in the anime), but on the whole this video is very well done and the editor did a good job of covering up its repetitive nature.

(I also couldn’t help but draw parallels to K-On! while watching this, but that’s another story…)

I present it below for your enjoyment.

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The Awesome Music of Macross Frontier

The K-On! School is Real!

Donald Burr — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:29:46 +0000

First, there was the story of the increased popularity of the Washimiya, Saitama area of Japan (and in particular the Washinomiya Shrine located there) because of the fact that much of the anime “Lucky Star” is based in that area. Now comes word of the latest real-life-spot-turned-otaku-mecca, Toyosato High School in Shiga Prefecture.

What? Not familiar to you? Then you must not be a K-ON! fan. For this humble school building, and its surrounding areas, were used in large part in that work.

According to the translation provided by the kind commenters over at this YouTube video, the school building, which might be some sort of historical building/landmark, was apparently scheduled for demolition 8 years ago to make way for a new school facility; however, instead they decided not to demolish it and instead built a new school facility opposite the old one. In appreciation for saving the building, the author of the K-ON! manga used the building along with parts of the surrounding area as scenes for his work.

This part at least is true. The resemblance is uncanny, particularly the auditorium where the K-ON! girls held their concerts, the look of the hallways, the music room itself, and even the brass animal figures on the stair bannisters. (Not sure if there is a real life analogue to that statue that the students in K-ON! are always putting funny hats/outfits on tho… I didn’t see one in the video)

Anyway, the building is still being used for some functions (at least I believe the library is being used still – hmm, I wonder if they have the K-ON! manga on their shelves? That would be pretty meta!) And the school is cashing in on the building’s otaku street cred, as they are apparently holding concerts in the style of K-ON! in the auditorium, and the music room is decorated with K-ON! pictures as well as sweets and tea on the tables! (I really hope those are plastic models! Or that they change them daily, but that would be kind of cost-prohibitive…) And the otaku are indeed flocking to the location, as is evidenced by the huge collection of itasha (otaku cars decorated with anime decals, figures, etc. – literally means “painmobile” as in “too painful [for non-otaku] to look at”) parked in the parking lot – not to mention the cosplayers taking photos in front of the building and various landmarks. Sure hope that all of this attention isn’t disturbing the students too much!

Video below. (EDIT 2010-03-24: the original video has been taken down from YouTube for terms-of-use violations. Grrr… However I found not one, not two, but THREE!! fan-made videos of trips to the K-ON school that shows some additional footage of interest (e.g. the guitar shop that the K-ON girls bought their instruments at, the fast food restaurant where the girls often meet and where Mugi-chan got a job (apparently based on a McDonald’s), other views of the surrounding town, etc. And apparently the statue with the funny hats/clothes is actually based on a real-life statue of the man who built the school. Be sure and check out some of the “related videos” too!) (EDIT 2010-03-25: found another video!)

“Anime TV” visits Anime Los Angeles 6

Donald Burr — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:29:28 +0000

Little did I know, but the folks over at Anime TV, Revision3‘s new anime show, paid a visit to the recently-held Anime Los Angeles 6 held last month. Either they hired uber leet invisible ninja cameramen, or I simply did not notice them thanks to my oblivious-to-the-world nature. More likely the latter. Anyway they highlighted some of the cosplay gathering action as well as a look at the dealer’s room and Artist’s Alley, and a brief interview with Guest of Honor Kyle Hebert.

You can download the video or subscribe to the podcast through the website, or watch the embedded version below. The Anime LA segment starts 8 minutes into the video. They also review the series Rental Magica.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Mobile Suit Gundam now streaming for free on Crunchyroll!

Donald Burr — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:15:32 +0000

Attention Gundam fans! In honor of the impending Mobile Suit Gundam UC (Unicorn) Blu-ray release, everybody’s favorite streaming anime provider Crunchyroll is not only streaming Unicorn, but is also streaming the original Mobile Suit Gundam series! This stream is available free to anyone in the US, Canada, Europe (excluding select countries) and Russia.

Not familiar with the Gundamverse? (Where have you been??!) Here’s a brief synopsis describing the series. You can also check out the Wikipedia entry on Gundam (but beware – there be spoilers here!)

