I produce this show out of my own pocket, primarily because of my love of all things anime and Japan. Unfortunately in this down economy, I need as much help as I can get. If you feel so inclined, a small donation to help offset my costs (server, bandwidth, equipment, etc.) would be much appreciated. Either make a purchase through one of our affiliates, bid on our eBay auctions, buy me something on my wish list, or use the handy donation button below.
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As you may know, we’ve been posting our videos up on Vimeo for a while now. This has been working pretty well, and I really don’t have much to complain about the service (other than having to pay $60/year for the increased upload capacity we need :-P). But, as the old blogger’s adage goes, you gotta go where the eyeballs are, and without a doubt, that has to be YouTube. With over 5 billion online video views from the US alone in 2008 (OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND!!), that’s a heck of a lot of eyeballs.
And so to that end, we’ve set up our very own YouTube channel. Of course you’ll always find our latest and greatest videos there. But you’ll also see what we’ve been doing on YouTube — the anime/cosplay/Japan/etc. related videos that we really like, the ones that we commented on, etc.
Unfortunately, due to YouTube’s content length restrictions, you’ll only see the first 15 minutes or so of each video. (Which means that we’ll still be posting to Vimeo, at least for the time being). A YouTube Partner account removes this restriction, and we have applied for one; whether or not we will qualify, who knows? (If you happen to know any people over at YouTube, it wouldn’t hurt to put in a good word on our behalf, eh?)
It’s happened to all of us – you get home, load up your con photos, and your reaction is “meh.” Fear not! The Otaku no Podcast crew will show you the tips and tricks you need to get those awesome Cosplay.com like shots.
This was the workshop I gave at Anime Expo 2010.
Be sure and check the Otaku no Podcast website for full show notes, including links to the products, books, etc. mentioned. http://otakunopodcast.com/photo/.
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.
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.)
Remember last year’s Secret Santa experiment? You know, the one that the Reverse Thieves put on? The one that we participated in? Well guess what, It’s that time again!
Yup, that’s right, once again the Reverse Thieves are organizing a Secret Santa event. The idea is basically to get together a bunch of Anime Bloggers and have them exchange the names of Anime to review. The catch is you don’t know who you’re swapping with. (Read my post from last year for a better description. I’m posting this from my phone so can’t really express myself too well.) The idea is to get people to step outside their comfort zones if you will, and watch and review shows they may not have considered before.
Once again Otaku no Podcast will be participating. And you can too! Just shoot an email off to the Reverse Thieves with your name, blog, and a link to the list of Anime you’ve seen (using a site such as MyAnimeList or Anime-Planet; They’re free). But you better hurry; the deadline to respond is next Wednesday the 13th!
This was a really fun event last year, and I am really looking forward to having more fun with it this year as well.
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.)
Do you look at all those cool anime figurines, artbooks, toys, posters, and related goods that all the J-bloggers are gushing over, only to have your heart filled with sadness because you live in an area absolutely bereft of any sort of Japanese import store? Do you drool and salivate when certain podcasters talk about the Japanese snacks and drinks that they love, only to get mad because the nearest Japanese market is over 9000 miles away from you? Well cheer up, because little did you know, you have a friend in Japan, who would be more than happy to purchase said items for you and ship them to you. And that friend’s name is J-List. J-List has been putting a smile on otakus’ faces since 1996, and they stock a truly mind-boggling selection of goods straight from the land of the rising sun: artbooks, figurines, magazines, photobooks, DVDs, dating-sim games, toys, calendars, t-shirts, cosplay costumes and accessories, dating-sim games (many of which are direct-to-download titles, no need to wait for a physical CD!), all manner of Japanese snack food and drinks, traditional Japanese items such as bento, charms, chopsticks, etc. — and yes, “those” kinds of products as well. Their selection really is unbelievable, their prices are reasonable enough (considering that these are imports we’re talking about here, people), they offer many different shipping options depending on how impatient you are ;-), and their customer service is top notch, always friendly, knowledgable, and quick to respond.
Do give them a look, why don’tcha? If you’re of age and interested in all items that they stock — including adult items — check out JList; otherwise, JBox is your friend.
We are pleased to announce that we are now part of the JList affiliate program — we are a Friend of JList. If you order through any of the search boxes or ad banners sprinkled throughout the site (such as the ones below) we will get a small percentage (this doesn’t cost you anything extra), which we will gratefully use to help keep this ship afloat.
First, a quick note: I’m changing the way polls are handled on the site, due to feedback from people that the poll sidebar widget was easy to miss. Now whenever a new poll comes out, it will be posted as a new website story, so it’ll be right up front and center. You can always go back and vote on (or check the results of) all previous polls using the “Previous Polls” menu bar item at the top of the site. And now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to today’s poll!
Are you still hemming and hawing, or procrastinating, or on the fence, or (insert other related idiom) about going to AX next year? Well you might want to hurry up on that. Anime Expo is currently running a buy one, get one half-off deal on 2011 memberships. But this deal runs out on Thursday, September 30 — that’s next week! So hurry it up already! Simply head on over to the registration website and use coupon code AXSept2010 when checking out.
2011 will mark Anime Expo’s 20th anniversary, and while they haven’t yet made any guest announcements, I’m sure they’ll be pulling out all the stops for this one. (And considering the star power that they managed to grab for this year’s event, this means that next year will be that much awesomer.)
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, andSeason 3(the current season) on YouTube.
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J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you
