Otaku no Podcast » Weird Japan

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!)

Run away! Run away!!!

Donald Burr — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:22:55 +0000

This is a public service announcement to all Tokyo residents. If you were planning on visiting Tokyo’s Cafe & Bar DiCE! on July 25th 2009, from 10am to 4pm… STAY AWAY. STAY VERY FAR AWAY. For on this day, this normally mild-mannered maid cafe (disclaimer: as I have never been to this place, nor can I find it anywhere on Google, I don’t know if it is either mild-mannered or a maid cafe) will be turned into a place of absolute terror – for it will become the Kigurumi cosplay cafe Aokazetei.

In case you didn’t know (and count yourself among the lucky few if not), “kigurumi” cosplay is a particular subgenre of cosplay, which can best be described as “mascot cosplay.” Basically, the cosplayer dresses up in a full bodysuit styled after their favorite anime character or whatever — including a fully-detailed, properly proportioned (according to the given character’s design) character mask. Yes, a mask. With huge, non-moving anime eyes. And when the guy (for it will undoubtedly be a guy wearing these costumes) speaks, his (doubtless high and squeaky) otaku voice will be coming, somewhat muffled, from behind this huge character mask with the dead eyes.

*shudder*

If you are morbidly curious (or have a sado-massochistic complex), check out the above links for some truly disturbing pictures.

Fortunately this subgenre is not very popular especially here in the States. Of all the anime conventions I’ve been to, I only saw one kigurumi cosplayer, at last year’s Anime Los Angeles. (I did not see that person again this year, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t there at all.)

Basically my advice to you would be this: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!!

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Otaku no Podcast. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Anime Convention Alert: Anime Expo is THIS Weekend!

Episode #0007 – FanimeCon 2009 Review

Donald Burr — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:50:46 +0000

Here it is, the special mid-week episode I promised containing my review of FanimeCon 2009. In short: It’s the perfect compromise between huge mega-con and small local fan-run con, and I liked it. A lot. We also go over some news, including, yes, some more Weird Japan. No picks this week, but I think you’ll like this episode just the same.

News:

Weird Japan:

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