“U.C. 0079. The rebel space colonies of the Principality of Zeon launch a war of independence against the Earth Federation, using humanoid fighting vehicles called mobile suits to overwhelm the Federation Forces and conquer half of Earth’s surface.

Months later, the Federation has finally developed its own prototype mobile suits at a remote space colony. But when the colony suffers a Zeon surprise attack, these new weapons fall into the hands of a motley crew of civilians and cadets, and fate places a youth named Amuro Ray at the controls of the white mobile suit Gundam…”

And here’s the synopsis for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn:

“The year is U.C. 0096. Three years have passed since the end of the Second Neo Zeon War.

It is said that the Vist Foundation manipulates the Earth Federation and Anaheim Electronics from behind the scenes. Hoping to create a new world, the Foundation attempts to hand over a certain secret to the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves. This will mean the opening of Laplace’s Box, which holds a great secret tied to the origins of the Universal Century.

The exchange between the Vist Foundation and the Sleeves is to take place at the manufacturing colony Industrial 7. This is the home of the student Banagher Links, who rescues a girl he sees falling through the colony’s zero gravity area. The girl gives her name as Audrey Burne and says she wants to prevent a war, spurring Banagher to step into the conflict surrounding Laplace’s Box—almost as if he is drawn in by his own bloodline.

Based on a story by author Harutoshi Fukui, the newest Gundam work dynamically unfolds against the backdrop of the Universal Century. It all begins with this first shocking episode.”

“Anime TV,” a new anime video podcast from the folks at Revision3

Donald Burr — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:29:24 +0000

Those of you with an insatiable desire to consume anime news in podcast form, take note – there’s a new kid on the block! Revision3, the Internet video programming network formed by many ex-TechTV personalities including Kevin Rose (of Digg fame), is now hosting an anime review show, Anime TV. The show, hosted by well-known American anime voice actors Cristina Vee and Johnny Yong Bosch, consists of panel-style discussions where the panelists talk about the various anime, manga, video games, etc. they’re into at the moment, and, as a group, review one particular anime series. They also occasionally feature other segments; for example in their first episode they “invaded” the US dub studio Bang Zoom Entertainment and took the audience on a tour of the facility and interviewed some of their key personnel.

My first impressions are that they sometimes take things a bit over the top, for example the whole “Anime TV… GO!” schtick. The panelists seem to have a good rapport with each other, and obviously we the audience will grow more comfortable with them as we get to know their tastes and personalities. I’ll wait to pass final judgment until a few more episodes have come out. I will say however that I’m pretty much in agreement with their verdict on Ghost in the Shell 2.0. The original animation was definitely cleaned up and did look crisper; however the transitions to and from the redone CGI elements were still a bit too jarring for my taste. If you haven’t seen GitS yet… for heaven’s sake, go do so now!! But if you already own the original GitS on DVD, it’s not really worth it to upgrade.

You can watch their first episode below, or subscribe via iTunes.

How to make Okonomiyaki, TJX style!

Donald Burr — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:23:27 +0000

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese food best described as a sort of Japanese pancake (or perhaps omelette), with various other ingredients (meats, seafood, vegetables, cheese, etc.) mixed in. It may be difficult to type, but it’s pretty darn tasty. Like many other Japanese dishes, it is enjoyed throughout the country, and each region has its own variation on the dish. It’s sometimes cooked in front of you Benihana-style, and sometimes the restaurant leaves the cooking to you – each table has a grill on it, and you basically get a bowl full of mixed ingredients that you can grill to your liking. The most well known ones comes from Osaka (where it is said that okonomiyaki was invented) and Hiroshima. In our 2004 Tokyo trip, we had the pleasure of enjoying some Hiroshima okonomiyaki during a break in our tour schedule. It was indeed mighty tasty.

In their latest episode (and their first video episode), the TJX crew demonstrate how to make this delicious food. Be warned tho, you might want to at least have some snacks nearby, you’ll get hungry watching it! Watch it here.

