Villian’s Exposition: Otakon 2007

Otakon, as usual, proved to be full of ups and downs – not all of which were related fully to the convention itself, but nevertheless affected the overall experience. To give you the full story of my voyage, as it’s obviously the most important of them all, I’ll begin with my personal timeline.

After pre-registering in early June, via the “send us your money later or be destroyed” method due to a planned panel (which allegedly fell through due to an unfortunate administrative shuffle), I mailed in my precious $50 the first week of July. Continue reading “Villian’s Exposition: Otakon 2007”

Villian’s Exposition: Faulkner in Anime?

One of the nice things about cinema and television, as media, is that they can transport the viewer to an imagined world with greater precision than a novel or radio drama. This isn’t to say that books do a bad job at it, and, in fact, I find that a well-written story will often immerse me in the world of the tale far better than if there were visuals. However, because television and film are audiovisual media—rather than “videolinguistic,” to create a word—they can effectively create a world that all viewers will at least perceive as the same, if not necessarily interpret similarly.

And honestly, this is one of the reasons I like that we’re seeing so many cinematic and television adaptations of famous novels. It’s nice to see an old work return to popularity among the I-don’t-want-to-read-it generation, and plenty interesting to actually see how other people interpreted the same stories. Yet it is the act of cementing these stories—forcing them into a single, uniform scheme of the senses—that makes them accessible to our oh-so-lazy lives.

Continue reading “Villian’s Exposition: Faulkner in Anime?”

Villian’s Exposition: Black Isle

When I began writing for this issue, it was with every intention of bringing to light the recent shortage of games in the post-apocalyptic genre (Left Behind doesn’t count). It seemed a pertinent enough topic, given the current political climate and how good such games as the Fallout series and Wasteland, among others, were.

Yet as much as I missed taking down super-mutants at 1,000 paces, I realized that what I really missed was PC games that spent as much time on the game as gameplay. Oh, sure, we’ve still got some of the heavy hitters in Blizzard and Bioware, but we’ve also lost the names that ate up hour after hour, leaving us to question how it had gotten so late when we finally looked up. Continue reading “Villian’s Exposition: Black Isle”

Convention Coverage: Katsucon 13

In case you didn’t know, Katsucon 13 occurred on Presidents Day weekend (February 16–18, 2007). Katsucon, which has consistently been one of the largest US anime conventions for the past several years and has been located in the general DC area for most of the last decade, topped over 7,100 attendees. The convention staff was, once again, more than up to the task of making sure all of those present had a great time.

The Katsucon senior staff is large and very diverse, with people from all over pitching in to help ensure the convention goes off without a hitch. One of the senior members of this year’s con was Jim Miller. Miller has been involved with Katsucon for several years, starting as a volunteer with con security and moving up through the logistics department, which he later oversaw. Now, as vice-con chair, Miller runs “Katsucon Command Central,” the main hub that works to ensure that the convention runs smoothly. Keeping in mind what a large and sometimes difficult job it is to run an anime convention, why does Miller do it? Continue reading “Convention Coverage: Katsucon 13”

Convention Coverage: Con-going Hints

If you have never been to an anime convention before and you’ve decided that you want to see what it’s all about, here are some helpful hints about how to make the most of your con-going experience. If you want to cosplay, start on your costume as early as possible. A good costume is the best way to meet people at a convention, as everyone … Continue reading Convention Coverage: Con-going Hints

Villian’s Exposition: Blue Seed and Arjuna

Does anybody still remember the huge environmentalist craze of the late ’80s and early ’90s? The 50 Simple Things books? Captain Planet? Ahh, those were the days, weren’t they, when all we needed to do to make the world a better place was to use canvas bags at the supermarket, cut the plastic rings from our 6-packs and sort your recycling properly.

Now, of course, there are such matters as more fuel-efficient cars, realistic solar power plans and all sorts of other issues designed to combat climate change on a grand scale. Continue reading “Villian’s Exposition: Blue Seed and Arjuna”

Kosher Kuts: Super Mario RPG

When I was eleven, I really did not like RPGs. Chrono Trigger’s plotline was too confusing and Final Fantasy seemed too complicated. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the genre. A glimmer of hope resurfaced when I heard about a new RPG starring Mario. Not only Mario, but also a few new characters were present … and Bowser was a playable character? I read about it in Nintendo Power, rented it at Blockbuster, and brought it home soon after returning the rental. Long after I have sold many other Super Nintendo games and moved on to other systems, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars has remained ingrained in my memory. With the recent introduction of the Wii and its Virtual Console line-up, this game is now available to a whole new generation of RPG fans. Does this eleven-year-old RPG withstand the test of time? Continue reading “Kosher Kuts: Super Mario RPG”

Interview: Brendan Becker on MAGFest

Brendan Becker, the ringleader of MAGFest, at his finest

Amish Otaku: Do you have an exact number on attendees from this year?

Brendan Becker: Pretty close to 1,000. I don’t think we went over, but essentially that was our target and I’d say we hit it.

AO: How long have you been organizing conventions?

BB: I’ve been organizing videogame events and parties and stuff on a small scale for, uh, quite awhile. But on the order of MAGFest or something with several hundred people, we’re looking at about six years. Continue reading “Interview: Brendan Becker on MAGFest”

Eastern Culture: Common Suffixes

To be an otaku, one must know the proper suffixes to use—and how to use them. How can you tell when someone is using a suffix? Well, let me introduce “Jane Smith” and “John Brown” for the sake of clarity. In general, Japanese suffixes can be used with first names or last names, unlike “Mr.” or “Mrs./Ms./Miss” in English, which are usually used only with one’s surname.

In everyday life, “-san” (as in “John-san”) is the most common suffix and can be used whenever there is doubt about other forms, although I’ll be covering others in this article as well. Continue reading “Eastern Culture: Common Suffixes”

Eastern Culture: Manga and Anime Culture Part 1

This semester, I’m conducting an independent study with Franklin & Marshall College’s new Asian history professor, Dr. Richard Reitan. Using the anime Sailor Moon as a keyhole into something deeper, my research will focus on understanding why Japanese popular culture seems fixated on heroines and heroes with Western (Caucasian) features.

In the late nineteenth century, Japan actually looked down upon most other nations as less civilized. Indeed, the Western version of “civilization” in Japan was met with resistance, and in the early twentieth century many Japanese scholars and elites began to profess their belief that Japan and its people had something to offer the Western world without having to conform to its ways. Japan’s collective identity—highly militaristic and male-dominated—remained proud and strong until the end of the Pacific War with the United States and Allied Powers. The nation was truly traumatized after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their unconditional surrender to the Allies a short time later. Continue reading “Eastern Culture: Manga and Anime Culture Part 1”