sign in sign up
<<
Home , A Drifting Life, Central Park Media, Discotek Media, Doujin, Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Yamaga

Issue #10 - November 2016 Jose Sanchez was born and raised in Miami, Florida on March 10,1968,where he still lives today with his wife Aliana. At the age of six, he was introduced to fingerpainting. By first grade, he had picked up his first pencil, but it was not until the summer of 1977 when Star Wars hit the movie screens across America, that his imaginative spark was truly ignited! Like so many other people that were influenced by the cult phenomenon, he was too. So much so, that this led him to seriously explore and develop his talent for creating art further. As time has gone by and he has honed his skills, he has been notably influenced by the works of Science Fiction and Fantasy artists such as: Stephen Youll, Donato Giancola, Chris Moore, Tim White, Jim Burns, David B. Mattingly and Michael Whelan, to name but a few.

He attended Lindsey-Hopkins Technical Education Education Center in Miami, Florida where he received a certificate in Commercial Art Technology-majoring in illustration and minoring in Graphic Design. Jose would ideally like to see himself one day working professionally in the motion picture industry as a Concept Artist. He had previously worked on a low- budget SF/Super Hero Animation flick titled: "Shadow Runner", designing the individual character's spaceships. "They tend to depend more on technology than they do on their own superpowers". He is also interested in the publication and gaming markets. To one of his many credits, which have included several covers and one semi-prozine cover and interior artwork.

Also appearing in the official LucasFilm Star Wars Insider magazines: "City Patrol", was chosen for publication in the March/April 2006/issue #86.

“Oil Bath”, “Artoo”, “Pair of Jawas” and “Land of the Rising Suns” in April 2014/issue #148 now being published by Titan Publications and online at starwars.com on the Jan.15,2014 Blog article: Bantha Tracks: Best of the Year, Online edition: “AT-AT Driver” and in the Blog article: Bantha Tracks: Art Galaxy, March 2014 “ Djas Puhr-Settling The Score!”

Much of his art can be currently seen at efanzines.com.

2 Contents Editorial and Letters 4

Con Report: Portland Retro Gaming Expo & Kumoricon 2016 6

Anime 111: Inside Baseball - about Anime, , and 15

Anime about Anime 15

Anime (and Manga) about Manga 17

Anime and Manga about Fandom 20

Breaking It All Down: The ‘Zine – is edited and written by Alexander Case. Letters of Comment can be sent to [email protected]. If you’ve never sent a LoC to me before, please put “LoC:” at the start of the subject line, so it gets filed in the right place. I also sporadically appear on the Bureau42 Greatest Science Fiction Film Tournament podcast, available through the Bureau42 Master Podcast Audio Feed, which can be found on iTunes and Stitcher. My YouTube Channel, where the web-series that this fanzine is spun off from. can be found at http://www. youtube.com/user/CountZeroOr

3 Editorial and Letters So, a lot of what I’ve been working on right now, in terms of Fanzine material, has been stuff on my blog. I’ve started up a new project where I’m going to read and review all the novels and comics that are in what is now the “Star Wars Legends” continuity of the expanded universe, in order of publication. I’m doing this project in two forms - a series of written reviews on my blog, and a series on my YouTube channel.

As of this publication, I’ve covered everything from the Expanded Universe that was published contemporaneously with the original films. I’m unfamiliar somewhat with whether it’s okay for you to reprint your stuff from (say) a blog in your fanzine. If it’s okay, then I’ll try to do a special issue in time for Rogue One editing together my material on the Star Wars works that came out contemporaneous with the original trilogy.

Also, on my Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/countzeroor), I’ve done vlog reviews on the latest film, , from director , and on Doctor Strange.

Finally, one last thing, before we get to letters. I’m writing this here, and I’m going to put this on my blog and YouTube channel as well. This is not meant to be critical or otherwise an attack against any of my readers, but as this fanzine is posted in a public place, and in the wake of the 2016 election (and events following) , I I should make this clear:

I had frequently joked in conversation that come November, our long national nightmare would be over. I may have jinxed it. Either that, or as several comedians have joked, some Cubs fan made a wish on a Monkey’s Paw and is now greatly regretting their decision.

As for me, as a person with Autism, I’ve got to contend with a president-elect who has openly mocked and called for the harassment of people like me. I also have to contend with the fact that should the ACA be repealed without any sort of replacement, the field that I majored in, and I am trying to find work in - Medical ,IT may undergo a major contraction, and even the longest running employer of people in this field - theeterans V Administration - will likely undergo a hiring freeze, if not a contraction as well. Ironically, whether I want to stick it out in the US and fight or not, it may be the case that in order to get experience in my field, I may have to move to Canada, since they have universal health care, and will have to manage the sharing and securing of patient records across the whole country.

