Otaku no Podcast » Videos

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.

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.

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.

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!

Video #0005 – Anime Podcasting for n00bs

Donald Burr — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:32:04 +0000

This is the workshop I gave at FanimeCon 2010 on how to start your own anime/manga podcast.

For links to the products, software, services, etc. mentioned in this workshop, please visit http://otakunopodcast.com/podcasting/.

Related posts:It’s officially official: Come see my panel @ FanimeCon! Video #0002 – The Sushi Experiment 1.0: Inari Sushi Episode #0005 – Anime Los Angeles 4

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

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.

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.