Remember when you first got into anime fandom? Sure you do - everyone does. Perhaps you’re a younger fan who saw Ash and Pikachu facing off against Team Rocket on a daily basis, or perhaps you watched Robotech in the eighties. Me? I saw a re-broadcast of the oft forgotten 1980 dub of the Galaxy Express 999 movie. The dub was awful, the edits were deliberate… and this 12-year-old geek in training was eager to see more. When I was 16, I finally summoned the courage to head for my local Suncoast Movie Company store and tried asking the clerk if he knew of any other local anime fans or groups. “Yeah,” says the clerk, but before I even have a moment to get excited, he follows his answer with, “but you have to take a test to get in.” A test? What the fuck? “Yeah,” he says. “For starters, do you know who Osamu Tezuka is?” Sure I did, but the notion that I had to take a test to get into a social circle was not something I was about to do. Besides, I had SATs and ACTs to deal with, and that was all the testing I needed in my life at the time. Two years later, I would visit the local Sci-Fi con only to discover that some of the convention fanbase really didn’t want us there (in fact, they didn’t want many other groups there - which is why another con eventually stepped in and is currently running a better show than they ever did). There was an anime viewing room, but it was run out of a cabana party room. The message was clear: you can be geeky, but your geekery is different from our geekery.

I was reminded of these experiences again today, when I happened across Sean O’Mara’s report from Fanime Con over at Otaku USA. Citing non-anime cosplayers and a lack of anime related guests, he argues that Anime Conventions in this country aren’t really for anime anymore - they are for nerds and fans of Japanese Culture in general. Quite honestly, I don’t completely disagree with him. Hell, I lamented the lack of attention paid to Guests of Honor at last year’s Otakon, and every time someone passes me in a con hallway screaming about how they lost the game, I weep a little bit inside. However, I certainly disagree with the glaring mistakes in his article, of which my personal favorites are:

• “Hiroyuki Yamaga is the only guest directly related to the production of Japanese animation” - Uh, Carl Horn has worked with a few anime productions. Besides, since when have manga artists not been cool enough to be Guests of Honor at an anime con? Singers, voice actors, and manga artists have been guests of honor at anime cons ever since cons started.
• “a number of costumers dressed as German and Japanese soldiers” - Hetalia cosplayers, dude. Do your homework.

Conventions, by nature, are for convening. Sure, you have Guests of Honor and other events, but let’s be honest - the real draw to conventions is the social aspect of the whole thing. People who are into nerdy stuff have always relished the chance to gather in a place for a weekend, make friends, and have a blast. The people who come to anime cons feel most comfortable doing that at cons, and thus, you get those same fans bringing the aspects of nerd culture and Japanese pop culture that they like along with them. The end result is an Anime Convention that also has programming and fan gatherings for fans of fringe interests - visual-kei, J-pop, goth-loli fashion, video games, ball jointed dolls… you get the idea. Yes, anime isn’t the sole focus of these conventions anymore, but what are organizers supposed to do - impose draconian on fans and tell them that they can’t practice their kind of geekery before? I’ve seen that kind of thing attempted countless times, and every single time it has failed (see: example I used in the intro). Anime fandom does not exist in a bubble, and the older generation doesn’t get to dictate what the younger generation will be like.

The notion that Anime fandom is alone in this debate over whether the “theme” of a convention is accurate or not is silly. Anyone who has been to San Diego Comic Con in the past ten years knows that the event is about far more than comics. Hollywood uses the event to trot out new films, game studios show up to promote new titles… hell, the convention hosted a huge panel for Glee last year, and will do so again this year. Despite that, the convention goes on, and everyone still has fun. Even Japan’s biggest manga convention - Comiket - has a sizable section devoted to fan novels and doujinshi about popular musicians, stars, and stuff like Harry Potter. If change is okay at other venues, why is it so bad at an Anime Con?

Anime Cons can still claim that their biggest events center around their namesake - Anime. Ask yourself: which events at anime conventions are the most well attended? The answer: The Masquerade (which are still 90% anime-inspired costumes), the Anime Music Video contest, and the guest of honor panels. These events have a long tradition in the history of anime conventions, and they continue on in the same mold as their predecessors. Sure, there are more panels for non-anime stuff, but let’s be honest - stuff like video game rooms and other programming that isn’t strictly anime has always existed. There’s just more of it now, and anime programming still makes up the majority of programming at practically all anime conventions you could name. In fact, one of the features of cons that has seen the most explosive growth in the last ten years - Artist’s Alley - is a reflection of the way fan cons are run in Japan: as giant doujinshi sales.