So, this has not been an issue in the past - not on my blog, not in this fanzine, and barely on myYouTube Channel (which considering most YouTube comments, is quite impressive - or possibly a sign of how small my audience is) - but I’m going to try to get ahead of things and say this well before this even has a chance of becoming an issue: My fanzine, my blog, and my YouTube channel are safe spaces. I have no tolerance for harassment of someone because of their gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or disability. Also, people’s life experiences should be respected - people who have faced misogyny, sexual harassment, racism, and homophobia have the right to speak up, and speak out about their experiences, and I have no truck with those who seek to shout them down, shut them up, and drive them from public discourse, or who seek to dismiss, minimize the hardships they have faced, nor will I be silent when people attempt to normalize that harassment or make it publically acceptable.

I’ve never really gotten into political discussion here, but by Ghu, I’ve got a soapbox. Hell, I’ve got three - this Fanzine, my YouTube Channel, and my blog. I’ve been public about my disability on my YouTube channel, and somewhat on my Blog, I might as well be so here. Because of the way my disability manifests, marching in protests like the ones that have been occurring daily in PDX since election day are not something that I’d describe as ideal for me. However, when the mood strikes me, I reserve the right to speak up, and speak out on political issues that I feel are important to me.

With that out of the way, we have letters! John Purcell writes:

Well, hello, Alex! I hope you are well and not suffering in the like we are in Texas. Of course, today it is only a mere 95 degrees this afternoon, meaning a cold front is hauling through. We’ll be back to the triple digits tomorrow, I am sure.

I have some Jose Sanchez art on hand for my zine, so it is always good to see his work gracing the covers of assorted . The newest Askance has been sent to efanzines.com, but it has been posted yet. Any day now it should be. In the meantime, I am attaching it for your enjoyment.

Seeing Lloyd Penney’s address in the letter column reminds me: I have a couple extra copies of Askew #15 on hand, so if you’d like to have a copy of that paper-only fanzine, let me know what your mailing address is and I shall send one. 4 Anime is not one of my interests, but it certainly has a large and active following, and there are quite a few anime conventions inTexas. Oh, well. Just one smaller tent inside the large tent of SF fandom.

All the best,

John Purcell

Indeed Texas has several anime conventions, including one of the oldest in the US - A-Kon (named after the anime “Project A-Ko”). We did get into the triple-digits this summer in PDX. However, this fall we have gotten into the cold, wet, and foggy, as is par for the course for the Pacific Northwest (though a couple days this November have approached, but not reached, 70 degrees)

No anime reviews this issue, for various reasons - not that I haven’t been watching anime, as much as I don’t really have a good feature article concept at the moment.

Next up is Lloyd Penny

Dear Alex:

I have here issue 9 of Breaking It All Down – The Zine, and as I catch up on all the zines I have here, yours has risen cream-like to the top, and it’s time to respond to it. I am not sure how much I can say about it, but what I can say, I will.

Dale Speirs’ letter…the various Puppies have left a real mess behind for those people who manage the Worldcon. If anyone has looked good, IMHO, it’s the people who are using the business meetings to see how to avoid slate-nominating and bloc-voting. Perhaps there are many inherently good and positive characters in SF, but when we look at the world today, we are reminded that the F in SF stands for Fiction. I wish there was more truth in that.

Hyperbole? You’re going to use terms like these, others are going to use terms not usually found in a family fanzine. I did see the Star Wars Episode 7, and like many saw the similarities with Episode 4. In about a month, we are heading off to England for a Harry Potter and vacation, so that means we need lots of time to get the last preparations done before we head off to the airport. So, we’ve decided that we will buy some goods for ourselves there, and will pass on ConBravo for this year.

I can’t say anything about Little Witch Academy, but I do remember the grand adventures of Arslan, and I remember having a book with those adventures in it. Not the fantasy novels, but a much older book with pseudo-historical tales.The rest, there must be some market what appears to be bigger-than-reality men in fancy costumes, having unknown adventures. One character is named Richard E.O. Speedwagon? Nothing about the car or the rock band, hm? As you say, lots of music references and camp.

This year’s Anime North came and went, and once again, for the third time, we were vendors in their Crafters’ Corner section of vendors. As you’d expect, there were hundreds of anime-style vendors, but we were one of only three steampunk vendors, so we did very well. Anime North is always our best show every year, so we will be back next year, if they’d like us there.