EDIT: If you want to “kick it up a notch,” (ha!) and you have some decent cooking skills and have access to a decent Asian foods market or specialty store, I found this recipe for completely made-from-scratch okonomiyaki. And if you’re a wimp and/or rather use the pre-made stuff, but can’t find it anywhere locally… well, you can order anything on the Internets these days… Amazon has both the mix and the sauce!

Okonomiyaki kit / Japanese pizza – 4.3 oz x 3

ImportFood, Misc., $14.90

Japanese Okonomi Sauce – 12 oz x 2 bottles

Otafuku Foods, Inc., Misc., $11.89

EDIT 01/05/2010: Locally-mirrored copy of the video removed at the request of TJX, because it was causing confusion. This video is theirs, and I ask that you please direct any inquiries, comments, etc. to them directly. You should be able to play the video directly from their website, but if you can’t get the video to play in their embedded player (like I did), there IS a link to directly download it (look for “Podcast: play in new window / download” below the black video box). Or you can subscribe to their podcast – I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having a few more subscribers Sorry for the confusion guys. Gomen nasai.

EDIT 09/27/2010: The embedded version is back!

The Japan Xperience: The Okonmiyaki Experiment from Ron M on Vimeo.

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Did you miss the Halo Legends preview last week?

Donald Burr — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Did you miss the special teaser of the new Halo Legends anime that Spike TV aired last week? Well you’re in luck, thanks to the YouTubes. Check out the below video for your special sneak peek at the new “The Babysitter” short, part of the Halo Legends anthology currently in development by BONES, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio 4C, and Toei.

Unfortunately, the YouTube video doesn’t show everything that Spike TV broadcast (there’s about a minute missing). But this should at least give you an idea of what to expect when the DVD (and Blu-ray!) of Halo Legends hits store shelves sometime early next year.

(Thanks to Japanator for the video link!)

OMG! Real Life Ritsuko Tainaka!

Donald Burr — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:06:59 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates, folks. Work has been crazy busy this past month… which, of course, gets in the way of non-work activities such as anime and podcasting. But since the money that it generates goes towards paying for said anime and podcasting gear, well, it’s a necessary evil that must be endured, I suppose.

Anyway, I should have some time this week to record. But in the meantime, I found something amazingly cool to help tide you over until I release the next episode.

K-ON!, which I wrote about earlier, is taking the Internet world by storm. If you haven’t watched it yet, you really oughtta. It’s fun, plain and simple, and there are some decent musical pieces in the show. What’s even cooler is that, if anecdotal reports and forum postings are to be believed, it’s helping to spur a movement among the youth in Japan (and perhaps the rest of the world as well) to take up music. Which, in a word, is awesome. This is partially helped by the fact that certain of the various K-ON! soundtracks include songbooks with the CD, as well as versions of certain songs minus guitar/bass/drum/etc. tracks (so, in other words, making it easier to play along with the songs using your instrument of choice). Anyway, a quick search of the YouTubes will net you quite a few amateur performers looking to show off their mad leet musical skillz. Obviously their talent level (or lack thereof) will vary wildly. And caution is advised for other reasons as well — let’s just say that, in some (many?) of these videos, all is not what it appears (or, in the slang that the cool kids use these days, “It’s a trap!“).

One video that definitely does NOT fall into any of the above caution categories is this video from Senri Kawaguchi, a 12 year old(!!!) Japanese drummer. (Jeez, think back to when you were 12… what were you doing? Kinda makes you feel lame doesn’t it?) Anyway here in this video she does a fantastic rendition of the drum part to the K-ON! ED “Don’t say ‘lazy’.” I doubt Ritsu herself could have done any better. (And if you don’t know who that is — dude, you’ve gotta watch K-ON!)

Anyway, here’s the video, in all its awesomeness.