The charge that anime cons aren’t anime cons also ignores the gigantic shift in demographics that has taken place in anime fandom. Whereas anime cons were once the stomping ground of older anime fans who were almost universally male, cons are now attended by throngs of high school (and younger)-age kids of every race and background, and there are just as many women around as there are men. Whenever there’s an influx of new, younger fans, assuming that they’ll be exactly like you is pretty foolish. It reminds me of the male fanbase of anime that complained that there “weren’t enough chicks” at anime cons in the late 1990s that ended up complaining about “all the crazy yaoi fangirls” just a few years later. For the record, otaku-boy, you’re a nerd. Beggars can’t be choosers, and if you actually put as much effort into getting to know younger fans instead of just making fun of them on the internet, you might actually understand them a little better. Novel idea, I know.

As I - and anyone who has ever volunteered at a convention - can tell you, conventions are a reflection of the people running them. The saddest thing about the complaints of older, “jaded” fans is that so few of them actually put effort into helping out. When I ran programming at AnimeIowa, it was inevitable that some of the convention feedback forms would include a complaint about “all the yaoi panels” or something like that. If you want to talk about your favorite works, or how anime fandom used to be, then volunteer. People like Carl Horn still attend cons and hold panels about anime and the history of anime in the US, and people still show up to hear them speak. The bottom line: if you and your friends don’t volunteer to host a Star Blazers panel, some random young fan is going to register and offer to run a panel that THEY like. This has always been the way conventions have run. The majority of the experienced fans at anime cons have realized that the waves of change are washing upon their beaches, and many of them have responded in a way that reflects how they wish they could have been treated when they were the “outsiders” a mere 10-20 years ago. They know that, in the end, everyone who claims the mantle of “geek” deserves a seat at the table. Why? Because there’s one thing that we share that is universal: a passion for something that drives us to go to great lengths to support and enrich it.

In closing, I want to state again that I’m not hating on old school fans. Most of the old school fans I know have been awesome, still attend cons, still run panels about the anime they love - and still get a decent audience when they speak (Mike Toole, anyone?). They may not like every change that has taken place in anime fandom, but they realize that it is the “nature of the beast” for the times to change - and for them to become the people that the next generation (a.k.a. them 10-20 years ago) look up to. Despite all that has changed in anime fandom, the one thing that hasn’t is this: if you don’t like the way your fandom looks, you do a lot more to fix it when you volunteer to help than you could ever do by ranting online from behind your metaphorical stacks of old fifth-gen VHS fansubs. If you don’t like the path your fandom is walking on, you have to be the one who helps lead it in the right direction.

Evan Miller is a writer and translator who has volunteered as staff at anime conventions for thirteen years. He is currently in his fifth year working in the anime industry, and he still enjoys cons. You probably guessed that already though, right?

Quite a lot needed to be done around here… a new format, a new banner, new… stuff. Lots of newness needed.

I was thinking of abandoning having a place to scribble, but lately as life has returned to normal for the first time in four years, I find myself with a little extra time. SO - might as well write.

More to come later. In the meantime, pardon the dust around here.

I noticed that a bunch of you are upset about the price of education skyrocketing. Yeah, I’m pissed about that too. We live in a weird country; one where our education system is often given the short end of the stick. I could list link after link that questions where our education dollars are going, but you already know things are bad, right? RIGHT? FUCK YEAH, things are bad! Let’s go do something about it! Let’s go join those protests!

Come on!

…what, you aren’t coming?

What’s that? You’re worried about failing? What your parents will say? Oh, you have a midterm to study for. I see…

Hmm… does anyone else see the problem here?

I’ve been listening to students at UC campuses complain about the cuts in funding for months now. Without exception, the story always goes like this:

Me: “Hey, things are looking bad, huh?”

Student: “Yeah, I heard someone in class saying they’ll need to take a second loan since their parents can’t afford the tuition increase.”

Me: “Wow. Did you see any protests?”

Student: “Yeah, down at the student union. A few hundred people, I think. I was scared to join though…”

Me: “Scared?”

Student: “I have midterms! If I don’t go to class, I get an automatic fail! My parents will kill me!”

Let’s think about this line of logic a bit, shall we? The people around me are suffering, things are bad, I feel bad… but oh my god, if I deviate from my normal routine, my parents will kill me! That would suck a whole lot more than my friends having to quit school because they can’t afford it and my TA having to work at Burger King when the funding for their department is cut!”

Yeah, things are bad. People are going to lose their jobs. But Daddy might get mad and I might fail “Philosophy of Human Existence”, so I’m not going to do anything.