The day grows late already, so time to go and get this off to you. Thank you for this issue, and I’ll be looking forward to the next issue, and see you then.

Yours, Lloyd Penney. Okay, no hyperbole this time in the introductions.

As of this writing, has gotten green-lit for a television series (likely 12 episodes or one “cour”, but we may get longer). Arslan got a second season this year, though at a very reduced length (8 episodes - less than a “cour”). I’ve got an explanation later in the ‘zine on how anime series are structured, and a full article on shows that get into how anime, manga, and Japanese fandom work (or don’t, as the case may be).

JoJo’s is still ongoing, having gone through “Stardust Crusaders” and on to “Diamond is Unbreakable”, with Jotaro and his half-brother Josuke taking on Stand wielders in rural . Having exhausted all the major arcana of the Tarot to name Stands with in Stardust Crusaders, this time the stands themselves are directly named after either songs (Josuke’s stand being “Crazy Diamond” and Josuke’s friend Koichi having a stand called “Echos”, both named after the Pink Floyd songs), albums (one character having a Stand named “Aqua” after the album by Asia) or bands (the antagonist having the stand “Red Hot Chili Pepper” and having the stand “Bad Company”).

Kumoricon was great (see the con report this issue), though I didn’t see that many steampunk vendors in the dealer’s room or in Artist’s Alley.

5 Con Report: Portland Retro Gaming Expo & Kumoricon 2016 I’m combining my con reports for Portland Retro Gaming Expo and Kumoricon together. This is primarily due to a change in the scheduling for Kumoricon this year. In the past, Kumoricon has been on Labor Day weekend. However, this year Kumoricon changed venues from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, at the Oregon Convention Center. However, Rose City Comic Con is also at the convention center in September, and one of the conditions of their contract with the convention center is that the convention center will not host a competing event within 30 days - and Kumoricon meets that criteria. Consequently, Kumoricon has moved to Halloween weekend, which also puts it the week after Portland Retro Gaming Expo. So, I’m covering the two cons in one article, in order of the events.

Portland Retro Gaming Expo Portland Retro Gaming Expo has continued to grow. Last year the convention basically only had 2 rooms for panels. This year the panel space went up to 4, plus a 5th room as the video game museum. The Video Game Museum was a particularly notable edition this year - as the space not only included some showcase material from the show floor from previous years (such as an original spacewar machine), along with some new material, including an exhibit of Atari 2600 game boxes. The crown jewels of this exhibit though were the recently discovered prototypes of the Nintendo Playstation and the US Nintendo 64 (N64) Disk Drive (DD).

The Nintendo Playstation was an optical drive born out of a partnership between Nintendo and Sony, and meant as an optical-drive addon for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which was meant to sit underneath the unit and via an expansion port on the unit’s underside. The partnership was announced by Sony at CES, which included demonstration of a prototype. However, not long after that, Nintendo ended the partnership without any advance warning to Sony - favoring a partnership with Phillips on a CD peripheral which appears to have never reached the prototype stage, and only resulted in a trio of games for the Philips CD-I which can best be described as “abysmal” - Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Link: The Faces of Evil, and Hotel Mario.

Information on the discovery of the Nintendo Playstation prototype can be found on Ben Heck’s YouTube channel:

● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug-CyGXMabg (Part 1) ● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh91IO9cV48 (Part 2)

6 The Nintendo 64 DD on the other hand, was a floppy disk drive for the Nintendo 64 designed in the spirit of the Famicom Disk System (FDS), a floppy disk peripheral for the Famicom game system in Japan, intended to lower the cost of game publication. Now, with the FDS, at the time the peripheral came out, Nintendo had market dominance in the Japanese game market, and the standard format for console games were cartridges, which were costly to manufacture, and were subject to supply limitations due to chip shortages. By comparison, the FDS, by being a floppy disk system based on existing technology, meant that publishers could put out titles for considerably lower publishing costs, both in terms of manufacturing disks, and through distributing software through kiosks in Japan that would load purchased software onto re-writable disks. It also allowed publishers to design games with a save capability without having to build battery backup technology into the cartridges (increasing the cost).