Tales of Symphonia anime coming in Spring 2010; promo video available now

Donald Burr — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:25:46 +0000

Fans of the RPG video game Tales of Symphonia rejoice! Your favorite gaming franchise will soon be returning to the small screen. Tales of Symphonia the Animation: Tethe’alla-hen (that’s a mouthful!) is set to air on Japanese TV in Spring of 2010. This story continues from where the previous OVA series which covered the Sylvarant story arc. The staff and cast of this new series has yet to be announced; however a promo video is streaming right now on the anime’s home page.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Silent Lucidity

Donald Burr — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:37:02 +0000

Recently I was going through my hard drive and found a folder full of AMVs that I had forgotten I had. Watching these brought back a flood of memories of AMV contests from years past, and I saw quite a few of my favorites in the mix. One video, in particular, absolutely floored me when I first saw it years ago, and still evokes an emotional response to this day. This video, “Silent Lucidity,” pairs two seemingly disparate sources – the anime Card Captor Sakura, and the song Silent Lucidity by the progressive metal band Queensrÿche. But it works. Oh, baby, it works.

Besides being a truly excellent AMV, this also serves as yet another example of that old adage “never judge a book by its cover.” On first blush, Card Captor Sakura looks like a kids’ show, and indeed it has its cutesy kid elements, with the cute characters, bright colors, etc.; however, when you strip all that away, what you find at its core is really a very deep, dramatic, exciting, and enjoyable story. The takeaway from all this is that it’s nice to step out of your comfort zone every now and then and try something new, a new title in a genre different than what you usually get. It’s something I’ve started to do lately. Now, admittedly doing this was a lot harder to justify several years ago, back when you actually had to pay fairly big bucks for an anime DVD; but in today’s world of low(er)-cost “classics” releases and discount “thin pak” box sets available at discount retailers such as Amazon and Right Stuf, “all-you-can-eat” video rental services such as Netflix or RentAnime and online streaming sites such as Crunchyroll, it’s not only possible, but easy and cost-effective to do so.

Anyway, back to the video. Here it is, in all its glory and awesomeness. Mad props go to Otaku Outpost for creating this wonderful video. If you want to download the higher quality version, or read more about the methods and methodology behind the creation of this video, head on over to the AMV.

(PS: if this instilled in you a great desire to see Card Captor Sakura, beware – there is a similar sounding title “Card Captors” that was in fact an early English dub – but a horrendously butcherized ones. Entire episodes were left out, large parts of the remaining episodes were chopped out, and the lines were rewritten to focus more on action. Avoid it at all costs! Fortunately they wised up and released the unedited episodes, with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles, under the “Card Captor Sakura” title. Unfortunately it’s out of print now; however you might still be able to find it at some of the DVD rental houses or perhaps online. Trust me. It’s worth it.)

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“Sekirei” series back for a second season!

Donald Burr — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:33:54 +0000

Sekirei is a fun series – nothing special, but fun to watch… and it has plenty of “eye candy,” if you catch my drift. If you’re interested, you can watch for yourself thanks to the fansubs.

The only problem was that its ending left… umm… much to be desired. Like most series derived from manga, it ended in the middle of the manga’s story arc (which is still running actually).

There is good news however. Recently it was announced that production on a second season of Sekirei was green-lit. Presumably this second season will finish up the manga’s story arc. Much of the cast and crew from the first Sekirei anime are returning, including director Keizou Kusakawa, writer Takao Yoshioka, character designer Shinpei Tomooka, musical composer Hiroaki Sano, and the Seven Arcs anime studio that animated it. Returning voice actors include Shinnosuke Tachibana (who voiced Minato), Saori Hayami (Musubi), Marina Inoue (Tsukiumi), and Kana Hanazawa (Kusano). No firm date (other than a rather vague “winter of 2009″) has been given for the release of this second series.

Here is the video announcing the new series. Translation of the on-screen text: (credit goes to I Eat Anime for the translation)

“Sekirei Project – Restart” “Commentaries on a beautiful war starts again” “Miraculous love story” “Old memory will be revealed” “Each others feelings that mingle” “Pledged bond with the loved one” “it has been decided to be produce as a new anime series on TV!”

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Kyle and Rosemary

Donald Burr — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:41:48 +0000

Ok, this is a bit old news, but still both humorous and touching at the same time.

By way of the Cartoon Geeks, this lovely gem of a video tells the heartwarming story of a geek and a goth, locked in a forbidden romance that neither of their friends can possibly understand. Funny and touching at the same time. And a star studded voiceover cast to boot – the part of Kyle the Geek is voiced by none other than… Wil Wheaton!

Find more videos like this on Channel Frederator RAW

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

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