Are we out of our minds? I’m not trying to demonize students (I was one until two years ago) - I know that they all mean well - but when did we become so self-centered? I’ve seen many people posting to their Facebook and Twitter (yeah, your 140 characters helps a ton) that they support the protests and hate the funding cuts, but their support ends there. There have been protests, sure, but they are only attended by a small percentage of the student population. I chuckled when I read this story about how many people participated in a protest at UC Davis. My favorite line:

as many as 150 students were at the building protesting the tuition increase

UC Davis has an enrollment of 31,426. That means less than .5% of the student body was at the protest. Do you really think that the UC Regents and Yudof are going to see that and say “OH MY GOD, a group smaller than the number of students at an O-Chem lecture is protesting! We’d better listen!” Uh, no. They aren’t. They are businessmen, they deal in numbers, and the numbers are pathetic. A protest needs to attract the kind of numbers that Picnic Day does if it’s going to really affect things.

I could go on with the sarcasm, but this is no laughing matter. Besides, most of you have probably figured out my point by now, so I’ll just say it.

If these protests are to REALLY succeed - to really have an impact - everyone has to participate. Everyone.

The guy programming all night to earn his CS degree in 3 years? Yeah, he needs to show up.

The girl agonizing over her Physics midterm after retaking the course twice? Yep, her too.

The Asian kid who’s studying for his BA in Pre-Pharmacy because of “asian guilt” put on him by his parents? He DEFINITELY needs to show up! He needs a break anyway. ^_^

I know that people are scared. I know that you’re worried that participating in some kind of “resistance” may affect your entire life. But you know what? All those people that participated in 1960s era campus demonstrations turned out fine. Some of them probably run the companies that you’re studying so hard to get into.

Please, please, please hear me out here. If you want me to come help, just ask, and I will in whatever way I can. The regents won’t listen to me since I’m not a student, but you are the reason they have jobs - they have to listen to you.

Things will get better. We just need to give the whole system a push - together.

-Evan

Is it the holiday? Lanny’s acrobat peers down to see.

Why yes, it is Christmas season. Hello Baby is here to remind us.

DeEtta’s take on the wreath. The artist says the color scheme is reminiscent of her Grandma’s house, but I don’t think my Grandma owns that much lavender.

Anthropomorphic series attempt of the day: TEA. ItaLuv, show us how it’s done. Oh, and if we could work in some gags about bubble tea, that would be swell.

Last up, there’s some kind of InitialD shit happening at misfile. Perhaps the next page will come loaded with a Eurobeat midi. RAGE YOUR DREAM.

The best part of waking up is Melon Bread and Milk Coffee. Let’s get right to it:

• WSJ on the Industry (The Beat - cheers, MangaBlog) - A collection of reviews of articles from the Wall Street Journal (a fine source for manga-related news, let me tell you!) about how the anime industry is mistreating their staff and how Koreans are downloading their manhwa a whole lot. One of the hazards of having the world’s most prolific internet, I guess.
• Yukari Shiina Interview (Eigo de Anime Manga [JAPANESE]) - Felipe Smith’s agent and all-around international manga expert Yukari Shiina did an interview with the Japanese magazine Shōsetsu Gendai, which hit newsstands in Japan about a week ago. Having met Shiina-san myself, I’m pretty sure she put in a good word for non-Japanese manga creators. ^^
• To hell with Melon Pan - I’m having Spicy Maggot Stew. (Seven Seas)

FYI: Lanny is also blogging from Japan! She’s on LiveJournal here - feel free to add/friend/follow her escapades there.

My third time living in Japan has begun, and quite honestly, I never quite thought it would start out this way. I don’t mean that negatively, but damn, it’s weird where life takes you.

For starters, I now live in a much more expensive, crowded city - Tokyo. Comparing where I live now to where I used to live is like comparing Lincoln, Nebraska to Paris. The people, the prevailing attitudes, the price of everything… everything has a different flavor. The three other major differences are mostly personal; I’m here with Lanny now, working for a much smaller company, and living far more frugally than I was before. It’s a challenge, but it seems fitting - my Japanese skills have taken a hit in recent years, so it’ll be nice to work on improving those.

In addition, I’m hoping I can finally get around to updating this thing more - I’ve been in a bad habit of writing things that are either 1) so long I don’t finish them or 2) just plain dull. Here’s to finding a happy medium!

More to come!

Artist: Kirinji

Genre: Alt. rock

Video ratings: Silly (1/5) • Artsy (3/5) • Meaningful (0/5) • Eye-candy (4/5)

Synopsis: Out of all the videos I could have selected from my favorite band of all time (a title which I do not assign to Kirinji lightly!), I chose this one simply because it comes from an era where the group was in transition and decided to get a tad experimental. While Kirinji is best known for an almost folk rock sound, this track is more electronic in nature. It’s not territory that the band is uncomfortable with; I’m assuming it’s just something that they had more time to explore since their long time producer Keiichi Tomita (who the band still works with all the time) wasn’t handling the production of this album - the band was.