The N64 DD was meant to serve a similar purpose, allowing for the publication and distribution of game software at a reduced overhead cost for publishers than manufacturing cartridges for the N64. Unfortunately for Nintendo, by the time of the N64, optical disks had become a much more widespread method for storing large quantities of data at a reduced cost, so publishers who balked at the cost of publishing games for the N64 just went with the Sony Playstation or the Sega Saturn (when that was A Thing That Existed) instead. Only a handful of first party games were published for the N64DD in Japan before Nintendo stopped production on the device, well before the unit entered production in the US.

However, a game collector, former Sierra On-Line employee, and YouTuber from Seattle with the handle of “Metal Jesus” managed to get ahold of not only a prototype unit, but also several developer disks for the unit as well. The video on his discovery can be found on his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=b64Bx0WKh7M

The Nintendo 64 DD I did go to several panels at the convention. I eschewed some of the panels by major YouTubers, as their lines were generally absurdly long - particularly the lines to see James Rolfe (who reviews video games on YouTube as The Angry Video Game Nerd), and Pat “The NES Punk” Contri. That said, I did get to go some interesting panels. In particular, I was able to make it to a panel on the development of the Atari 7800, the followup to Atari’s failed 5200, and their attempt at making a hybrid game platform and computer, with backwards compatibility with the Atari 2600. In short, the unit was basically ready for launch (with units in the pipeline) when Jack Tramiel took over Atari, and went to slash the price on the unit to the point where the people who created the system wouldn’t get paid, so they quit. Considering Tramiel’s track record at Commodore, this isn’t exactly surprising.

7 I also went to the Retrogame Roadshow panel, which is always really fun. The concept behind it is that it’s like Antique’s Roadshow, but with obscure and interesting pieces of video game memorabilia, such as an original release of Res from Japan, a rhythm game which also supported a group of peripherals called the “Trance Vibrators” - force feedback buds that connected to wristbands that would vibrate in time with the music (though they were infamous because they could be put pretty much anywhere else), and this particular release of the game also shipped with force feedback headphones - though unfortunately poorly constructed units where the foam on the earpieces had started to disintegrate in the box.

From the Retrogame Roadshow Panel The other major panel I went to was a panel by YouTuber “The Gaming Historian”. His on his channel have explored the history of video games and the gaming industry, and his panel at this convention focused on one of the first times a video game was adapted to the big screen (as opposed to the other way around) - the disastrous and tonally schizophrenic Super Mario Brothers film from the 1980s.

8 Kumoricon So, Kumoricon this year had several big firsts behind it. It was the first Kumoricon in the Oregon Convention Center, which is a much larger venue than it had in Vancouver. It was also the first Kumoricon to my knowledge to have guests from the Anime industry in attendance. There were designers from a Japanese fashion label in attendance, Japanese seiyuu (voice actress and singer) Neeko (who had played the title character on the series Reborn!) and two staff members from (who worked on and Little Witch Academia) - writer Hiromi Wakabayashi and designer Shigeto Koyama. Additionally, though they weren’t Guests of the con, Laika (the studio that did Kubo and the Two Strings, Coraline, and Paranorman) also put on a panel about their animation process, which I attended.

The Studio Trigger panel was very fun. First off, they had a whole bunch of concept art they showed off for some of their work, including Little Witch Academia, Kill la Kill, and Space Patrol Luluco, along with some discussion on how the company formed, and a promotional video for the upcoming Little Witch Academia TV series and a discussion of the premise.

I went to a couple interesting fan panels as well. One was on the study of culture in higher education in Japan. The person giving the panel was a Japanese attendee, and was a lecturer at Keio University Graduate School in Japan, and taught classes on Otaku Culture for foreign students at the school, along with computer science classes. It was an incredibly interesting lecture, and talked a lot about how Japanese otaku culture puts a lot of focus not only on consuming and analyzing works in your fandom, but also on how creating derivative works is an important part of Otaku identity in Japan. I’d gotten some of that from watching series about otaku, like , Aoi Honoo (Blue Blazes) and , but it’s one thing to draw a conclusion on your own, it’s another to have your view confirmed from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.

There was also a really great panel on ’s manga Devil Man, which was an incredibly well done primer of the character and the universe, and all the various series that have been done with this character over time. I’m definitely going to have to read further into Devil Man, and considering the influence of the character in the “Dark Hero” genre of action , I’m definitely going to get a future article out of this panel, probably in the Anime 20x sequence. (Also, I should probably do an Anime 11x article on “Directorial Ninja - Great directors who easily fit into other creator’s visual styles).

Of particular note at the convention was some related programming that happened just outside the convention. OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry put on an anime film festival in their IMAX theater over the course of the convention - showing all 3 of the Rebuild films on Friday, the new film , and Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic Akira on Saturday, and the Psycho-Pass film on Sunday. Of those screenings, as I wanted to go to some panels as well, I went to the screenings of the third Evangelion film - Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo (which I hadn’t seen), and Akira, which I’d always wanted to see on the big screen. All of the films were open to the public, but Kumoricon attendees got a discount on tickets.

As always, I took a bunch of pictures, which I’ll be posting below with captions of the characters.

9 Mage Hawke from Dragon Age II and Elf Inquisitor from Dragon Age Inquisition

Jotaro Kujo and Kakyoin from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders.

10 Deadpool from Marvel Comics & Harley The Punisher Quinn as she appears in Suicide Squad

11 D.Va and Junkrat from Overwatch Alexander Anderson from

12 There was a vendor at this year's Kumoricon who was selling Takoyaki - which are fried dumplings of onion, cabbage, and squid, served with Bonito flakes and a variety of sauces. It's pretty good, but kind of tricky to eat. You eat it too soon after cooking it will burn your mouth. You wait too long and it starts to get mushy. Also, you eat it by poking it with a stick, which is not conductive for eating in multiple bites.

13 Members of studio trigger from Opening Ceremonies. From Left - Musical Guest Kieran Strange, Hiromi Wakabayashi of Studio Trigger, Shigeto Koyama of Studio Trigger, the translators for the two (I didn't get their names).

During closing ceremonies, this kid (whose name I don't remember) who is in a powered wheelchair, and was cosplaying as a Rebel trooper from the Battle of Endor received a speeder-bike costume for his chair.

14 Anime 111: Inside Baseball - Anime about Anime, Manga, and Fandom When I was a kid, one of my favorite authors was a writer and artist namedAliki, and two of my favorite books of hers were Digging Up Dinosaurs and (most relevant to this article) How A Book Is Made. I really enjoyed reading about the process of how stuff got made and done, and the whole process of how a book would go through the writing process, through editing, layout, printing, until it finally hit store shelves. Consequently, when I found out about anime and manga covering the same general topic, my interest was piqued.

Considering how I’ve been doing a series of primers on anime and manga, in terms of gateway works, creators to know, and overviews of various genres, I figure now is the time to talk about how these works are made, along with Japanese fan-culture.

Anime about Anime There are two main anime which come to mind when it comes to shows about the process of making anime. Interestingly, both are made with point-of-view characters who are in pretty much the same position of the process - the position of a Production Assistant, or an Animation Runner, as the term was known back in the day.

A note on terminology - Japanese TV is divided up into four seasons or “cours” - each running approximately 12-13 episodes over 3 months. Shows can be across multiple cours, either consecutively, or with another cour in-between (what is called a “split cour” show).

Animation Runner Kuromi (2001, 2004) Animation Runner Kuromi is a pair of two 40-minute long OVA () episodes, from director Akitaro Daichi (Fruits Basket, Jubei-Chan the Ninja Girl). The series follows Mikiko “Kuromi” Oguro, a new production assistant at an animation studio who is brought on board after the previous person in her job keeled over from a stress related ulcer. Part 1 has Kuromi having to manage a variety of key to make sure that the animation cuts (series of keyframe animation cels for a particular shot) are delivered on time with sufficient quality from the animators who work for the studio - and in the process having to deal with the various quirks of the animators. However, the catch being that all the cuts for the next episode of their show (within a show) Time Journeys have to be done in a week, which means that there is minimal time for retakes, and some of the Key Animators are difficult to motivate. Oh, and there are 313 cuts remaining to be done for this episode. Did I mention her predecessor keeled over because of a stress related ulcer?

The second episode is set at an unspecified period of time after the conclusion of the previous episode. Thanks to Kuromi’s efforts,Time Journeys was a success, the studio has gotten more business and is now working on 3 shows at once (a thing that actually happens - particularly with major studios such as Production I.G, , and ). Kuromi is in charge of making sure that, once again, the cuts are delivered on time for these 3 shows. However, now with so much material coming across her desk, she has to manage a larger chunk of the production pipeline, to make sure that the quality for all 3 episodes remain solid, while also contending with a new Producer, named Takashi Madaira, who is of the view that as long as the episodes get out on time, quality doesn’t matter.

15 The two episodes give a very small chunk of the process of how animation is made, but when I first watched it, the show was incredibly educational, in terms of how the animation process itself works in Japan (animators are frequently independent contractors and in some cases work from home, depending on the studio they are working for, often some animators will specialize in particular types of material - chases, vehicles, animals, etc.).