The lyrics of the song deal with a secret love, but you couldn’t tell from the video, which looks like a stage from Marble Madness (with the occasional inclusion of a dancing mime). It’s pretty fun to watch the two balls bounce through the video as the beat bumps in the background though, so just forget about any deeper meaning the lyrics might have and enjoy.

Artist: Peppertones

Genre: Alt. rock, pop

Video ratings: Silly (3/5) • Artsy (3/5) • Meaningful (0/5) • Eye-candy (0/5)

Synopsis: If there’s one thing that bugs me about Korean pop stars, it’s how fashionable the guys are. With their “bounce this quarter off my pecs, baby” looks and their funky dance moves, watching Korean MVs can drive normal guys like myself into fits of self image-related depression. That’s why the Peppertones are so freaking awesome. In this video, which is drowning in pseudo black and white images of modern Korea, we meet the duo known as the Peppertones when they show up in bright, loud, “I should be jogging in this shit” style clothes and bowl cuts. They set up some lawn chairs, don some awful looking shades, and chill.

YES.

The song ain’t bad either; the Peppertones have woven a very interesting path through their short career, with various female vocalists contributing to tracks and their albums shifting from alt rock to electronica-influenced beats on instrumental tracks. It’s cool stuff; quite relaxing in a spastic sort of way. This track seems to capture their flavor nicely.

Added bonus: the album this track comes from, New Standard, also features a track called “We are Mad about Flumerides.” If that doesn’t define cool, I don’t know what does.

This is probably gonna get ranty, so let’s get to it:

The Good: The programming schedule had very few major shifts over the weekend, and the fans were pretty hospitable. The city returned the favor, welcoming the extra boost of business that the con brought into town. 

The Bad: I still think there should be breaks between panels, but apparently I’m challenging tradition on that one, so we have to stick with the fire code challenging, line violating back-to-back structure that this convention seems to live by. Of more concern are…

The numbers: The poor economy has hit this con, and most vendors and artists confirmed that yes, they are making less money than in years past. Others remarked on the smaller size of the booths and the decidedly scaled-down promotional efforts of some of the bigger companies. Will the trend continue at other conventions? We shall see.

Wrap: When I first started attending cons (Anime Iowa 1997 was my first, for those keeping score), I was told of the dichotomy between “fan” cons and “corporate” cons. A “corporate” con, as I was told, was a convention where the needs of the sponsors were set before the fans because the convention relied on their sponsorship dollars. While it is certain that cons like Anime Expo, San Diego Comic Con, and Wondercon are corporate in this way, having attended these cons has reminded me that these events were still founded by fans and are, for the most part, staffed by them. In this day and age, fans are increasingly fickle with their hard earned cash, which makes the whole “100% fan supported” convention model difficult to implement on a large scale. Furthermore, having corporate sponsorship of a fan-originated event creates the kind of atmosphere that a show like this needs. You get the feeling that the sponsors are coming to the “fan’s turf,” so to speak.

Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed Wondercon. The balance between the fan-centric mood of a smaller con and the need for advertising dollars felt right. We need these kinds of conventions, especially since Reed Exhibitions and their “let’s just spend a ton of money to make sure every big name comes to our con, that way the fans can’t ignore us” business methodology has shown us just what a “corporate con” can entail (and how much it can suck). Despite the tough economic times, things never felt artificial, events ran late into the night, and the public was encouraged to attend late-night events at other locations that were reasonably priced (as opposed to the ludicrously overpriced “post-convention dinner” at New York Anime Festival). 

Although tough times seemed to affect morale in many places of the convention, the feeling at the end of the event was the same: mutual appreciation that was expressed by the attendees and exhibitors alike. As the PA system announced the closing of the event hall, applause could be heard from every table and corner of the Moscone Center. Although I was a little apprehensive about my first comic convention experience at first, in the end, I was more than happy to applaud the convention with everyone else.

The bad: The lines for some events, autograph signings, and the like were not only poorly marked, they often stretched into other areas and blocked tables in the small press comics area. Boo, hiss. 

Running tally of costumes: 4 remote control R2D2s, 1 very impressive Bumblebee Transformer (who drew a team of photographers wherever he wandered), 1 old-school cylon, 2 Katamari “cousins,” Watchmen everywhere, 1 Sailor Moon, and enough Storm Troopers to invade and occupy a small nation. 

Props: To all the friends I saw, all the cool people I chatted with, and to Lincy Chan, who gave me an interview for next week’s The Gallery. Damn, artists are swell people.