Animation Runner Kuromi was released on DVD by , and is currently out of print, as CPM imploded several years ago. The series has not yet been licence rescued, but the aren’t particularly expensive. This is the kind of show that would be perfect for a re-release by , and hopefully this will get some love from them in the future.

Shirobako (2014-2015) In between the production of Animation Runner Kuromi, technology had marched on considerably when it came to animation, from the inclusion of computer graphics in anime for vehicles and crowd shots, to shifting trends in how anime was produced. Additionally, there were just parts of the production process that didn’t get covered in Kuromi - how does the animation process change when you’re doing an adaptation, how does the writing and research side of the process go, how does things work from a voice acting standpoint?

In 2014, studio P.A. Works Girl( Und Panzer) put out a 24-episode (or two-cour) anime series called or “White Box” - after the boxes that would carry pre-release VHS tapes (and now DVDs) to be distributed to staff members during the production process of a series. The series basically covers just about every aspect of the process of making an anime series.

The show follows a group of five girls - Aoi Miyamori, Ema Yasuhara, Shizuka Sakaki, Misa Tōdō, and Midori Imai, all friends from high school, who were interested in going into the anime industry in school and made an animated short, and have now after graduation and college entered the industry. Ema is an Key , Shizuka is a voice actress, Misa does 3D CG Animation, Midori is a writer and researcher, and Aoi is a Production Assistant. The show follows each of their careers, with various trials and tribulations, with the final season of the series having the five working together on the same show.

Through Aoi’s perspective, we get a look at the complete process of the making of a TV series, coming in at the conclusion of one series, with Aoi as a junior PA, and then with Aoi as lead PA on a second series. In the second instance we get her perspective on the entirety of the production process - from going through production meetings to get approval for character designs and casting, through making the episodes, having to 16 change gears (including at some cases the last minute) due to feedback from the author, and finally getting the episodes to air.

The show also makes it clear that it isn’t all fun and games, but in a different way than how Kuromi does it - the series gives equal time to the difficulties in the careers of our five protagonists as it does to difficulties in the production process. Aoi frequently finds herself somewhat overwhelmed at various points in the process, and works out the issues in the production process with the assistance of stuffed characters - a doll and a teddy bear - which often talk over the issues in her head. Shizuka has difficulties finding work for much of the series, Misa starts off doing 3D modeling for car companies and video games instead of working on film, and Midori, who is still in college, is on the outside, chomping at the bit to get in.

Shirobako also feels more in touch with the anime industry as a whole, both its past and present. Multiple members of the supporting cast of the series are based on real-world animators, including big names such as Ichiro Itano (who became famous for his animation of missile barrages, known as an “Itano circus” - examples of the Itano Circus in action can be seen in this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzXfVgYCxWI), Hideaki Anno (director of Nadia, Evangelion, and the latest Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla), and several others. Otaku USA Magazine did a run-down of some of the additional creators who make “cameo” appearances in the show in this article: http://www.otakuusamagazine.com/Anime/News1/Shirobakos-Reallife-Counterparts-6362. aspx

Shirobako is available for streaming on .com, and has gotten a Region 1 DVD release from .

Anime (and Manga) about Manga As far as the comic side of the medium goes, as much as there is anime about the business, so is there manga about manga. As with anime, I’m featuring two works here as a gateway point. A Drifting Life (2008) A Drifting Life is less about the manga industry of today, and more about manga of the past. Writer and artist is one of the creators attributed for helping create the “” movement of dramatic manga in the 1960s and 70s, shifting the types of stories told from the more kid-friendly or family friendly dramatic material of some of ’s early work, with the movement being credited to inspiring Tezuka himself to branch out into other material, including the two series considered to be his magnum opus - Buddha and Phoenix, along with his film The Belladonna of Sadness.

Tatsumi’s work goes from when he started drawing in school to the publication of his first major ongoing manga - - in the 1950s. It’s a story that isn’t particularly about the details of being in an industry and how the industry works, but more a memoir of an artist, and a look at their creative process as they create manga - not only in the framework of the popular market, but in terms of creating basically a new artistic movement.

17 Bakuman (2008-2012) Bakuman is pretty much the exact opposite of A Drifting Life. Where Tatsumi was focusing on the start of his career in the mid-20th century, in Bakuman, writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist are telling a story about the manga industry of the 21st century. Where very little time in A Drifting Life is spent explaining how the machine behind the art works, Bakuman not only goes into the nitty gritty over how manga is made and published, but the business behind the art gets equal time to the artistic method itself.

The manga follows the characters of Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi, high school students who decide to team up and create manga, with Akito writing the story and Moritaka doing the art. The two try to get published in Shonen Jump, and ultimately get one of their series adapted into an anime - in part because Moritaka and his aspiring voice actress girlfriend Miho Azuki have promised to get married should Moritaka and Takagi’s manga get adapted into an anime, and should Azuki be cast in that series.

Bakuman itself was published in Weekly Shonen Jump, where much of both creators previous works (most notably their earlier collaboration on Death Note) were published. Because of this, and of Obata’s earlier series (including ), the two creators come to the series with a profound understanding of how the modern manga industry works, and they do a good job of explaining to those on the outside just how the sausage is made.

That said, I can see, reading the series, how weirdly mercenary the series would feel to read to someone outside of anime and manga fandom. In the manga business, series are collected into magazines like Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat, or Young King Hours for publication, instead of individual books as in the US industry (with the closest Western comparisons being Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant and 2000 AD). Consequently, decisions made on what series are published or not are based less on sales and more on reader surveys. The same thing happens with new series and the decision to pick up the book or not. This means for Mashiro and Takagi to achieve their ambition, they have to not just write a manga they want to read, they have to write a manga for the masses.

Aside from this, the manga has some issues with the writing of female characters. The female characters in the work either have no motivation outside of the male characters whether complementary (Azuki’s career goals are intrinsically tied to Mashiro’s, Akito’s girlfriend is generally supportive of him), or oppositional (rival

18 actresses and creators who are often written as misandrist “mean-girls”).

The manga was published by Viz, and is available in a series of volumes or one really big bullet-stopper of a box containing the complete series. There was an anime adaptation of the manga, but the US release by is incomplete, and Media Blasters has announced that they will not be finishing it due to financial concerns. It may be license rescued by Viz.

Blue Blazes/Aoi Honoo (Manga 2007-Present, TV 2014) This is something of an honorable mention, due to the lack of availability.

Manga artist went to school in the 70s at the Osaka University ofArts, and his classmates included a boatload of people who became big names in the Anime industry, from members of studio like Hideaki Anno, and , the founder of Studio - , among others (the class also included who does not appear in the show). Aoi Honoo is Shimamoto’s semi-autobiographical manga on his time in university, and his desire to be a manga artist like .

This manga, and his other tongue-in-cheek manga about manga - Moeyo Pen, Hoero Pen and Shin Hoero Pen have never gotten a US release. They haven’t even been fan-translated. However, the live-action J-Drama adaptation of Aoi Honoo, which lasted 11 episodes, has been fan-subtitled, and can be found with a little searching. This show is significantly more tongue-in-cheek than the other two shows, with the otaku of the series (especially the protagonist) getting a gentle ribbing due to being so very, very weird compared to their peers.

19 Anime and Manga about Fandom We’ve covered anime about anime, we’ve covered manga about manga, but what about the people who love anime and manga, and create derivative works in the process. Well, there are plenty of works on that topic as well.

Otaku No Video (1991) While Gainax was struggling with production difficulties (and financial difficulties) on the work-for-hire show Nadia & The Secret of Blue Water, they put out some side projects to lift morale and pay the bills - one of them was backhanded complementary love letter to anime fandom and to the studio itself in Otaku No ideo.V

The show itself is made up of two chunks - the Anime and the Mockumentary. The anime portion of the series tells the story of Ken Kubo, a college student and member of the Tennis team who reunites with his old high school friend Tanaka, who introduces him to anime fandom, and after he’s dumped by his girlfriend, he decides to become the world’s greatest Otaku, the Ota-King, through a level of fandom that will lead him to either directly creating, or through facilitating the creation of great works of anime and manga for all, facing various trials throughout the series - and illustrating various aspects of Otaku culture throughout the work, both in terms of types of fandom (from science fiction fandom, to cosplay, to “gun” otaku/survival games otaku) to ways in which fandom expresses itself (again - cosplay, to , and model making - particularly “garage kits”).

The mockumentary portion contains mock interviews with various fictitious otaku, played by members of Gainax staff, done in the style of Japanese documentary television programs. If the anime portions are generally self congratulatory, this half of the show is more self-deprecating, pointing out and mocking some of the more delusional or skeezy sides of otaku culture (one sequence has a person who is more interested in “2D” women over real women, another has someone who has tried to build special glasses to get around the mosaics used on Japanese pornography). These skeezier elements are clearly depicted as not glamorous and are meant to show that otaku culture has as many issues as it has points to be lauded. 20 Genshiken (Manga 2002-06, 09-16; Anime 2004, 2006-2007, 2013) Where Otaku no Video is self-aware and grandiose in scope, Genshiken is much more grounded, basically being a geek sitcom. However, where something like Big Bang Theory is more like laughing at fen, this feels more like laughing with fen - particularly since the creator is an otaku himself.

The series is based around a college club - the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture - or when the Japanese name, Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyūkai, is contracted - the Genshiken. The characters are a variety of otaku with various specializations, from cosplay to artwork to model building, to skill at playing video games. As the series is based around a college club, over the course of the manga, old club members graduate and new members join, and as several years pass over the course of the series, and because the series is based around otaku, there are recurring episodes based around the bi-annual “Comic Market” or doujinshi (fan-works, often comics and magazines, which occasionally can be smutty) convention in Japan, initially with characters going there to shop, and later in the series with the club deciding to put out their own doujin (fanwork).

The cast rotates over the course of the series, with a very large cast of recurring characters overall, but there are a few recurring characters throughout most of the series. There is Kanji Sasahara, who starts as the series initial protagonist and audience perspective character. Next is Harunobu Madarame, who is something of a veteran otaku, and who continues to hang out with club members and hang out in the club room after he graduates and enters the workforce. There is Saki Kasukabe, the non-otaku girlfriend of another club member, Makoto Kosaka, but remains part of the club after Kosaka graduates and joins the workforce. There’s also Kanako Ohno, who is a cosplayer. That’s just a fraction of the substantial cast, with the Wikipedia cast listing potentially taking 9 pages to print.

Because the series has such a fairly long run, covering over a decade with a slight gap, the series is really good at showing the evolution of otaku culture in Japan. In particular, over the course of the series we see women in otaku culture come more to the forefront, along with the rise of series made to cater to female viewers - particularly in terms of the “fujoshi” demographic (women who are interested in - homosexual romance fiction). As part of this, the demographic of the club itself changes over the course of the series. At the start of the show, the club is predominantly male, with only a pair of female members. Eventually there is parity among male and female club members, and by the conclusion of the series the club is predominantly female, with only a few male club members.

The Genshiken manga is currently in print. The series is divided into two chunks - Genshiken (which is the original run), and “Genshiken Second Season”, which covers the second run after the hiatus. The TV series was released in a slightly weird fashion. In-between the first two series in 2004 and 2006, an anime adaptation was made of the show-within-a-show from the manga, Kujibiki Unbalance (or KujiUn), and a short inter-quel OVA was released on the KujiUn DVD release (as when series 1 of Genshiken was released on DVD, a short KujiUn OVA was made for the DVDs). Series 1 and the OVA is collected in the Genshiken GX Season 1 + OVA collection. Season 2 is available on its own and in a collection of individual DVDs. The third series, Genshiken Nidaime has been released on Blu-Ray only as “Genshiken Second Generation”.

21 (Anime - 2001, 2005; Manga - 2001-2005) Comic Party is an outgrowth of a dating sim game, based around the concept of making Doujinshi. The main character of the two anime series is Kazuki Sendō, who is persuaded by his hot-blooded friend from High School, Taishi Kuhonbutsu, into making doujinshi and selling it at Comic Party, a major comic convention that is the serial-numbers-filed-off version of Comiket. On the other hand, Kazuki’s childhood friend, Mizuki Takase, is initially hostile to this idea as she views otaku as rude and smelly, but as Kazuki gets into making doujin, she becomes less hostile and begins embracing parts of otaku culture - particularly cosplay.

I was torn on whether to include this series in manga or under fan series, in part because it fits so perfectly into both categories. The show, particularly in the first series, spends a lot of time on the process of making manga, as much as it spends on the process of selling manga and getting ready for conventions. The show gets briefly into the logistical side of things, as each of the female supporting characters outside of Mizuki get into a different aspect of the process (one of the characters is staff for Comic Party, the other runs the where Kazuki has his manga printed before the con) or different philosophies of making doujin(one character is focused on sales, while another character makes primarily original stories in their doujinshi).

The video game the two series are based on has never received an English release. The two anime series have received Region 1 DVD releases, with the first series released by RightStuf, and the second series (titled Comic Party Revolution) released by , and also being available through their streaming service.A manga titled Comic Party was also released in English as well, and was released by . Currently the release is out of print, and also, it bears mentioning, has some questionable localization.

22